Grandparenting Through Food

I am told that having grandchildren is much better than having children. What I see from my children's grandparents, it comes from the ability to ignore most rules that parents must impose upon children. Ask my children about my father. They will tell you he's strong and determined. They will also tell you, he gives them ice cream for breakfast (and lunch). My father-in-law is wrapped around my daughter's little finger. She is, after all, the only girl (My husband has a brother. His first cousins are all male. We have two nephews, our two boys, and, finally, a girl. You can see how it happens.)

When grandchildren visit, there seems to arise a need to ply them with food and/or activities. Maybe it's a constant stream of "What are we going to do today?" We five are mostly homebodies. While we enjoy museums, movies, and attractions, we also like a good hibernation. Maybe it's the need to visit every "favorite" restaurant or to have everyone's "favorite" foods in the house.

There was candy. There was Coke. There was Snapple. There was Martinelli's sparkling cider. There were Kit Kats. There were three, maybe four, bags of Ghiradelli's miniatures. There were chocolate kisses. All we were missing were Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And there was meat, lots of meat.

Maybe it was so save me from having to cook. While both my parents cook, neither can be described as "a cook." I do most of the cooking while there. Maybe it was a Hanukah treat. Whatever it was, during the past week we ate Italian, Chinese, deli, sushi, and NY bagels. When we did eat in, it was a meat-fest. We eat red meat about once every six to eight weeks. At my parents we ate meat at least 3 nights. We arrived to meatloaf, which was followed by Hanukah turkey, which became a turkey pot pie, beef stew, skirt steak, twice, and lots of leftovers.  My arteries must hate me. I am not a fish person. There are few fish I enjoy, and I rarely will eat it the second day. Friday, while unpacking, I went food shopping. For my children and husband I bought premade roast chicken. For me, for the first time in my life, I bought fish. Yes. I have bought fish before. I have bought it because we put it on our menu. It's on our menu because it's good for us. I bought some because Gavi likes it, some because Sean likes it. I have never bought it because I really wanted it, until Friday. Did I really want it? Maybe not. But I really wanted an entree that was easy to cook, and involve any meat. If I even thought about eating meat, I think I'd be sick. So, I bought fish. I even ate some today, the second day. Tomorrow- lots and lots of salad.