Playful Teasing with Food

This is a really fascinating phenomenon to observe. Starting anywhere from five months of age on, babies discover on their own how to tease an adult by offering a toy or some kind of food, only to pull it away to make a teasing game out of it. Playful teasing. It becomes increasingly amusing for the baby as he or she repeats the gesture, especially if the adult’s reaction is amusing. Watch as our granddaughter Sephira, the day before she turns 13-months old, discovers that she can tease her grandpa as she offers him goldfish crackers from her cup.

Fishin' for Papas

Learning to Cook, Learning to Eat

After spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen on Saturday, Sunday night I wanted to make a dinner for two that was fairly quick and easy. It turned out quite well. Our menu was Glazed Salmon with Ginger from page 131 of Raman Prasad's Recipes for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet served with Pineapple Fried Rice from page 140 of Donna Klein's The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen. I'm enjoying cooking my way through two cookbooks to learn new techniques and cook outside the box of our usual fare, though I have a library of cookbooks that languish from neglect. In a way, I feel as though I'm learning to cook all over again, taking extra care to fully read each recipe and study the nuances of measurement and taste. I've enjoyed cooking over the years, but now I want to cultivate the "art of cooking".

 The closest full-service grocer is 13 miles from our rural home in Lorane, Oregon. If we want anything beyond the bare essentials, we have a distance to travel. To forgo the inconvenience of driving such a distance for a few items, we opted to forage from our pantry and refrigerator all that we could find of the ingredients for our meal and anything that would suffice as substitutes for what we didn’t have on hand. For the pineapple rice, I substituted almond oil for peanut oil, a can of crushed pineapple for fresh cut chunks and ground ginger in lieu of fresh chopped. For the marinated salmon, I substituted ground ginger for fresh and wheat-free soy sauce for the SCD Asian Sauce from page 173 of Prasad's cookbook.

Both recipes were very moist and flavor-rich. However, I think the next time I cook the pineapple rice I will reduce the turmeric from 2-1/2 teaspoons to 2 teaspoons. Although the recipe called for cooking and basting the salmon for 7-10 minutes at 325-degrees, I extended the cooking time to 13-minutes. Perfect! Next time I cook this salmon recipe, rather than toasting white sesames, I will garnish the top with black sesame seeds.

On the other end of the cooking and eating spectrum is Sephira, our 13-month old granddaughter.

Sephira's Mama and Dada are teaching her how to use a bowl and spoon without her food ending up on the floor, herself and others. Sephira has learned 40 signs, which include signs for food such as cereal, milk,  cookie and drink, as well as signing bib, eat, more, wash.... At such a very young age, Sephira has cultivated an appetite for most everything her parent's prepare for her, including very spicy foods and jalapeno peppers. Not only does Sephira enjoy eating a wide variety of foods, but also hands-on playing with food textures and her social interaction with family and guests at meals... that is until she's reached her limit of involvement, signing she wants down - all done!

"Kitchen!"

"Kitchen" means social time for both Chester and Picasso. Our family-size dining table is in the kitchen. Our  great room-kitchen is our gathering place to socialize and for meals. When it's time to eat, our pets migrate towards the kitchen, giving us their full attention.  Chester plays it safe, insisting only on seeing and smelling what we are about to eat. Picasso also observing with great interest, from the closest corner of his cage,  will nibble on the wee tastes we selectively offer him. To satiate his growing curiosity, Chester anticipates a few quick licks of an empty plate before it makes it to the sink. Picasso, has his eccentricities, too. He has a thing about licking the condensation off the outside of a goblet filled with ice water. We in turn, enjoy those times when licking our fingers while eating corn on the cob dripping with butter and other succulent foods demanding hands-on eating is part of enjoying good food to the fullest.

Picasso talks. His favorite phrase being "sweet"-"baby bird". He understands words that he can't speak; words that excite him, words like "Kitchen!" Besides seeds and nuts, Picasso has a regular diet of fresh fruits. When I say "Kitchen!" he knows I am about to serve him up fresh slices of apples, grapes and other seasonal fruits, and he might be invited into the kitchen to assist me. His favorite is a whole strawberry he can labor over to pick off and crack each seed as he eats them. Picasso is much like a toddler that won't eat his veggies, try as I may to get him to eat his vegetables. So, I hide them...

Here's Picasso's favorite recipe for Birdie Bread:

3 eggs
2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix
2/3 cup applesauce
1 jar baby food - carrots or sweet potatoes
1/2 cup frozen peas (and corn)
1/2 cup pellets

Mix all and bake at 450-degrees until toothpick comes out clean. Freezes well.