Monday, May 2, 2011

The Dinner Hour

If you're reading this and you are parents of young children you don't need me to tell you how utterly stressful, chaotic and downright dramatic dinners can be...and that's while you're just making it.

In my house we aim to have dinner before 6:00 pm.  And that's only because by 5:30 pm my children are tired, cranky and ... well, hungry.

One of my biggest passions in life is cooking.  I love it even more when I have John Mayer playing in the background and (large) glass of wine.  This passion came late in my life but I've become pretty good at it.  Just ask my husband...he's eaten every single meal I've ever made with absolute relish.  Gotta love a man that loves your cooking!  I actually wanted to become a chef at one point but then thought that it would diminish my enthusiasm if it became my career.  So for now I'll settle for being a chef for the men in my life.  Not that the little men appreciate it all that much now.  But I really, really do hope they will sometime in the future.  I know it sounds so silly but I'd love for my boys to brag to their friends ....."You gotta try my Mom's Spaghetti and Meatballs - they are the BEST!"  or "My Mom makes the most AMAZING burritos you will ever get north of the Mexican border!"  Don't laugh.  Cooking for the people I love gives me a great feeling of contented accomplishment.

So, anyway, every night I cook a pretty nice dinner.  I wouldn't call me a gourmand by any means but I am, for the most part, a 'cook by scratch' kinda Mom (why do I always feel like I should apologize for that?...and by the way it doesn't mean I don't occasionally feed my children Kraft dinner or Nutella sandwiches - I'm not that much of a die hard).

Tonight it was a simple bbq dinner and I had gone grocery shopping with the boys in the morning (thank God, not as tortuous as usual) and bought some steaks.  I turned on the bbq and got the potatoes and onions ready, prepped the steak and started making the salad.  John was outside with Adrian playing hockey and Finley was (as usual) obsessing about opening and closing the screen door.  Open the door, step out of the house, close the door.  Open the door, step into the house, close the door.  Repeat ad nauseam.

And then he had enough.  He found out his daddy and his brother were playing outside without him!  And the tears and tantrums began.  John came to my rescue took him outside for a bit but came inside as dinner was to  be ready shortly.

In less than 5 minutes all hell broke loose.

Finley fell on his face and scraped his forehead on the deck, then fell into the dog's water bowl and Adrian started screaming because he cut his arm on his plastic (piece of shite) Iron Man mask.

Two bleeding screaming kids, one also soaked in slobbery dirty dog water, a stressed out Mumma who's trying to get dinner ready while cleaning up the kitchen and a Daddy who is doing his best to diaper Finley, take care of Adrian's (minor) scratch and calm them both the H. E. double hockey sticks down.

Finally dinner was put on the table.  John and I shovel down our food between getting up to retrieve sippy cups, condiments and other random food items for the kids to eat (and to keep them from freaking out).  One of those random food items happened to be carrots.

As I'm inhaling my steak, potatoes and salad I see Finley place a carrot AND soother in his mouth so that the carrot was literally hanging out the side of his lips while his soother is almost flush with his mouth.  It's gone beyond addiction now if that's even possible.

I ask my husband "Do you see what he's doing right now???"  Of-course he does and we just shake our heads in unison.

Then Adrian, not to be outdone....never to be outdone (although I'm not sure how you outdo a kid who shoves a carrot stick and a soother in his mouth simultaneously)...sticks his carrot on the end of his nose and exclaims proudly, "Look guys, I'm just like Frosty!!!"

And there you have it.  Just another regular dinner chez Soden's.



**Stay tuned for Foodie Fridays where I will be doing a recipe post every Friday**

7 comments:

Perfecting Dad said...

Haha, sounds like a crazy house! Blood and gore and screaming everywhere. So does Daddy ever cook? Stereotypically the BBQ is the man's domain. Can't wait for foodie friday. This week maybe Nose Candied Carrots.

Ellen said...

Ah Yes...memories of dinner with small children never go away...trust me - never. Then they become teens and they are never home for meal time. That will be when you lose complete interest in cooking.

Lisa said...

Ha! PJ won't eat a lot of stuff I make for dinner, he's only 2 but I still wish he'd eat chicken and stuff. Any tips for me??

And please post recipes!! I love cooking!

January Dawn said...

It was a crazy house!! Crazier than usual anyway.
@Lisa -As for tips...not sure I have any good ones. We've always believed in feeding our kids whatever we're eating (exception being when they're babies) But as soon as they can eat solids they eat whatever I'm cooking though we might 'kid friendly' it a bit depending on what it is. It's not always easy but for the most part they're pretty good eaters...not sure if it's because of us or if we just got lucky. With the Foodie Friday recipes I will make sure there's is a 'kid friendly' version if required. I hope you enjoy them!!! :)

January Dawn said...

@ Alex - JOhn CAN cook but it's not something he's interested in although if I were to ever ask him he would have no problem doing it. As for bbq'ing it is stereotypically a male thing to do and he does the majority of it. I just started to get comfortable bbq'ing last summer after he told me how to turn it on like a hundred times. ;)

Tanya said...

Gong show! LOL As I sit here at work and read your blog...tsk tsk I know, but I can't help it...I get really close to my monitor and keep checking over my shoulder to see if anyone is coming...sneaky sneak...see what you do to me! XOX

Unknown said...

I'm looking forward to Foodie Fridays!