Late yesterday morning I asked my little family, “What shall we have for dinner tonight, my dear loved ones?”
My beloved husband said, “Why don’t we have something fun?”
My heart sank. With every ounce of my being I suppressed the tidal wave of annoyance and visions of more homemade pizza or a bunch of shellfish or anything else time-consuming, messy, or both as I asked back in a gentle, loving tone, “Like what?”
“I don’t know… Good Frickin’ Chicken, maybe?”
And that, dear reader, is why I married this man. He meant fun for everyone–me, his obviously exhausted wife*, included. And Good Frickin’ Chicken is both frickin’ good and fun for the whole family. Why is it so fun? Because, the chicken is so frickin’ good. And this family loves frickin’ good chicken. Plus, it comes with herby pita bread and a thick garlicky “sauce” that is more spread than sauce and which I demand “extra” of but have never had the guts to ask for what I really want: Hey, instead of that tiny dab, which, garlicky as it is, should suffice for any human being, could I get more of a soup-bowlful amount? Enough to eat as a main dish that I could simply garnish with bits of your frickin’ good chicken?
Ernie loves GFC–both chicken and pita bread, which is interesting because, officially, when asked, the child doesn’t like bread. That’s right. He claims to not like BREAD. (And you know what that means. If he doesn’t like bread he couldn’t possibly like sandwiches. Yes, now that you mention it, this categorical food aversion is terribly convenient. A joy, really.) But he does like pita and tortillas. To sum up, as observed by my former editor, he likes “ethnic flat breads.” A chewy, crusty baguette? Hearty walnut bread? A homemade spiced pecan loaf? No thank you. But good luck to anyone who stands between my boy and a piece of naan. He will use his giant eyes and long lashes and take you down.
*The insomnia plague has targeted me again. I’m not sleeping and the effects are starting to show, as was remarked several times today by both son (“Mama, why are your eyes like that?”) and husband (“Are you okay? You look really tired. I don’t mean it in any bad way, but are you okay? You just look so tired.”).
The Dinner Files :: Pakwan with cousins | 12-Jul-08 at 8:11 pm | Permalink
[...] fun Friday after-school treat was boring. We could not fully disagree. The child was rewarded with flatbread and tandoori fish and seemed to think it a fair [...]