A Few of my Favorite Things

You already know a “few of MY favorite things” but today I wanted to write about one of my favorite people. My daughter to be exact.

I remember when my oldest daughter was five years old… she brought home a picture that she drew in first grade (she was a young first grader.) On the crumpled piece of construction paper was what looked like a triangle with funny shapes on it; some little mounds (I thought maybe rocks); and something that resembled an upside down moon with spiky rectangles on top of it. The title of this masterpiece was “My Favorite Things” written beautifully by her teacher. And then underneath each drawing, my daughter bravely attempted to write the descriptions.

Go figure MY daughter would be the one kid in class whose favorite things all focus around food. But even better were the descriptions. Under the triangle, in her adorably cryptic handwriting, was written “Pizza.” But of course the Z’s were written backwards. Under the mounds was written “Sushi.” Surprisingly no spelling mistakes there. And under the half moon rectangular figure were the words “Ponno Laforo?” Literally with a question mark next to it. When I asked my daughter what that particular phrase meant, she seemed annoyed – as though I should know. And spoke exactly what the letters spelled “Ponno Laforo!”

Hmmm… I thought this was very sweet – she was using her imagination to make up food names. I proceeded to ask her more questions about this mystery meal, sort of playing along. She went on to remind me “It’s fancy mac and cheese, mommy!” Of course… Penne Al Forno! That’s what her third favorite thing was! I then asked (excitedly) how she remembered the real name of this favorite dish… and she simply stated that she remembered that I had called it by that name. I then explained to her that it’s actually just mac and cheese and that her teacher probably would have understood if she said that. But then she retorted “It’s fancy Mac And Cheese, Mommy!”

She is now almost 11 years old, owns 4 cook books, has her own set of bake-ware, watches Top Chef with me, and is a huge help in the kitchen. If she and I are making a meal, I do my best to not “kid-ify” the culinary lingo. She (and most kids in general) are more apt to eating something “different” if they had something to do with the creation of it. An adventurous eater she is not, but she’ll always try something as long as it looks like food. Hopefully she will take the throne as queen foodie of the house one day and teach me a thing or two… I’d love that.

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