Domestic Psychology | Archive

Perseveration

// August 22nd, 2010 // 1 Comment » // children, flickr, food

“We’re here for a football game.”
“I see popcorn! Can we get popcorn instead of football?”

“The band is going to play music and then the football players will run on the field.”
“Are the footballers still eating their popcorn?”

“Why is that lady eating peanuts when there’s popcorn?”

“The band is going to sit while the football players play.”
“The band might get all the popcorn.”

“Do you need to go potty?”
“No. I need to go popcorn.”

Evan leaned toward me with a bit of a pucker, so I leaned closer to him in expectation of a smack on the cheek. Instead of a kiss, I felt his tiny tongue repeatedly tapping my cheek like the world’s smallest jackhammer. I pulled away and looked at his grinning face. “Evan! Why did you do that?” “Because, I am popcorn.”

food – past

// July 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Family, food

Decoration Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Christmas memories from my childhood are connected to the extended family gatherings that happened with each holiday.It didn’t matter if it was at my great-grandparents’ house in Natchez Trace, the nearby State Park or my Great-Uncle’s in Martin, the event was about people and food.

Relatives who were round and relatives who were built like Jack Skellington ate the buffet of food. None of the children had food allergies. Even though the women were always on a “diet,” they still ate the same food that everyone else there ate.

The food didn’t magically arrive on our plates. It grew on family farms. It came from local livestock and game. It was cooked in home kitchens. Many of the dishes would make today’s nutritionists frown and shake their heads. We didn’t count calories or judge ingredients. Food was love and our stomachs were full.

We can’t reproduce those days. Or the food.

next time, I’m wearing a clown nose

// April 25th, 2010 // No Comments » // food, me, parenting

I spent almost an hour casually strolling the aisles of the grocery store. I marveled at the varieties of something as simple as milk. I looked at new products that may or may not have been food. I studied the changes in packaging and the subtle reduction of quantity in each and every prepackaged food item. I scowled at the shelves packed with artificial sweeteners. I drooled at the increasing number of fruits in season. I made certain that there was something in my cart that each of my children like to eat. I mentally calculated the food prep time in relation to each day’s schedule of activities.

Small children waved at me as we walked past each other. Adults smiled or laughed out loud and I imagined that they were kindred spirits enjoying the splendor of treasures that is a grocery store. The visit was surreal in its normalcy. Even the cashier and bagger were all smiles. “Did you make your necklace yourself?” I looked down and realized I was wearing the necklace that Evan made for me. (“You look prettier now Mommy.”) I smiled and explained that it was a gift from my 4-y-o, thinking that they already knew that. I was mistaken. “Well, everyone likes to make their own jewelry these days.”

leaving them to starve

// March 18th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // food, teenagers

As a rule, I try to always be at *home on school nights and be a part of the evening routines. As frantic as the evenings are, I can’t imagine not getting to tuck my children in bed at night. It’s probably much more important to me than it is to them. Don’t tell the children I still peek at them while they are sleeping every night. Tonight, I am making a rare exception and attending a meeting. Instead of preparing a healthy meal before I leave, since I really hate cooking, I’m leaving two boxes of organic mac ‘n cheese for the babysitter (aka the 16-y-o) to prepare. The question is, will she-who-shuns-organic prepare the mac ‘n cheese or will the children forage the fridge for crusty leftovers? Place your bets now.

*Why, oh, why can’t the social media folks have their gatherings on the weekends?

praw-leans, pra-lynes

// February 22nd, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Doug, food

The grandparents brought a box of pitch perfect pralines back from their trip to New Orleans. It took less than five minutes to recognize that Doug has a devotion to pralines that I reserve for dark chocolate.

Doug: “I can’t decide if I want to eat a praline or a bowl of ice cream.”
Me: “Fix a bowl of ice cream and stick a praline on top.”
Doug’s head spun completely around and laser beams shot out of his eyes. Let’s call it Sci-Fi Linda Blair.

