What I've been doing...

I have things to say pear chutney and some recent books I've read, but this week my energy has been directed elsewhere because I've been preoccupied with the fact that my kid wasn't eating lunch. The first week of first grade, he ate some of his lunch; by week two he figured out that if he doesn't eat, then he can play outside at recess for the entire lunch period. One day he brought home his lunch box full, except for having taken one tiny bite of a corner of his sandwich. That was it.

Unfortunately he actually needs to eat and not eating has led to some rocky afternoons.

Have I mentioned before that my sin of gluttony is clearly being punished by having a kid who is so indifferent to food?

So this week, I went into food-as-entertainment over-drive.

I made mini pizzas (whole wheat English muffins, Muir Glen organic pizza sauce, non-rgbh Trader Joe's cheese, and totally toxic pepperoni) with flowers and smiley faces:
I cut salami sandwiches into smiley faces,
and made PB&J sandwiches shaped like flowers with little pieces of papaya or raisins as their centers. I sliced apples into hearts and used tiny pig-shaped cookie cutters to cut out a menagerie made of cheese.

I would foresee making the city of San Francisco out of Jello if I wasn't trying to keep food dyes out of his diet. (Really, you have to go click on the link. See the Transamerica building made of Jello. Then watch the video clip of the whole thing jiggling during an earthquake simulation.)

And today, the effort paid off and he brought home an empty lunch box. Not coincidentally, he also had a really good day.

Week 3

This is the third week of school for Ian and I still feel like I'm in the middle of a whirlwind. For anyone else who needs a little Monday morning levity, I send you to this informative explication of The History and Geopolitical Importance of Pie.

Many thanks to Brian Pinkelman for bringing this overlooked piece of scholarship to my attention.