Raising a silver spoon

I’ll be the first to admit, I am one of those moms. I’m a party crasher. I show up with my kids at the restaurant where you are having your first awkward date or a stuffy business meeting.  I’ll be wearing yoga pants, have a buttload of cheerios stuck to my shirt, a crazed look of hunger in my eyes. I’ll be eager to sit down at the next available table and take some food photos all while bouncing my 11-month-old and entertaining my 3-year-old. I swear, I’m not nuts. I’m just a mama squirrel tryin to get some nuts *wink *wink. For me, meal time is family time.  With the exception of date night with my hunk-of-a-man, eating out is an all inclusive affair and I like my lil nutty love muffins to be included. I’m all about raising my kids to be shiny, happy silver spoons (minus any pretension). Not to worry, I got ‘em well trained. They do pretty darn well at restaurants and they enjoy the experience as much as I do, especially when there’s rice involved.

Yes, I picked this up before leaving. I also see why some people are anti-kid for this reason and this alone. But let’s give rice and peas a chance, right?

What is Foodie Approved?

Foodie Approved: Somewhere i can get this…

I’d like to re-invent the idea of “Kid-Friendly” into “Families Welcome AND Foodie Approved.” As much as I love a playground and good food. I’ll take the food over the playground. During my journey to feed my children gourmet goodies I have noticed two things: First, even folks who are so called “foodies,” sometimes  give their kids mystery meat with a side of red dye #5. Why?  Convenience, low cost, or maybe just too many hairy eyeballs at the cool spots?  I write this without judgements.  Heck, I go to the Starbucks drive-thru at least 3 times a week due to convenience and living in the burbs. Secondly, when visiting a new city with my children and asking a seemingly food lovin’ local for a lunch recommendation more often then not they suggest mass produced muck (Friendly’s, Denny’s or IHOP).  Three words: Yuck, Gross and Disgusting!  Just because I come encrusted with crispy cheerios does NOT mean I want to feed my family junk. I want the place where the food enthusiasts roam, where the local meat is being tenderized, where the beef is as grass-fed as a hamster, where the walls look like the 60′s we born again, where the hipsters are a plenty, you get it.

Where am I going with this? If you’re a parent with a mountain of Mickey D wrappers in your minivan, I invite you to join me as we re-invent the family foodie wheel.  Or if you’re recommending a restaurant share the good spots not the grease spots.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Be honest. Let’s stir the organic soup pot. Either, I’m as loony as a bag of fruit loops or are you are on the “foodie approved” bandwagon?

If you’re with me please sign up for the FAST FOOD FREE petition, (no worries: Chipotle is not considered fast food) you can sign your name by commenting below.

If you think I’m coocoo for cocoa puffs and should shut my food lovin’ pie hole, kids n all Please dish…

*Check back soon for more information and a list of certified, “Family Friendly and Foodie Approved” places.

For the past 2 weeks I have lost my sense of smell and TASTE! Damn you Texas Ceder. Even after a plethora of Neti Potties I still I wake up each morning and run down stairs sniffin’ anything I can get my hands on and chuggin’ OJ to see if I can taste it. I admit it I’m desperate. A foodie loosing her taste/smell is like Dolly Parton loosing her Tatas voice. My master palate has been put on pause and my master love affair with the edible on hold.

(Oh-Beautiful plate of food. I cannot taste, there for I am not.) I know I’m really deep.

As much as this has been a curse it has given me time to reflect on how much my senses of taste and smell mean to me. As much as food, flavor, taste, smell, and chasing food dreams rules most of my life. This month I asked myself, “at what expense?” Truthfully, I have yearned for a ripe grape to burst into my mouth or to indulge in my rich dark morning coffee, or even to smell my babie’s fresh-from-the-tub hair. Yet I notice that I have been much more easy-going. *Gasp* I know it’s hard to believe.

Full Disclosure – some of you may have seen me throw a food tantrum when my food dreams are spoiled by mediocre food or bad service.  I shamefully remember dragging my family around NYC with a crazed, hypoglycemic look in my eyes so angry that I couldn’t find a real smoothie when I craved one.  Let’s not forget how often I send dishes back to the kitchen for being slightly burned, under ripe, or drenched in dressing.  And I wish I could take back the dirty looks I shot at my hubby when he forgot the butter on my blueberry pancakes.  I know for a fact I have made some of you cringe when eating out with me.  Perhaps, there is room for a new balance of having high standards without the tantrums or melt downs and keep some chutzpah.

