It sounds like an episode of “Scooby Doo”.  I was recently in a yogurt shop getting sorbet (vegan) when I noticed my beloved Cap’n Crunch was one of the toppings!  It brought me back to Saturday mornings waiting to watch “School House Rock” (the BEST) in between my all-time favorite cartoon “Scooby Doo”.  I always ate the cereal dry and it was just about the only junk food that was sort of condoned.  I think my folks were just glad I was leaving them alone so they could get some much needed extra rest.  I would park myself with a bowl in front of our big console TV on our brown carpet and let the next hour or so fly happily by.  Cracker Jack had prizes in them but nothing could top the day I got my glow-in-the-dark Spooky Pirate!  I remember digging my little hand in all the way up to my shoulder to get to the bottom of the box in order to fish him out.  To this day I still have him and he still glows!  I cherish him and now my daughter loves him as well.  Before all the healthy stuff that only old people were stuck eating when I was a kid we were free to enjoy sugar without guilt.  And it gave me the energy to rollerskate to disco in my Jordache jeans at the roller rink all afternoon.  British playwright Tom Stoppard said, “If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.”  Spooky Pirate has been with me for about 38 years now.  And when I see him I still feel like I’m seven.

When Mama and Daddy were in high school, she said Daddy went up to her on the stairs, pressed a note in her hand, and then RAN off!  He was too shy to actually speak with her and in his note he asked her to attend a box supper.  I did not know this, but apparently it was where the girls made a supper, put it in a box, decorated it and then the boys would bid on the boxes.  Of course they wanted to win the chance to share dinner with the girl they liked but I don’t think you were supposed to know who made which box.  I believe it was for a church so that’s where the proceeds went.  I have always thought it was romantic (if slightly sexist) and it turns out that was their first date.  So my title is intended to be punny but I did not know how many people would appreciate it without the explanation.  A client recently gave me two box dinners that come delivered to your door complete with all the fresh ingredients and all you have to do is dump them in a pan and cook them.  I chose two vegan, gluten free ones and both my husband and my daughter flipped!  It was absolutely delicious and SO NICE to have all the ingredients right there and premeasured.  I still cooked it but it was so much easier.  It was such an unexpected delight!  I love cooking for my family but, as everyone out there knows, making the time for it is not always easy.  French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.”  This meal managed to thrill my meat eating husband, my gluten intolerant child and my deep sense of animal ethics.  (I omitted the yogurt to make it vegan.)  Plus it was absolutely delicious!  It had chickpeas, green beans, tomato sauce, onion, a serrano pepper, curry, basmati rice (my favorite) and fresh ginger that I can recall.  I had never even cooked with fresh ginger before.  We even had left-overs the next day.  I just may find myself boxing up more dinners in the future.  Bon appétit!

Dallas was all abuzz a few years back at the news we would be getting Trader Joe’s.  I had no idea what the fuss was about until we visited my cousins in Arizona and every delicious thing she made came from Trader Joe’s.  When they finally opened in Dallas, I was thrilled to discover they were like a cross between Whole Foods (or “whole paycheck” as is often joked) and maybe an ALDI.  My little one was even more little then and she LOVED pushing the kid’s cart around.  We definitely needed the one with the flag as a warning to others though!  She had just learned to walk so she wielded it somewhat drunkenly around the store.  Tenacious little thing; she refused to let me help.  I even have video of her unloading all the food from her little cart by herself so S L O W L Y and the darling man was just smiling and waiting with the patience of a saint for her to finish.  That’s when I really fell in love with Trader Joe’s.  Their food was great (we only buy organic), their prices were great (half the cost of Whole Foods) and the people MADE it by being so consistently kind!  Everyone knows kids love stickers.  And I happen to love samples.  So the little one and I enjoy shopping there for both the former and the latter, among other reasons.  Here it was the day before St. Patrick’s Day and this cheery, kind woman was handing out samples.  When I explained my little girl could not try any because of her gluten/dairy/egg intolerance, she came out and asked Maris if she liked stickers.  Not only did that cheer her up, the woman proceeded to take the lighted shamrock necklace she was wearing and insist upon my little girl having it.  What a kindness.  Such a sweet thing to do when she certainly did not have to.  Another clerk overheard about her food allergies and went and found us two complete lists of everything in the store they offer that my little one can have!  He went out of his way to help and did so cheerfully.  Neiman Marcus knew the real secret to success was great customer service.  And Trader Joe’s should be commended for consistently hiring happy, kind, kid-friendly, educated people who genuinely care about what they’re selling and to whom they sell it.  That is indeed a rarity in today’s world.  Mother Teresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”  God bless you Trader Joe’s for making a four year old’s trip to the grocery store so happy.

