You can eat me!

I remember till 10 years back, it was an effort to get my elder kid to eat anything. As far as junk was concerned, he being the first born was kept in dark about its existence.No cookies,chocolates, cola or icecream for him.Still one could not dissuade some over indulgent well-wishers from bringing in toffees or chocolates and therefore I found a novel way out of it.I told him that these fancy looking things are supposed to be aimed at the dustbin:-) and so it was.Till he went to a Birthday party one day ,of course unaccompanied by me and came back an enlightened soul.He tells me-' You know Mom, you can use these things in another way- just unwrap them and put them in your mouth. You should try one -they taste sweet!

I tried novel ways of getting him to open his mouth when I wasn't force-feeding him like tickling,opening my own mouth wide or narrating stories.Popeye was a big help in getting him to eat his greens.The first time I saw my elder one opening the Refrigerator door and standing with wonder in front of it, I asked him what was the matter.'I am thinking what to eat', he said.And my relief knew no bounds.I knew my days of fretting and toiling over food were over.

Alas, little did I know.

I have two kids now and they are always hungry and have discovered all types of food and I have to tell them to stop eating.I have to hide laddoos and mathris and namkeens and gajar ka halwa lest my labour of love of 3 hours ends in their tummies in 30 minutes.By the time I am winding up the lunch, it is time for snacks. And the question which haunts me the most is'Do we have anything to eat?'  And I have a mind to imitate my mom and tell them-' There is nothing left in the house, now you can eat me!' And I chuckle at the thought.

Still I love feeding my kids and they have simple tastes.And since I am not a very accomplished cook, they appreciate whatever I make for them.So much so that my younger one tells me- The chapatis and dal is out of the world.'But Kartikeya Vajanti Auntie( my help) made it'.'So what, you heated  the dal in an excellent way'.

I try my best to give simple culinary experiences to my kids and they love my cooking experiments.I know that nothing can beat 'Maa ke hath ka khana'.