can someone get a sandwich around here?

in

Sandwich dinner is many family's cop-out meal. Not ours. For us, sandwiches for dinner turned out to be an emotional journey and a major turning point on our road to better times. Some people don't know this but my husband, Michael, is actually the self proclaimed king of sandwiches. See this post. Our kids however shun sandwiches. Last week Mack ate a few bites of salami and cheese sandwich and Michael was glowing for days.

The idea arose this morning. Me: Nate you've eaten 85 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this summer. Can we try another kind? Nate: no. Michael  "Nate I'm going to make some sandwiches for you to try tonight at dinner," translation: mommy is going to make sandwiches for us.

I bought some new breads and salami, then made egg salad. (It occurred to me that Nate likes hard boiled eggs so what if they were just mashed up?) I'll admit, I was somewhat hopeful that this dinner would change the rest of our lives,

An hour before dinner Nate fell into a funk. I don't want sandwiches for dinner, Don't worry, I said. There are lots of options...." he looked intrigued. "Like hot dogs," I lied. Nate made his way to his room saying he wanted to be alone. I gave him some cool down time then entered to find him crying. I held him, then threw a couple hot dogs in the microwave.

When we sat down to dinner, I was nervous, standing up a lot, making announcements and stopping Michael from saying anything that might ruin my master plan which was anything at all. I quickly spread some egg salad (but refrained from calling it "salad") on a lenders bagel and gave it to Nate, then proceeded to pretend to not care what happened next. Michael made Mack a salami sandwich  and I started to make myself a sandwich when a crazy thing happened. Nate ate the open-faced egg salad bagel and liked it. Next we tried a closed egg salad bagel with toothpicks and he ate that too. I was so excited that I rewarded him with no carrots required AND candy. Michael was pleased. Well done he said.

My theory is that seeing foods that Nate could reject (salami, ham, etc) gave him the leeway to choose something that looked familiar even if in a different form.

Unfortunately neither of us noticed that Mack didn't eat anything and he was up all night, hungry. It was a big cleanup and Michael had to leave early to play tennis in Queens. Looking back I will probably realize what a ridiculous person I have become, with fucked up values and an unhealthy need for my kids to eat well. But for the night, I called it a triumph.

everybody is nuts

In the land of crazy this month, Nate has actually shown some good strides in eating better (of course this happens as soon as I start a column called The Pickiest Eater for Brooklyn Based, which is all about how he eats nothing. He added strawberries and eggs and sausage on toothpicks (brilliant strategy!) to his growing roster.

Unfortunately, Mack seems to be giving up eating. If he absolutely can't have a "baba" and we've made that incredibly clear and there's been tears and flying objects, he'll occasionally stuff a bagel or 8 pieces of pasta in his mouth which simultaneously announcing "DONE!" No amount of coaxing can get him back to the table. He's a firecracker, always moving and always about to blow. He also is the kind of kid who prefers carrots to chocolate cake. He loves fruits and veggies and this weekend sucked on a lemon like I used to do as a kid. I felt proud and excited. But why isn't he eating better?

And in the third ring, Michael has adopted the Paleo Diet ala Dougy Lebow, which is Paelo plus booze and coffee...oh and yogurt but only in the morning. It was supposed to last a month but he's going into 6 weeks. He has lost weight and wants to lose more but mostly he likes not being hungry and eating bacon every day.

This was breakfast yesterday.

This was breakfast today.

It's Easton farmers market smoked ham with our CSA eggs fried in bacon fat (which we now use as oil because the Meat Hook Cookbook told us to and they are the coolest guys I can think of.) Although I haven't gone full cavewoman, Michael's diet has changed my eating and cooking too. There is very little bread in the house and we never have pasta for dinner. I think it is a healthier way of eating in concept (I"m also reading the Paelo Code) but I have a hard time with all or nothing type things. So I also eat ice cream.

Creatively, I've enjoyed the challenge. In the morning, I used to put a cereal box on the table and now there's 2 or 3 pans on the stove -- eggs, sausage, ham, bacon. The kids are starting to eat this kind of breakfast too (though usually in addition to waffles soaked in syrup.) And dinner is always some kind of fresh from the farm meat or fish and salad.