I was so excited!  It was finally my turn to shop for the class snacks for our daughter’s school.  Each kiddo has one week where they provide for their class’ snacks each day and also fresh flowers, which I adore.  They have little vases all around the room and they get to practice flower arranging.  Plus I was not aware whomever brings the snacks gets to designate a snack helper (a big deal when you’re four) and they are in charge of placing the snacks out each day for the week.  Our little one was so excited!  Ironically we started the year with no food allergies except a mild one to cinnamon.  In the past several weeks, as I have blogged, we have discovered she is gluten intolerant and cannot have dairy or eggs either.  And yet prior to this I can guarantee I would have looked over the allergy issues list and carefully shopped for ALL the children.  For instance, someone is allergic to peanuts so I simply would not have bought any peanut butter or anything else made where there are peanuts.  Other parents have not been as considerate and my child got sick THREE TIMES from eating cheese, dairy and gluten.  How is a four year old supposed to know there are eggs in brownies?!  So I have brought mine her own snacks and her teacher was sweet enough to make her a special basket that has her name on it.  My heart hurts at the thought of any child being left behind or singled out.  And now it is personal.  So we went to Whole Foods and we got “our” pretzels (which I defy ANYone to say they can tell any difference), gluten free applesauce, the Pirate’s Booty that does not have dairy, bananas, mandarin oranges, and hummus that says for sure that it is gluten free.  Not only was it not that hard, I felt great knowing EVERY child in that classroom would be safe eating the organic, allergy-free food I had provided.  And, best of all, mine would be serving “her” food that they could all eat and she would not be left out!  Oh how we forget what it was like to be little.  Our little problems are their big ones.  I cannot change every week for her but I am getting to change this one.  It will be a glorious week where my girl serves the same great food for all.  Pope Francis said:

“We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love.  Be poor among the poor.  We need to include the excluded and preach peace.”

My daughter already knew the importance of compassion.  Now she knows first hand what it is like to be on the other side; sadly a part of everyone’s life at some point.  But no one will be excluded on my watch:  personal or not.

In the week since I’ve found out my little one is gluten intolerant and also cannot have dairy or eggs we have been to two birthday parties.  Both served pizza and cupcakes.  Both she could not eat.  At the first party she cried because she wanted to stay and sing “Happy Birthday” to the birthday girl.  (I was trying to get her out before they started eating.)  God bless them for being considerate enough to get her a dairy free, egg free, gluten free cupcake.  I know you won’t believe this but you would never know the difference; it was truly delicious.  I have now discovered snack mix she can have while others are eating pizza and I hope to get to the point where I bring her own pizza discreetly and slip it in.  The great thing is it requires vegan cheese and she is developing my sensitivity to animals.  Whether or not she is headed down the path to being a vegetarian I cannot say, but cutting dairy is such a wonderful thing to do for the cows.  She had a great time and proudly ate her cupcake along with everyone else.  I am told Disney World accommodates gluten free as well as other food allergies, God bless them.  I left today’s birthday party with an elated kiddo who informed me she did not need a nap but dozed off mid-sentence.  American author Peter Guber said, “Stories aren’t the icing on the cake; they are the cake!”  I look forward to enjoying a lot more cake with my precious, beautiful Baby Doll.

It’s official.  The doctor called with the results from my four year old’s endoscopy and she is gluten intolerant.  I am grateful she does not have a more serious disorder.  As anti-GMO as I have always been I feel woefully ignorant of the fact that basically gluten is a filler they’re putting in all our food.  I don’t allow the wolfies or kitties to have any grain/fillers in their food!  And yet here we’ve been chucking it down unwittingly all this time.  I truly had no idea how prevalent it is.  Again, I’m looking at this as a blessing in disguise.  Our bodies weren’t meant to digest this and I’ve been speaking with more and more people who are refusing to eat gluten simply because they realize it is bad — not because they have any problems with it.  So my little one and I were looking through the grocery store to see what we could eat and she was the one who asked about pretzels.  I told her I had no idea but we could check.  I immediately found these and could not believe it was gluten, dairy and egg free:  the three things she cannot have.  I did not even know it took eggs to make pretzels to begin with.  We decided to break them open right there in the aisle and I prayed they wouldn’t taste like cardboard.  I have never really yearned for pretzels and these are terrific!  They taste so good it’s shocking.  Christian novelist C.S. Lewis said, “Every disability conceals a vocation, if only we can find it, which will ‘turn the necessity to glorious gain.”  I was elated for my little one and knew if we’d found this we would find other things.  And we would be OK … perhaps even better than we were before.

At the grocery store yesterday I found a freshly made salsa pineapple mango and thought I would try it with dinner tonight.  The ingredients are mango, pineapple, onion, cilantro, habanero peppers, jalapeño, salt, lime juice, and lemon.  Um, I ate it for breakfast.  I just sat there and ate it straight until I looked down in disbelief that it was all gone.  It was so delicious and already prepared.  I have found it is increasingly difficult to do prep work for dinner.  I no longer peel garlic; I just buy the organic minced in a jar.  Sometimes the time preparing can mean the difference between having a real dinner and just saying OK everyone has to fend for themselves.  My mother cooked every meal from scratch and I remember how much Daddy appreciated it.  I think my husband feels the same way; his love language seems to be food.  😉  My daughter likes to set the table and we do not have phones out during dinner.  A couple of wolfies under the table and cats eyeing us from the piano maybe but no iPads or newspapers either.  Some days though I just can’t swing it and we eat leftovers or get take out.  Sometimes our schedules don’t permit and we cannot eat together.  I am striving to be better about preparing before hand to maximize our time and also to maintain a better routine.  I would much rather be sitting with my family with dinner already done than in the kitchen rushing to finish it.

