I feed my children sushi. Not raw fish, mind you, but a California roll never hurt anyone. And it certainly won’t hurt mashed into itty bitty bite sized beads of sustenance accompanied by edamame. They eat smoked salmon, chilean sea bass (only off my own plate), and tilapia. They’ve had curry, now, twice. Seem to live for Saag Paneer (but don’t we all, though). Had coconut soup, some "grilled cheese muffins," and caviar on New Year’s. Today I offered them some of my sandwich: toasted rosemary bread, dijon mustard, Shallots Confit (seriously, aside from lemon curd, this is the best thing ever found in a jar), with heated pastrami and havarti cheese. While they stick to oatmeal and p-fruits (pears, plums, peaches, excluding pomegranates and prickly pear) for breakfast, when it comes to lunch, I try to take them from Italy to Istanbul. The problem?

My children have garlic breath, and it’s disgusting. We keep feeding them hummus because it’s so good for them, packs in protein, calories, veggies, all in a single tablespoon. They eat garlic portabella burgers. They don’t make the non-garlic type, so I’m out of luck there. While they love to eat all the veggie burgers and boca burgers and veggie booty I thrust on them, what I really need to do is get them to eat parsley for better breath, ready them for kissing and all that goes with the international language of love, including croissant. I don’t make them separate meals and believe they should always eat what we eat. We don’t eat hotdogs or bologna, so neither will they. We do, however, grill cherry chicken sausage and bratwurst. I know at a certain age they’ll be corrupted, that they’ll fuss and only want chicken nuggets or some such thing. Though, I’m not certain when this actually happens. When do kids refuse anything aside from grilled cheese, fries, nuggets, pb&j, and pizza? I’m going to be ready for it, with my sneaky purees, because food is my language of love.

In the coming days, I hope to have a little tasting with them. I want to present them with different tastes and see which they favor. Salty, Sweet, Sour, Crunchy, Smooth, (and fat). Fat is actually a taste. It has its own silky texture, and people crave it. Sour is under appreciated in this country. It’s why I offer them thai food and grapefruit. And you can bet, I’ll be giving them small tastes of Confit of Figs and Balsamic Vinegar (so good served with cheese, but also incredible with a roasted beet napolean, where you layer the condiment with sliced beets, then shower with minced pistachio nuts and a touch of fresh mint. Yum.)