As much as I miss my tastes I have a new committtment to my love affair with the edibles. Deep breath…Ok, I think I can..I think I can…

Dear Food, If I’m really hungry…I will love you even if you’re not perfect. I will eat you even if you’re not exact. I will cherish the moment and still keep my standards high without costing me my friendships or my marriage.

Fewww it’s nice to get that one off my chest. Ok, universe I promise to behave… now can I have my senses back?

Where does your balance of annoyance and high standards lie? Bring your shame game up a notch or two. For me, I see loosing my sense of taste has gained my sense of perspective. Is being a hungry witch-on-wheels really worth the perfect bite?  I think not.

 Tastefully balanced,

One Saucy Mama.

Here’s my sweet Lil Bean Sprout exploring food for the first time (I know he is one Delicious little man, isn’t he?) I could just eat him up.

I have a serious confession.  As he experienced the colors, the tastes, the smells and the textures of good food my mind was spinning like a dradle in the middle of Chanukah.   My heart skipped a beat every time something landed on the floor or rolled off the place mat.  I was as nervous as a long tailed donkey in a room full of rocking chairs. Me, a Mama who prides herself on her passion for the edibles was turning into a meat ball of stress.

Yikes!

Let me explain… My Lil Bean Sprout was happy for about 15 minutes playing with his green salad and his banana-in-a-mesh-bag-thingy.  In baby time this is equivalent an 8 hour day marching around the San Antonio Zoo.  I bet you’re asking yourself… Shouldn’t she have been happy that her son was content for a full 15 minutes?  Unfortunately, No!  I was fighting a battle with my inner-self.  As the beautiful food chaos blossomed my maternal urges for cleanliness and order surged and I just about swiped that lettuce out from under him.

Oi Vey!

( Key words here, Just About)

Instead I had a small victory over my Type Anal personality. I tried to sit back, relax, and let nature take it’s course.  He was tasting, looking, touching, licking, slapping, drooling, gripping and twisting; and it really made this Food Lovin’ Mama proud.

There is a life lesson in this post.  My fellow Food Lovin’ Mamas out there, let’s make a joint pact: No crying over spilled salad.

Deep Breath. We can do it.  We have vacuum cleaners and/or husbands.  These spontaneous moments of joy can only be captured for a short time.  Let’s sit back and let our little sprouts play with their food.  Trust me it’s worth it, even if you do end up stepping on something slimy at 2am.  Let Go and Let Food.

Until next time…

Foodie /ˈfuːdi/ A lover of the edible and any and all things delicious, especially PB&J.

A few weeks ago I met an endearing older couple at my favorite Indian place in San Antonio, Indian Palace. They were attractive, smiley, outgoing, and I overheard they had been coming to this restaurant for 20 years. This peaked my already overly curious interest. I ever so impolitely asked them, “What are your other favorite restaurants in the area? ” They looked at me with wide eyes and bright shiny teeth and said proudly, ” Oh, we’re foodies!” The woman continued to explain, “We love so many foodie places.”  Then listed off the following” hot spots”… Golden Corral (a cafeteria style buffet), Church’s (AKA fast food chain known for fried chicken) and Rudy’s (questionable bbq). I was left perplexed and ready to barf due to mental images of brown rubbery meats. I asked myself the only question I could…”If they are “foodies” where does this leave me?” After my disappointment and failure to collect any further food gossip, my hubs and I had a philosophical discussion about what a “Foodie” really is. Update: we still have no clue? If you ask me the term “foodie” has been thrown around so much it’s like a dead muskrat on the side of a highway. I believe that ‘food enthusiasts’ are yearning deep in their food porn dreams to have some other term to describe themselves. So…What the heck do you call someone who loves food?  A fatty? I personally like the urban dictionary definitions of “Foodie,” especially this one: (with my edit)

To me a real “foodie” has a spaghetti sauce stained apron with a hair net and a bowl full of homemade pasta fagioli served up with an ice cream scooper!  Maybe add on an Italian accent and toothless grin.  I’m sure you could come up with a nice lil stereotype on your own. You know how Eskimos have at least 100 words for Snow, well, there must be at least as many for ‘foodies’ too, right? Let me see here, what would an Eskimo call a “foodie”? Probably something like “Ttaaakeeshema”  meaning hungry warrior with great big belly.” Hang on I’ll google it for ya, Eskimo words for food lover…sorry i got distracted by Husky dog names. In all seriousness, I want to explore some other options than the obvious. Mostly to put myself in my own category, you know have a little box to check in my food lovin’ brain. Here’s what my creative mind for the moment came up with…

