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by Susan Gross
![bird_feeding2sm-may06[1].jpg](/uploads/bird_feeding2sm-may06[1].jpg)
“Mom, what’s for dinner?”
Oh, no. Not those dreaded words. Is it really another dinner time again? Didn’t we just have one?
Now, before you get all huffy about my lack of parenting skills, let me say this: I love my 8 year old in that way that makes people’s eyes roll in their heads with irritation as I obliviously wax poetic about her. But here is the issue: I cannot cook. And I mean that quite seriously and literally. I burn things – chicken, broccoli or, even pasta (that’s what happens, folks, when you forget about the pot and the water evaporates). Left to my own devices, cereal and milk make me perfectly happy. However, I have discovered that this is not the optimal daily dinner for an 8 year old – one who rather enjoys food at that!
And so I have my repertoire. And it does not involve putting actual flame to anything: Amy’s Mac & Cheese that goes in the microwave? Perfect and can keep her happy for three days in a row. Bell & Evans Chicken Tenders – as long as I remember to use that timer I got as a gift from my husband after the burned pasta debacle.
But, of course, we are happiest eating out: Landmarc’s fried calamari and steak makes us deeply satisfied. Though it does have a great children’s menu, no children’s portions for my child – bring on the regular sizes and we are as happy as can be. And for dessert? We always ask for extra caramels and I inhale the cotton candy.
BLT Fish Shack is another place we’re always happy to hit together. Lobster roll for me and fish and chips for her. No matter how much garlic bread we’ve eaten at the start of the meal or how completely we’ve cleaned our plates from the entrée, there is always and forever room for cupcakes for dessert. Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream –as an avowed chocolate lover, I can tell you: These are the best cupcakes. Ever.
Closest to home for us is The Farm on Adderley near our home in Ditmas Park. This place created a serious stir when it opened and I, acting on snobbish ignorance, didn’t try it for a number of months (and given that I don’t cook, it was a particularly ridiculous strike on my part). Luckily, desperation led us there one night – no mac and cheese in the freezer nor any chicken tenders. We were at home and in trouble. So I suggested that new place on Courtelyou Road. Knowing it was that or the lone can of chickpeas on the shelf, Georgia quickly agreed and off we went. What can I say? There’s nothing quite as fantastic as finding a place that makes a great burger and fries right around the corner from your home. Everytime, we clean our respective plates completely and have no choice but to turn down dessert. We are fed and happy and get to walk home slowly hand-in-hand together.
Perhaps I need to rethink my assertion that cereal and milk would be just fine with me for dinner. These meals with my daughter are pretty close to perfect.
What I’m:
Reading Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
Watching Endless re-runs of Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Eating Jacques Torres’ Dark Chocolate Bark
Listening to Invoke by Arto Lindsay
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