Thursday, September 22, 2005

Down home cookin.....

Today for dinner we made my favorite southern meal. MMMmmmm. I had some okra in my garden that was ready (it's one of the few things the rats won't eat) so I thought it would be okay to deviate from our planned menu and do something special. We had blackened salmon (I know, not strictly a southern fish, but it's cheap frozen at Sam's), smothered okra (mmmmm), and hush puppies (the boys call them just 'puppies'). I lived in Arkansas for a year and a half and learned to LOVE southern cooking, especially okra and hush puppies. The boys really liked the salmon and the hush puppies, but it was like pulling teeth to get them to even try the okra! We finally got them to try it by giving them a 'puppy' only after they ate one bite of okra. Sammy did it once (without spitting it out) after we all cheered him on. Brad liked the cheering (and the puppies) so much he ate several bites of okra, but he gagged a little on every bite. Oh well, can't win them all. I'll just sneak the okra into soups from now on.

Coming to you from the stream of consciousness,
Alberta

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It didn't help that Brad said "yeeeuck" the moment we put it in front of him. Within seconds, Sam was singing the same tune.

Next time we should get Brad on our side before dinner hits the table.

Anonymous said...

Yeah for okra. I wondered if it would grow well in SoCal. My friend from Eastern Texas bemoans that you can't grow okra in Ithaca, so the farmers market doesn't have it. He contents himself with frozen okra. =(

Anonymous said...

There is nothing like an older sibling to ruin your chances with the younger. Our older kids have taught the youngest to say "yucky" and "gross." She seems genuinely surprised when she discovers something we want her to try turns out not to be "yucky." Tell your boys their Aunt Liz is proud of them for tasting okra.