Food enthusiast (a little snobby), Foodist (still in the snobby category), Food Lova Lova (Call me Mr. Boom Bastic.. Boom Boom), Food Aficionado (professory), Edible the Incredible (the superhero), Food Whisperer (we aint talkin’ dogs here), Hungry Harriett (opera singer), Foodundies ( or boxer briefs), Edimama (mother/food lover NOT soy bean), Moodie (mother seeking food on empty stomach), Food Fanatic (probably wears fanny pack and stone washed jeans), Food Thunder Warrior (flatus), Food Goddess (new age), Food Expert (dorky), Food Worshipper (desperate), Food Junkie (IV soy sauce), Gastrocurious (sciencey), Lover of the Edible. ( Jackpot!)

When cool people feel that ordinary folks (like muah) get ahold of their lingo the hipness instantly disappears. Come on people, can’t we all be happy hippies and hug broccoli trees together?  I hope I got your food Lova Lova wheels turnin’, I look forward to expanding my edible horizons, along with you, don’t be shy leave your foodundies at the door…stains and all! {smile}

Wee Little Eater

Ever since I can remember I have loved good food! Being raised by my uber hippy parents, after breast milk (of course!), I think my first foods were poached salmon, avocado, and homemade tofu. My palette was refined and we didn’t even have electricity!  By the time I could walk, talk, and read I used to spend hours making menus on my grandma’s 1985 computer (the big one with the black screen and green font)! In between the many many hours I spent at my deluxe kiddie play kitchen, I won’t mention the things I used to serve up in that puppy, let’s just say one has to start somewhere! In between the tofu and homemade poo poo platters, I was lucky enough to be taken to some of the coolest, eclectic, yummy places to eat! Yes, for seven years I was ‘that’ only child who goes with her parents EVERYWHERE, even out for a nice dinner! I still remember the crusty warm bread at Papa Joe’s restaurant in Plattsburgh NY. The refreshingly creamy and fresh guacamole from Desperados restaurant in Lake Placid, NY ( I still love it there)! Even though we lived in the “Boonies” my parents gave me the greatest gift any parent can give their children, good, healthy, and terrific food! I was raised off the land, literally and my blood didn’t have the slightest amount of red dye#56699 until I became a teenager, I mean what’s adolescence without a little cheese wiz. “{yuck!} I think in oder to define what delicious really is we must also look at what it really is NOT, thank you adolescence and late night snacks of processed goobley gop!

From Juicer To Baby Producer

I got back on track during my sophomore year of college, yes some of you may remember me the girl from suite 303 lugging her juicer to the common area at 6am. {uggh, can we say EXTREME!} I had a literal thirst for healthy morsels of deliciousness and unfortunately didn’t have the most graceful way of sharing this extreme lifestyle change. I traded the booze of college for the organic green drink I concocted at 6am, let’s just again say one has to start somewhere! I traded in my meal plan and ate at the local restaurants, in one of my favorite central New York towns, Oneonta {insert shout out to Autumn Cafe!} I spent my meals out on the town with either some poor guy I was dating at the time or some colorful local that I met on my self-imposed journey to enrich my life (again not so gracefully at times). After college I met my hubs, Dr.M.T. Stringer, the greatest man this side of Texas, literally (we currently live in San Antonio)! 7 years and 2 babies later here I am! A wife, mama, sister, daughter, friend, and still a lover of the edible!  So what if I sit at home most week days in yoga pants watching Top Chef re-runs, I still know my Sh**!  I digress… SO if you haven’t gotten either hungry or bored from reading this, what is my point? Why read this food blog along with the slew of other foodie foodsters out there?  Because, I’m funny, candid, and anyone who has ever had the privilege to eat out with me { I hope we are still friends} can attest I know my stuff, I send it back if it aint yummy,  I can sniff a local hotspot a mile away, I am a service expert (waited on tables for 10 years), and boy or boy I love to eat! Cheers, and hopefully you will come on this journey with me as I taste and occasionally over comma along the way!