As a parent, one of the coolest things is having dinner with your kid. Tonight I quietly enjoyed dinner with my son in a brewery in Flagstaff, Arizona while we both read and discussed horror fiction, namely Laurell K. Hamilton. I always like to hear what he is ordering because he frequently surprises me. Hubby John surprises me occasionally, but Jack is always a mystery when it comes to selecting from the menu.
When people are young and their taste buds are developing, adults tend to treat them like KIDS when what they really need to be doing is treating them like the YOUNG ADULTS the parents want them to become. My son, Jack, never ate ketchup, ranch or mayo on his food to cover up the taste. Ketchup was for burgers and fries, ranch dressing was for salads and mayo was for sandwiches. Unfortunately for some people – no one reading this blog – the choices on dining never change from ketchup /ranch/ mayo slathered foods…it’s like they never grow up. Here’s an example: Each Thanksgiving while living in Spain, we invited some of the troops from the barracks to dinner. One year a guest decided it was appropriate to put ketchup on the turkey. I am sure you can guess how that went. He was never invited back…for any event…ever.
I can honestly tell you that Jack NEVER put inappropriate condiments on ANY of his food. In fact he is a minimalist when it comes to condiments. He has a well developed palate because Jack was made to TRY everything at least once. That went double for us too – we had to set the example. If you have young kids and you deign to bring them to Vegas – something I don’t encourage because there really isn’t a whole lot here for them – take them to a GOOD buffet (not a cheap one). There they will have the opportunity to try things they might not have seen before and they don’t have to finish it if they don’t like it.
Jack was THE most adventurous eater I have ever seen and continues to take BIG bites on the culinary scene. I have to admit, his fearless dining choices are one of the things I am most proud of about my son. One of my favorite Food Memories of Jack as a small boy (about 7 or 8) is taking him to the Commander’s Palace at the then Aladdin Casino, and watching him show the “grown ups” how to eat a crawfish, complete with sucking the head. He told them, as first timers, they might not want to do that! It cracked me and the wait staff up. This year he was the designated driver for the Loyola /Tulane Crawfish boil at McMullan’s Irish Pub. Thank you Elly Hanks for inviting us!
As I write, I prepare to take my son to Freshman Orientation at college. [Yes, I know I don’t look that old – I have a great derm guy ;-)] Once Jack is in college full time, I wonder how our dining habits will change, if at all. We ate differently as a young couple, our eating habits changed a bit when Jack was a toddler and changed throughout our lives since then, depending on where we lived.
College will be in Flagstaff and it’s a great food and beer town! Several microbreweries and little pubs dot the town. Some with great menus and some that blow, but all are an adventure. Needless to say – there will be pictures, Tweets and FourSquare check ins to log my Food Journey.
This week’s Food Memories include Fish Tacos with friend Dani, a mediocre meal that left all of us chuckling at the hipsters and “desperate housewives” in the restaurant and GREEK NIGHT at Sam & Jim’s. The pic below is from Greek Night – the tiropita (Greek cheese pastries) were made from scratch by yours truly (thanks Carla Cole for the suggestion!).
