This article/blog is really more about parenting and bonding than it is about food. I’ve written before about how I’ve used cooking and food over the years as a way of connecting with my kids and giving us some sort of centralized, bonding experience as a family. A couple weekends ago, I was making the Sunday morning pancakes and one of my nearly grown kids sat down at the kitchen bar and asked if I wouldn’t make her a few baby pancakes too? It has been a couple years since one of them has requested what used to be standard faire. So, sure enough, I dropped the tiny circles of batter onto the griddle and served her up a few babies along with her adult-sized pancake platter…
When my kids were littler, I learned that making a face on just about any type of food I offered up was guaranteed to cheer somebody up or make the meal a little more festive. You’d be surprised at all the different ways you can make food faces—arranging the pepperoni and cheese just so on a home made pizza; open-face sandwiches with the filling arranged like a face; squirts of ketchup or mustard drawn on to look like a face—it doesn’t always have to be a smiley face either—the more kooky and creative the faces get, the more likely you are to get a rousing reaction from your kid.
What else? Well altering the size of anything is good—a giant cookie or a tiny little waffle; it is also fun to try different dishes—serve a sandwich cut up in small pieces in a crystal candy dish or serve soup in a water goblet. And, ANYTHING served up on a silver tray is better. I have picked up several silver serving platters at garage sales and thrift stores and we still have meals where everyone gets their own silver tray (napkins and little salt well included).
It really doesn’t take any extra time than it would take to set the table and for a busy single mom, making food fun, special and creative has been one of the ways I could create a little connection in our sometimes scattered lives.
Also: When in Doubt–Bake Cookies