heirloom tomatoes...or stuff my kid will never eat

Riffed on a Caprese salad last night by placing the farmer's market tomatoes and fresh mozzarella on top of some aglio e oglio pasta (with garlic & olive oil). Drizzled with balsamic. Pretty good.

WTF moments

We had lunch with a friend and her kids this weekend. At a pizzeria. Where she ordered a bowl of green beans. That her kid ate. All. Of. Them. Her son tried offering B. a green bean which he looked at with a mix of confusion, revulsion, disdain and disinterest. So there goes the theory of positive peer pressure.
It was sort of the same look that B.'s best friend gave his mom over dinner Saturday night. We were all out for...drumroll...quesedillas and B. was playing with my iPhone so K. gave her son a toy Mickey Mouse phone and he just looked at her like, "Lady, are you nuts? You know this is just a lame toy. Gimme a smartphone at least. Something, anything but this. How dare you try to fool me?!" If looks could kill she would have been a puddle of goo between the salsa and guacamole. Hee-larious.

quesedillas anyone?

Holy guacamole. We're on our third quesedilla in as many meals. We had quesedillas/carnitas at K.'s house for lunch yesterday. A new one for B. and me but I'm starting to be less subtle with my subterfuge. I can stuff just about anything in a tortilla shell with cheese, offer it up with avocado and he'll eat it. (K. got her carnitas meat at Trader Joe's which I need to pick up.) Spaghetti was on the menu for dinner last night. I made bolognese sauce over the weekend and got some into him a couple of days ago but last night it was rejected in favor of another quesedilla and then he just had a bean quesedilla for lunch today. I can't wait to see what he wants for dinner tonight.
*Somehow it seems important to add that we're not farting up a storm here. Oddly gas isn't an issue even with all the beans he's eating.

a slight salad obsession

It's been pretty hot here. Nothing like the rest of the country but sunny enough that turning on the oven seems like a chore. Thank god for the barbecue and a ton of steaks and fish fillets my mom sent that we've got piled up in the freezer. And I'm obsessed with finding new salads to serve up with dinner. Tonight I made halibut wrapped in bacon (it was sitting in the freezer next to the fish, begging to be used) and then a diced mango/avocado salad tossed with lime juice, a little olive oil, cilantro and some diced red pepper. So fresh and yummy next to the smoky fish. My old standby is fresh corn shaved off the ear tossed with tomatoes but I'm trying to come up with some alternatives. Like this avocado salad I had on the Fourth of July. It was mixed with cucumber, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and onions. Delicious. And the vinaigrette keeps the avocado from turning brown for hours. Almost goes without being said that B. won't touch any of this stuff but have actually turned the hubs on to veggies this summer. One out of two ain't bad.

not so hungry now

Either B. is on a hunger strike, suffering from tape worms or just really full from vacation eating. One day this week his entire diet consisted of a small handful of Cheerios, one scoop of white rice (the only food to make it from vacation and onto his regular rotation) and half a slice of pita with hummus. He's even outgrown the M&Ms bribery (which I expected to work for at least another couple of years).
Me: Have 3 bites of chicken and you can eat 3 M&Ms. Him: No. Me: OK, no M&Ms for you! Him: Shrugs. End of discussion.

how to spend a bajillion dollars

I felt robbed of a couple of vacation days since we had to come home early for T.'s work. So the past two weeks I've been trying to have as much fun as possible with B. Plus preschool is starting in September and it just feels like we should make the most of this free time. So we've been to the aquarium ($8 parking, $25 ticket), the awesome Annenberg Beach House ($8 parking, $14 swimming pool access), bowling ($10 shoe rental, $25 for the lane) and the beach ($9 parking). And that's without snacks or all-important gift shop purchases! Granted, we could be going to the local park for free fun but it seems like anything else requires a minor bank loan. But all that being said, totally worth it.

no kids allowed

How ironic. The same week a Pennsylvania restaurant bans kids under 6 from their establishment we went back to Boa. It's a trendy steakhouse we haven't been to since B. was 11 months. And just like last time, we didn't have a babysitter so we decided to bring him along. And this time was actually much more successful thanks to the iPad. It really is the greatest invention for keeping kids busy since...I don't know what. We went through appetizers, dinner and dessert without so much as a hiccup thanks to a variety of apps and videos. Of course B. would only eat the bread rolls and ice cream -- even after I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a Kobe meatball and spaghetti dish for him. The more expensive/fancy it is the less he seems to like stuff. (See: homemade bolognese.) Anyway, I'm torn. I do hate whiny kids in restaurants but I like the freedom of being able to bring B. when we're craving a grownup dinner in the type of place that doesn't provide crayons. Of course it would be a different story if we had a sitter. But until I find another able-bodied, energetic 20-something who's available nights, I'm gonna sit out this debate.

welcome to the fussy kid club

Seen on Twitter this morning: "@Bethenny: To all you moms: remember when bryn was perfect, didn't cry& ate everything.well that was fun. We've now entered reality. I'm one of you."
It's not that I enjoy her pain, but it's nice to see I'm not the only one who's suddenly been confronted with a fussy kid--even after being exposed to all kinds of food early on. And if one more person suggest "broccoli trees" I'm gonna lose it. Tried them. Didn't work.

what is it about vacations?!

We packed up our gimpy caravan and headed for Park City last week. And as usual, B. proved himself a happy little gypsy who always eats and sleeps better when on vacation. He stopped asking for a bottle of milk in the morning and just ate three big meals a day. Mostly room service waffles for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch and pizza or spaghetti for dinner. But he did have roast pig for dinner one night. Which he ate under the guise of "chicken" between alternating bites of carrot cake. Luckily he was totally oblivious to the animal roasting on the spit on the hotel's balcony. And then there was white rice and bites of hidden teriyaki chicken at a sushi restaurant. (All the grownups were desperate for one non-saucy/cheesy meal.) One day he even ate two bananas for breakfast. Unprompted.
As for the Fourth, B. started with oatmeal doctored with some applesauce in Nana's kitchen. Then bagel and cream cheese. Then a turkey sandwich. Then two slices of pizza. Then pita chips and hummus. All before three o'clock in the afternoon. Then wrapped up the day with two slices of Carvel cake. Hungry little road warrior.