Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

Sometimes I think the "you'll eat what you're served" mentality toward kids is crap. I mean, I get making your kids try things, maybe even more than just one time, but if someone doesn't like something, maybe there's a chance that they legitimately do not like it--even if the someone is a little kid. I was picky too and while I do like things now that I, for whatever reason, wouldn't eat when I was little, I still do hate certain things the same way I did then. 

When my kid was little I would make dinner and unless he at least took a couple bites of each thing he couldn't have dessert. That was it. No force necessary because I knew too well what that was like. But I was never a short order cook. He could have what we were having or he could go make himself a peanut butter sandwich. I was not letting my dinner get cold to accommodate him. Nowadays he will eat things I won't even touch and is a great cook. