Both of my little birds love capers. I have not had a caper or Kalmata olive out of a Greek salad in I do not know how long. The B’s stake claim to these salad treasures the moment that my salad is served. Tonight, I sliced up chicken and cooked it in a bit of olive oil with mushrooms and capers. I then sliced up cucumbers and topped them with feta cheese for a side dish.
This balanced, low fat meal was nothing like what we ate growing up. I often wonder what my boys really think about my cooking. For me as a child, there were certain dishes that my Oma and my mother made that I greatly anticipated. My mother’s beef tips over rice and her steak fingers were my favorites. My Oma’s pot roast was out of this world. I have mastered the beef tips over rice and steak fingers. These are always a big hit with the birds. About once a year, I attempt Oma’s pot roast, and I am always so disappointed.
I love to cook for my children, and I will admit openly that I have an agenda when I cook for them. First and foremost, I simply love the experience of making something special for them and sitting together at the dinner table talking about the food that I have prepared, and what is going on in their little worlds. Children, people in general, feel a sense of closeness and trust in someone that prepares a home cooked meal for them, and they naturally want to open up and share what is on their minds. I can tell they feel acknowledged and happy when I make something special for them. They in turn reward me by trying new foods and sharing what is on their minds.
Secondly, I want to train their little pallets on healthy food. I do not want my children to have to deal with health issues because of their diets. The sad truth is that most people are over weight. Third, I want to motivate them to learn to cook. I think that cooking up a meal and enjoying it as a family makes for a beautiful evening. For me, a major treat is being invited over to a friend’s house for a home cooked meal. I want my boys to be the sort of husbands and friends that cook for the special people in their lives.
Lastly and selfishly, I want to have something to bait my children home with – first in their high school days when all they want is to hang with their friends, and then later in their college days when they have moved out. I can remember my older brother bailing on his friends when my mother was at home making one of his favorite meals. I can remember driving home from college on a weekend looking forward to a home cooked meal.
I wonder if my birds will blog some day, and if so, I wonder what they will be saying about their mother’s culinary abilities. In the meantime, I day dream about what I am going to make for them in the evenings, and everyday I anticipate our time as a family at the dinner table.