Food

Yeah, not going to lie; I’m benefitting greatly from my gift to her.

Just had the entire bag of salad leaves. All sorts and all delicious. Great texture, colour, flavour, condition. Washed them, tossed with half a cucumber, a handful of crumbled feta and some toasted pine nuts.
/Chefskiss.

Tuesday lunch.

Pata Negra Jamon and some of @Vince rose champagne

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Baller!

My kind of lunch

@Vince rose champagne

This stuff is delicious.

Oui, c’est vrai

That's the life!

And breakfast and snack, supper, anytime really

Son #1 just sent me this https://youtu.be/PdBrATEMPjM

Just took the padrón pepper challenge and lost. I've had hot padróns before but that was unnatural. Feel like I'm having a stroke.

Spanish Roulette

Relatives have just left, bust out the stops with homemade strawberry ice cream and cones.

Their kids - “IT’S GOT BITS IN IT! Not eating it.” Tantrum ensues.

My kid - Nomnomnomnomnomnomnom

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My kid - Nomnomnomnomnomnomnom

Satisfaction

Tried some short ribs for the first time. Some parts were so tender you almost couldn't feel them in your mouth.

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Short ribs are probably my favourite cut, but can take time. However, cooked in a slow cooker, a pressure cooker or slow and low in an oven or BBQ - or even sous vide - they can be incredible (and beef/ox cheeks aren't far behind if you are cooking them in a liquid).

Here's one from a Texas style BBQ meal on a trip last year (it was amazing):

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That selection looks almost like a Brazilian Rodizio.

All BBQ though - at Little Miss BBQ, Phoenix.

Yeah I shouldn’t gloat, it’s a constant battle finding new sneaky ways to get vegetables into ours but ice cream?!

I’ll admit I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a kid where just noticing a piece of onion or even the thought of a different texture can instantly deprive you of appetite. My wife calls me the human dustbin for good reason.

I find it fascinating. I've got six nieces and nephews and they all seem to have these quirks.ive even seen their parents cook their kids different meals.

The only difference I can spot compared to my upbringing is that they all seem to be empowered to have opinions about food.

If either me or my wife refused to eat something when we were kids, we would have gone hungry. This meant we HAD to eat everything with an open mind. Not saying that is necessarily the correct or righteous approach. In my wife's case, this was partly due to poverty. If you didn't eat what was in front of you, you didn't eat. In my case I think it was more down to the fact that my Mum had never fully shaken the idea of rationing and thrift.

While typing this just remembered my cousin who went through a face of refusing to eat anything other than fillet steak and chips for a year when he was a kid. And his parents permitted this.

We have a simple rule - you don't have to like it, but you do have to try it.

As a result our son is almost 8 and quite happily eats things like chili sauces, most vegetables and isn't afraid of spices. It also helps that we openly talk about foods we don't like and about how our tastes change over time. We routinely try our disliked foods again in front of him just to check that we still don't. Setting an example is huge - I always hated mustard and he has now watched me slowly gain an appreciation for it.

It also helps that we have roped him into helping in the kitchen early so he understands how things are made. He now quite happily, with supervision, makes his own porridge from scratch and scrambled eggs / toast. This past week, with some help, he made dinner for us . Not many kids would tackle scallops with pea puree and a lemon thyme risotto.

Making a tarte tartin, using leftover apples.
Going to try and make the caramel salted.

Sounds great. What time shall I come over?

quite happily eats things like chili sauces

Yeah, but he's half-Texan. So what? :)

I love me a good Tarte Tatin. I've never tried salting the caramel, but I do like to add cardamom.