My Son the Flavor Expert

My son is a fabulous eater. He has always loved to eat. And he's never really protested much about the food that is put before him. The only protest we get is when he is done eating and wants to get down from the highchair - that's when food ends up on the floor.

Lately my son's palate has become a little more discerning, but I'm actually encouraged by his choices. He likes his eggs with salsa (my folks are pretty proud of that one). He's also a big fan of this vegetable dish I make that has a Moroccan seasoning on it. Because of these two dishes he's not all that excited about plain eggs OR garbanzo beans without his Moroccan seasoning.

Last week I fixed a dish I've made several times that has a homemade mushroom cream sauce. I like this dish because instead of using the cream of mushroom out of a can you make a much lighter and more interesting version out of fresh ingredients. My son has always like this dish, as well. As most of us who have cooked the same dish several times, I decided I would make an experimental modification and add more shallots this time. The increase in the amount of shallots didn't really help - instead of a mild oniony taste it was kind of overpowering and a little off. Apparently, my son agreed. He ate the chicken and the pasta covered in this sauce but he was often making a pained face when he tasted it. It was as if he was saying, "This tastes familiar, but not quite right."

I recently lost my pantry space and have had to move my dried herbs and spices to one of the drawers in the kitchen. These drawers have been available to my son since he was able to reach and open them. One of his new favorite games is to move the spice jars from the drawer to the built-in shelved on the other side of the kitchen. Usually this process involves putting the lid of the jar into his mouth during transport. I keep trying to tell him that it's "yucky" and he makes the "yucky face" and then promptly puts the jar back into his mouth. Obviously my whole heart is not into this teaching opportunity, otherwise I'd be removing him from the situation as well as telling him that it's "yucky". Secretly I hope he's learning more about these spices than most of us will ever know because of our unwillingness to lick the tops of the jars!

Note: I HAVE permenently relocated the cayenne pepper and red chili flakes.