I poked at the hornet’s nest with a stick. “Are there chocolate coated pralines?” “I wonder what a bacon wrapped praline would taste like.” “Do carnivals have deep fried pralines?” Want to watch Doug twitch like Sheldon Cooper? Suggest a new recipe for pralines. Then, stand back.

food talk

// November 4th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // food, kid quotes

Me: “Evan, do you want some chicken?”
Evan: “With ketchup.”
Me: “What sound does a chicken make?”
Evan: “Bawk-bawk-bawk.”
Me: “Right! Would you like some green beans.”
Evan: “Put them beside the chicken.”
Me: “What sound do green beans make?”
Evan: drops to the floor and curls up in a ball “Bu-bu-bu-bu.”
Amy: rolling eyes “He’s so weird.”
Me: “Amy, what sound does bread make?”
Amy: crosses arms and glares at me silently
Evan: “Amy doesn’t know. Want me to tell her?”

she never eats (when I’m looking)

// July 8th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // food, teenagers

The first time Sarah ate a meal BEFORE her date, I shrugged it off as teenage weirdness. Since then, I’ve noticed it is routine behavior for her to eat food before or after, but never while actually out on a date. I imagine her telling the waiter, “I’m not really hungry. I’ll just have a Dr.Pepper.” Her motivation might be a noble attempt not to spend money. It’s more likely that this is about food issues. Maybe she thinks it is gluttonous to eat a plate full of food. Perhaps she is self conscious about how she looks when chewing food. Could it be that she wants her date to think she never eats? Whatever the reason, this is one of those “choose your battles” scenarios. Risk making things worse by saying something or wait to see if this is a harmless phase? As long as she is eating, she isn’t doing physical harm, so I’m going to let this one slide. For now. I seriously have to ask if anyone has ever been fooled into thinking that their date never eats?

watermelon

// July 7th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // food, social media

I don’t really have anything to say about watermelon. I just made a random Facebook comment that watermelons have been kinda blah so far this year and it got a dozen comments. I thought I’d test the watermelon interest level over here. Does anyone have deep thoughts about watermelon?

We heart pizza

// June 30th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // food, people

With extremely rare exceptions, the one meal each week that doesn’t come from our kitchen is Tuesday night’s Dominos pizza. The entire family loves it and there are usually enough leftovers for the next day’s lunch. The only thing that would make the experience perfect would be if the pick-up was a little less, umm, awkward. It is the exact opposite of what I experience in the small grocery beside our nearest Dominos. When I enter the non-chain grocery, someone always smiles and says hello. Several of the cashiers know me by name and when they banter with the baggers, they genuinely seem to be be friends with their co-workers. The butcher recognizes Evan and holds the bell low enough for Evan to ring it as he runs past the meat counter with his miniature shopping cart. The managers know the regular customers and are never seen being anything but kind and supportive of the store employees. The cashiers’ feet may hurt from standing all day and the baggers may have been abused by a cranky customer, but it never shows. It is like a little oasis for happy people and I love going to that grocery. Maybe it is just too hot, stressful and dangerous working in a pizza delivery restaurant to be happy. I don’t know.

dominosups125x A few weeks ago, Dominos bought our family’s and several additional teenagers‘ the new American Legends pizzas, in exchange for, well, nothing. They paid for the pizzas. We ate them and that was the end of that. I CHOOSE to make a few comments about the pizzas that we tried. Because I am an eccentric southerner aka picky eater, none of our pizzas had onions or peppers. I didn’t order the Pacific Veggie Pizza, because it looked like the peppers were the fun part of it and I didn’t think anyone would eat it. Well, Doug would eat it, but he doesn’t need an entire pizza to himself. We also decided against the Fiery Hawaiian Pizza since removing the onions and peppers made it nearly identical to another pizza. Instead, I got Sarah a Three Cheese Mac-n-Cheese Breadbowl. I find the idea of mac ‘n’ cheese pizza too horrible to even taste it, but Sarah and Amy insist that it is “yummy.” I’ll just take their word for it.

The Honolulu Hawaiian Pizza and Buffalo Chicken Pizzas were good. Our family had already made the Philly Cheese Steak Pizza a part of regular weekly order, so we knew that it was extra yummy. The Cali Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza was a little bland, but I think it could easily be adjusted with an additional ingredient or two. The biggest surprise for everyone was the Memphis BBQ Chicken Pizza. Admittedly, I do have a soft spot for Memphis in general, but the BBQ pizza is sweet and delicious. The only-eats-cheese-pizza child devoured two pieces of the BBQ pizza. The teen guests unanimously rated the BBQ as their favorite and Doug and I liked it so much that it is now part of our regular Tuesday order.

A quickie crust review: Everyone loves the cheddar crust. Everyone except the small people love the thin crust. Everyone likes the regular and parmesan crusts. The teenagers like the deep dish crust. The Brooklyn and provolone crusts are not popular.

Thank you for dinner Dominos!