“In truth a family is what you make it.  It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit. ~ Author Marge Kennedy 

So I am going back to the grocery store for more of that fabulous salsa — this time to marinate with chicken breasts.  I have no idea what’s for dinner tonight.  But I look forward to my four year old saying she can carry the plates by herself and to seeing the gleam in my husband’s eyes when he pronounces it’s delicious even though he will not have even tasted it yet.  And hopefully we will add some memories as we savor the time spent in the company of one another.

When I first moved into our house I truly thought neighbors would greet us with casseroles.  I’d always had this vision of what people who lived in houses were like.  My father never met a stranger and my mother never really focused on anyone outside of our little family.  I suppose I am a mix of both.  Whenever we are out walking we always smile and wave at whomever passes; car, bicyclist, and runner alike.  It is so nice when someone smiles and waves back.  When Maris was born the stork came — literally.  I had a yard sign put out with a huge stork holding a baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket bearing her name.  In a week or so they came for the stork but we got to keep his delivery.  It has hung in her room ever since.  I remember being so touched because this woman a couple of streets over saw the sign and hand-crocheted the most exquisite, delicate little pink hat and booties for her that I had ever seen.  A woman who had hoped for children of her own but never had any took the time to make something so precious for someone whom she had never even met.  I wrote a thank you note telling her we would cherish them always.  The other night we were at our favorite local Tex-Mex restaurant and to my delight we saw them.  She could not believe our baby was now four and I was so proud Maris said hello and thanked her for the gifts once I’d told her what our neighbor did for her when she was tiny.  We had a great talk with the lady and her husband who are both retired and reluctantly went to our table.  After dinner we asked for the check and were shocked to find out it had already been paid by our neighbors!  It was such a wonderful thing to do, and from people we like so much but never see.  I intend to reciprocate and look forward to either having them over for dinner or to taking them out soon.

“Each day holds a surprise.  But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us.  Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy.  It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.” ~ Dutch Clergyman Henri Nouwen

I realize I have spent too much time chasing after fantom casseroles when I could have been enjoying much better Tex-Mex all along.

Sometimes Maris and I treat ourselves to Starbucks.  She feels very grown up and I let her have juice as a pick-me-up.  Mama gets a mocha frappuchino as her pick-me-up.  We share pumpkin seeds and talk about our day.  I enjoy my daughter’s company immensely.  She calls it “girls’ time”.  We have savored our goodies al fresco when the weather has permitted and “our” Starbucks has raised bar stools on one side with booths on the other which we also enjoy.  She brings her things to the counter and thanks the barista before going off to procure our spot.  I always have my permanent cup in the car in case we decide to stop.  We have patted pooches and visited with “neighbors” sitting next to us.  They know us now and it reminds me a bit of the lyrics to the old TV show “Cheers”:

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.

You wanna go where people know, people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows your name.”

I look forward to the next time we sit down and clink our drinks to commence our time together; “Cheers” to many, many more.

Anyone who knows me even remotely realizes how I feel about animal ethics.  I was a vegetarian for fifteen years before finally eating meat on my journey to get pregnant.  After giving birth I have come to terms with only eating chicken.  I do not want to become a diabetic as I get older like my mother did.  Having said that, it is a struggle to eat it.  I always buy compassionately raised chickens, free range eggs, etc.  Last week I was sickened to learn what big farming does to dairy cows.  I strive to uplift on my blog so I will spare anyone faint of heart the details, but it is truly awful.  So much so that I cried and resolved to try to go vegan.  Meanwhile, my four year old had been complaining about her tummy hurting every single day for several months now.  Concerned it wasn’t going away, I decided to take her to a pediatric gastroenterologist.  She had to have three very large vials of blood drawn and did so without making even one tiny peep — plus she watched.  So she is tough!  My husband once famously very nearly passed out over just HEARING the word “cervix”.  *eyes rolling*  Anyway, it turns out she has a mild allergy to dairy and eggs and has been told to avoid them.  She is practically a fromage gourmand.  Our Whole Foods cheese department appreciates her sophisticated palate and we have scored all these terribly expensive French cheese samples every time they’ve seen us.  Then there are the trips for yogurt after school and pizza Saturdays.  I was ashamed of myself when I thought of the kids and parents who live in constant fear over peanuts or even the kiddos allergic to gluten.  We are blessed and this is nothing.  So I explained to Maris that we were going to give the cows a break and start having milk from almonds.  We bought two different almond yogurts to try as well as almond cheeses.  (I do not want her having soy because I know it disrupts estrogen levels.)  I can honestly say we both like the chocolate almond milk better!!  I know dairy isn’t great for us anyway.  In a show of solidarity, I got my mocha frappuchino from Starbucks with coconut milk and it was delicious.  So I am truly looking at this as a blessing in disguise:  better health and kindness to animals.  Irish Nobel Prize winner George Bernard Shaw once quipped, “Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my friends.”  I do not want to hurt my friends either.