Knife!

Google 'The Annoying Orange' then watch almost any given video and you'll fully understand my title.  You can thank William for the reference.

But speaking of knives, for a long long time, I longed (see what I did there) for a fancy schmancy chef's knife.  I watched chefs on tv chop herbs with the vigor of a teenager expecting her first kiss.  Then, suddenly, the stars aligned and I had an unexpected gift card AND a coupon.  Bed, Bath, and Beyond baby!  Know what?  It took me another year to buy a knife. I was so scared the reality wouldn't live up to my expectations that I couldn't bring myself to do it.  But then the day arrived.  I decided it was time.  I went to BB&B with my gift card and coupon in hand...literally...I think I was too excited to put them in my purse.  I stared and I pondered.  I may have even second guessed myself but then I heard the words that changed everything - "Can I help you find something?"

I think I stood there like the aforementioned teenager expecting her first kiss and managed to spit out, "Uh, if I buy one of these [pointing to the knives], can I return it if I don't like it?" The salesperson gave me much grief "assuring" me they did NOT have a return policy (which is not true) so I relaxed and chose my knife.  He then carefully placed it in my hands...a Zwilling J.A. Henckels Professional "S" 8" Chef's Knife.  No no no, not an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.  A Zwilling J.A. Henckels Professional "S" 8" Chef's Knife! Come on now, stay with me.  Oh the excitement, the terror, the waiting.  It had come to an end.

I made sure I chose a dinner that night that involved a lot of slicing and chopping.  For the life of me, I can't remember anything beyond slicing a tomato and chopping fresh basil.  I called it a knifegasm.  To this day, I praise my knife.  I think it is the one tool I could not live without now.  Sometimes, we still make blade to eye contact and we both know.  Sure, Knife has hurt me.  I have many times left Knife in the sink without thinking and barely touched that fabulous sharp blade and cut the dickens out of several fingers.  But they are scars of pride and joy.  But Knife's joy has outweighed the hurt.  We have settled into a long and loving relationship.







 

Kids are Strange Part 1 of Many if I Know My Son

At the dinner table that isn't always a bad thing.  Tonight I grilled strip steaks with sides of asparagus and grilled potatoes tossed with a red pepper and caper sauce.  I thought William would balk at the red pepper sauce so I pulled out his serving of potatoes before I tossed them with the sauce.  Little did I know, he was interested in the sauce and found it quite tasty.  But our struggle tonight was asparagus.  Let me point out that William has always been a veggie lover.  At his first birthday party, I offered sandwiches and various sides to our guests but for William, I steamed broccoli because he loves it.  He is a green veggie lover and, for that, I consider myself a million times blessed.  Asparagus has never been a problem but suddenly he thinks it's evil so we were having a mother/son face-off that went something like,


Me: "Eat your asparagus.  You like it."
William: "No I don't."
Me: "You have to eat your asparagus if you want a snack tonight."
William: "Then I just won't eat anything else tonight."
Me: "You need your veggies.  EAT IT!"


Enter the aha moment. 
Me: "William do you like the sauce on the potatoes."
William:  "Yes."
Me: "What if I put some on your asparagus."
William: "Yeah, put a lot on it!"


And before I knew it his asparagus was gone.  So, for the record, a basic veggie is icky to my son but a red pepper and caper sauce is o.k.  I can't explain it but I'll go with it. 


Here is my personal problem - as I mentioned I am working on a cookbook.  I made the aforementioned sauce without measuring.  I need my new mantra to be, "measure measure measure."  But for this evening, we'll call this a victory.  I can measure tomorrow.

Are you feeling lucky?

If you need a reason to feel lucky, watch this. Over the weekend, Food Network aired a special called “Hunger Hits Home.” I think all Americans are aware of food stamps and aid for needy families but how often to we take the time to truly wonder and try to relate to what these families face every day. And this special barely mentions food stamps. It’s about families who are facing hard times for one reason or another. People who are going to work every day just like you and me but their kids aren’t sure if there will be enough food for dinner. People who have lost jobs and find themselves suddenly in dire straights. Many of us could be a paycheck or two away from being these families and no one has absolute job security these days.

I simply cannot imagine having to feed my son Ramen Noodles every night because there is nothing else in the cupboard. How would I ever tell my broccoli loving, corn eating, salad gobbling little boy that there simply isn’t money to buy vegetables? Fortunately, I don’t have to. I can shop freely and often and, frankly, we are rather spoiled in our household with the foods we eat. I can imagine that I work with people who think it’s crazy that I offer my son steak. It’s because I am one of the lucky ones who has the means to give my family whatever foods we want.

I can buy ingredients and play around and if we don’t like it, well, better luck next time but let’s order a pizza. I’m like every one of you who takes the time to read this. I know there are hungry kids in our country but it hasn’t affected me so did I really care before? William has taken food to school to offer for food drives in the past. We talked about why this is important but I’m not sure either of us really got it. He’s 7 so I can cut him some slack. In his world, parents simply take care of their kids and that’s that. But I’m older and should know better. This special really did hit home.

Is this a call to action? No. I know I have many wonderful and generous friends and if they heard that their child had a classmate without enough to eat, would probably invite the entire family over for dinner and send them out the door with a bag of food. We all do what we can. But as I get back to blogging and think about things I cook or what to write about, I couldn’t let this go without bringing it to a wider audience. I could have shared that we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and corn for dinner tonight. Instead of trying to peak your interesting is what I had to eat, I am using this forum to peak your interest in what you had to eat.

Count your blessings as you eat well tonight, tomorrow, and in the days that follow.