Blue and Yellow Icing
Yesterday we attended my nephew's 1st birthday party. Since one of the things that a kid is "supposed" to do on his/her 1st birthday is get really messy eating their first piece of cake, that's what I was expecting. (Our son totally destroyed an entire cake, while sticking gobs of chocolate icing in his mouth every now and then. However, I don't give my son cake or other sweets except on special occasion. A kid just doesn't need all that sugar. He'll discover it later on his own, I'm sure.)
I was a little disappointed when my sister-in-law just cut him a small piece and set it in front of him. He got a little on his hands, but that's about it. He obviously didn't really want to eat it. At that point, if the kid doesn't show interest in cake, then I don't think he should be forced to eat it. But then an elderly woman, their next-door neighbor, started shoving forkfulls of blue and yellow icing into the kid's mouth. I guess she thought she was helping.
my mom used to do that, only give us (me, my brother & sister) sweets on special occassions. but one day when we got a bit older, (i was around 12 or 13 years old) my mother was out and i was in charge of watching my younger siblings. we were snooping around the house looking through kitchen cabinets and stuff. when we discovered the holy grail, my mom's chocolate and cookies stash (the one she would only give to us on special occassions). we went nuts, we knew she would be home in a half an hour and we stuffed ourselves till we couldn't eat anymore. then took the remaining stash and hid it were my mom couldn't find it but we could eat later without fear.
nowadays my brother doesn't eat anything healthy at all. he usually eats fast food, sugar cereals, soda, cookies, chocolate and cake. he hates almost all vegetables other than potatoes and has NEVER eaten any type of fruits past the age of 8 years old. my sister eats a bit healthier but she always has a half of pound of candy either in her bedroom, purse or in her desk at work. and then there's me... i try to eat as healthy as i can. but if there is a bag of chocolate or a dessert i like in the house i can pretty much eat it all by myself. (i'm a bit particular about my chocolate though it has to be dark and has to be made with at least 50% cocoa.) i hate hard candy. but i love cakes, cookies, puddings or any other type of dessert.
i blame my mom for my dessert addiction. if only she gave us desserts more often to me and my siblings we wouldn't have turned out this way.
That's definitely something to think about. I don't plan on depriving my son of sweets forever, though. He will have his share of Little Debbie cakes eventually...I certainly did. Those Swiss Cake Rolls were the bomb!
Little Debbie, mmmmmmmm.
To add to the research data... My mom always had sweets around when we were growing up. We couldn't have as many as we wanted but a moderate amount was available to us on a daily basis. As an adult, I like sweets (especially a bit of chocolate or Mark's famous chocolate chip cookies) but I can go for six months of more without candy. And I'd choose french fries over dessert any day.
for my record, i think mcdonalds' food is much more destructive and addictive than sugary sweets. i mean they have a clown as a pitchman and each meal comes with a toy. what kid can resist?
here comes a digression: when i was a kid mcdonalds had a special where you could get 5 hamburgers for a buck. we had a giant deep freezer and my dad had a twenty dollar bill which conspired to create 100 frozen hamburgers. being the first family in the state of mississippi to own a microwave, we were only 45 seconds away from reconstituted goodness; or so that's how the theory went.
mcdonalds' hamburgers can sustain a lot of attacks but a precursor to the modern-day microwave imparted a gooey texture and an unpleasant taste as the pickles, bun, ketchup, mustard and bun became fused into one.
stay away from ronald.
wow, that reheating Mc D's real paints a vivid picture in my mind. luckily i wasn't eating lunch as i read this. the funny thing is i always picture McDonalds food as you described it after it was nuked -meat by product, pickles, bun, ketchup, mustard and bun fused into one.
i haven't eaten any fast food, (Fast food meaning McD's, Burger King, White Castle or even Wendy's.) in over i'd say 10 years.
When I was little, I used to love the Happy Meal. For some reason I really liked having hamburger, fries, and Coke in my mouth at the same time.
Now the only time I crave McD's is when I'm on the road occasionally. Has anyone seen Super Size Me? I'm sure there are people out there who really do eat fast food at every meal.
Mark: your tale of the freezer full of hamburgers makes me think why do people stock up SO much when there's a sale? There will always be another sale. My mom probably has 20 jars of relish in her pantry.