Strange victories

Tomorrow I'll be eating leftover crumbed fish and potato gems, and this is a victory.

Those with even a passing familiarity with the kitchen will realise that leftover crumbed fish fillets and potato gems don't react well to microwaving at lunchtime the next day. They might resemble the cheap tastiness of last night but they by no means resemble the exciting crunchy texture that makes it worth taking things out of the freezer and treating them to heat in a way that makes them acceptable on the plate.

And yet I will be thankful, and here's why.


The *actual* dinner we prepared tonight was a "Rangoon Lime Chicken" which, once we had it on the simmer, turned out to be somewhat spicier than expected.

Our resident Aspy is known for reacting to more than usually spiced foods with the phrase "There's a fire in my mouth!" repeated, as necessary.

We tasted tonight's offering and decided it was likely to be rejected by Minion X, our little Aspy, and popped a handy Birdseye crumbed fish fillet and some potato gems into the oven, in expectation that there would be a "fire in my mouth" episode. However, being slightly daring parents, we decided to see how far we could push him before we revealed the existence of an option.

Well.

Weren't we put in our place.

He asked for seconds.

Admittedly Mrs G also prepared an emergency raita and suggested the addition of coconut milk to the brew on the stove in order to avert disaster, but we never revealed the existence of the proletarian-freezer-to-oven option. While admitting that he was struggling a bit with the spicing of the dish, Minion X nevertheless pushed through.

I'm so very proud of Minion X's reslience on this one. Without prompts he managed to enjoy something that we had decided he wouldn't.

And we run a household in which cooked food does not go to waste, and also in which I make the early morning food decisions. So, when it comes to deciding who gets the Tupperware container of leftover Rangoon Lime Chicken and who gets the Tupperware container of crumbed fish and potato gems, I know I'll be offering the chicken to my dear wife and taking the fish to be zapped into a mushy, slightly acceptable, stand-in for lunch.

Congratulations, my son. You've managed to impress me and instil repulsion simultaneously.

Nice.