What am I, a short order cook?
It was such a warm day that the kids and I spent every other hour it seemed outside, enjoying the sunshine. Bliss. I thought it would be lovely to complete the day with a light dinner of cold Japanese soba noodles and a cucumber salad. It was the first time that I made zarusoba for my kids. The older child went off to her friend’s house while the younger one stayed behind to “help” me cook in only a way that a toddler can help.
I slaved away. Ok, maybe not slaved away because soba noodles are so easy to make (recipe follows), but the effort should count for something. My older child came back as hubby was coming home from work, and I thought we would all sit down to a lovely dinner.
The almost two year old slurped up his noodles, eating it in true Japanese street noodle vendor style, complete with flare. Gosh, he was so cute I even thought about giving him a pair of trainer chopsticks, but of course I didn’t for fear he would impale himself at dinner time, thus ruining the mood. It was almost Leave it to Beaver-esque.
Then the mighty four year old attitude came out. ”I don’t like this!” I don’t want to try something different today!” I want my OLD noodles.” ”Make me something else to eat!”
What?
You want me to…what?
Oh, I could feel the back of my neck boiling like the rest of the soba noodles. Hubby reprimanded our daughter sternly, sent her to her bedroom where she proceeded to kick at her door which prompted another round of stern warnings. We do not make idle threats in this household, and our daughter knows it. She calmed herself down, as she sulked in front of her soba noodle bowl once she rejoined the dinner table.
She asked meekly, “May I have some watermelons, please?”
No. Uh-uh. Try again.
“Do we have waffles? Can you make waffles?”
I mean, honestly, what am I, a short order cook? The last time that I fed my kids on demand was when we were nursing, but clearly I am still a short order cook to my daughter. No, she pouted and sulked in front of that soba noodle bowl though not daring to cry as that would have meant heading off to bed without dinner and waking up to find the same lovely soba noodle bowl in front of her for breakfast. Yes, we’re mean like that.
She finally caved. She took her obligatory one bite. Then she took another bite. Little brother was still slurping away at his noodles, and how I indulged and complimented him without saying anything to Miss Pouty Face who finished more than half of her soba noodles. Huh. I guess she liked them after all.
I asked her later what she thought about the noodles. ”They taste like bread and not pizza.” I’m not sure what that means, but I’ll take that as a conciliatory yes, she liked them.
Do you get grief sometimes from your kids for the choices you make at meal time?
Zarusoba: Cold Soba Noodle Recipe
1. Boil 1 bundle of soba noodles per person served until al dente. (Soba noodles come packaged in bundles, or at least the Japanese brand ones are like this.)
2. Rinse thoroughly with a colander under cold running water. Make sure that you rinse very cleanly to get all the starch off. Noodles may be chilled in the refrigerator.
3. Make the dipping sauce. I cheated and used bottled concentrated soba tsuyu (soba noodle soup base) because I didn’t have dashi on hand that is necessary to complete the sauce. Dilute the sauce to taste with water.
4. Serve the soba noodles on a plate with a bowl to hold the dipping sauce and a choice of optional condiments. (I mix the two together for the kids.)
Condiments we usually have on hand: chopped green onions, sliced toasted nori (seaweed), wasabi
That’s it! Simple.
Cucumber Salad:
1. Slice 1 cucumber in half and scrape out seeds.
2. Dice, slice, or cut however you like cucumbers.
3. Make a dressing of mirin (sweet rice wine), rice vinegar, sugar, and salt to taste.
4. Marinate the cucumbers in the dressing.
5. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Salmon or chicken teriyaki goes great with these dishes.
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Ugh, the criticism! Our house rule is that if you don’t like the meal, you can go without. My daughters have recently learned that one way to bypass this particular rule is to start grilling me about what we’re having for dinner on the car-ride home from daycare. They then criticize my plan and offer up alternatives. The thing is, the alternatives aren’t bad. So we compromise.
Many times I meal plan with my daughter so she has some input, but on the nights where I introduce something new, of late she feels the need to pitch a fit. I will give her credit though. At least she still tries one bite which is all that we ask.
LA, Last night there was a miracle straight from the heavens above. Last night I made spaghetti. They came in from playing, saw their dinner was ready, sat down and ate. Not a peep. It’s all about control. Thanks for the recipe!
When I began feeding my step daughters “healthy” food, the oldest would declare “I don’t like that!” even though she had never had it before. All I asked was that she try it and if she didn’t like it I wouldn’t force her to eat it. I love to see her face when she realizes she likes something she didn’t expect to. When she doesn’t like something I try introducing it to her again in a different variation. A majority of the time she like a vegetable mashed instead of steamed or chopped up in somthing instead of by itself.