Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Tuesday's dinner: slurping is illegal in New Jersey

At one of the very first meals Josh ever had with Alex, she got soup. When she slurped it, Josh convinced her that was illegal in New Jersey and suggested some Jersey cops might have come over the bridge into the Bronx and might arrest her by accident. He never told her the slurping just irritated his fancy ways. She has never slurped since.

I am trying to teach Josh that soup can be a meal. Some time I should just serve him a different type of soup every night of the week*. Josh feels like soup is an appetizer. We have had full-on arguments about this, complete with yelling.

Tonight I made lentil and barley soup with mushrooms. I put out a crusty baguette with it. Josh ate three bowls of it, and three pieces of bread. Then he asked me if we were having grilled cheese sandwiches. "No. This isn't tomato soup!"

*Now I totally want to do this next week.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why does Josh need to be taught that soup can be a meal? Is there a practical reason for this? An emotional one? Why is this something that causes the two of you to fight?

Maybe you mean you are trying to show Josh that soup can be a meal, trying to expose him to a different experience and hoping that he changes his mind, as he has done for you in other areas to your mutual benefit.

But "trying to teach" him sounds condescending.

And your plan to serve him just soup every night for a week sounds . . . vengeful?

Why can't you respect his food preferences as you expect him to respect yours?

If you mean you want to challenge yourself to prepare a soup that Josh will agree is a meal, that's different.

As for the actual disagreement, maybe it is a matter of semantics; one can have just a bowl of soup for dinner, but a bowl of soup isn't a meal.