Food Glorious Food.

I've just finished reading 'Toast' by Nigel Slater.
It is the inspiration behind today's post.

Getting up before 6am is a struggle. Getting my stomach to wake up then is impossible.
The six and one year olds don't seem to have the same problem.
This morning, before it was even fully light the one year old greeted us like a rooster with loud shouts of "NAK!"

Cutting raspberries in half is not too difficult. Everyone eats a different cereal so I line up the bowls and deposit the choices. The milk is a challenge. I'm not a big fan of milk and for some reason the baby's whole milk churns my stomach. It so creamy looking. The six year old takes at least half an hour to eat her cereal so it turns into a golden sludge that I find hard to look at. I remember when I was pregnant with the one year old - the six year old had to have toast.

That's round one. Round two gets requested about a half hour later. By now I've had a lovely cup of tea. Well at least I've had the idea of a lovely cup of tea. I might get a few hot sips and by the time I can get back to it, it's headed to lukewarm.
Heating tea in the microwave does something to the taste - it's never the same.

Round two is usually waffles, pancakes or toast. I'd like to pretend I'm the kind of mom who whips up a batter and pulls out the waffle iron but really they're from the freezer. The six year old likes syrup, the one year old butter. When they are both in grade school I might have a new career as a short order cook.

It would be nice to exit the kitchen until lunch but there's snacks to pack or maybe lunch will be at the park. We have two lunch packs - the baby needs her own now. Filled with lots of little tubs of mac'n'cheese, black beans, crackers, tiny fruit pieces and a yogurt.
The six year old has a sandwich, fruit, carrots, cheese stick, various bars and her yogurt. Different from the baby's yogurt - big girl yogurt.
I can't tell you how many times I've finished this lengthy task with pride and relief and headed out only to realize I didn't pack anything for myself.

Dinner is another multi-tasking affair. I've probably created a monster but the husband and I really enjoy eating dinner together on weekdays. We put the kids to bed and then cook. It's good for our relationship and bad for the kids eating habits. I make them separate meals. It's a fairly short repertoire 'yummy noodles', rice, beans, fish or chicken, pizza, mac'n'cheese, taquitos or tomato soup. Our vegetable menu is also short - carrots, broccoli or peas.
Our dessert menu is apple sauce, mochi or yogurt. Mochi, of course, is the most requested.

I remember my childhood meals being very repetitive and I liked it that way. We had a fixed menu - fish on Monday, cauliflower cheese on Tuesdays, sausage and beans on Wednesday, mince and tatties (go Google it and come back!) on Thursday and ham salad with chips (fries) on Friday. Weekends involved glorious, melt in the mouth roast dinners with chicken or roast beef and pudding (dessert.)
The routine was comforting. Except for Tuesday - I never liked cauliflower cheese and we had many tearful Tuesdays with me refusing to eat it while listening to a lecture about hungry children in Africa. I finally prevailed and Tuesday, for me, meant beans on toast instead!

We don't have many food struggles - the six year old makes her choice and for the most part then eats it. The one year old continues to eat and decorate with her selections but I hold out hope she'll get with the program soon.
Food service is usually done by 6pm and with the exception of nightime bottles of milk and glasses of water - I'm done.
Twelve hours until we do it all again....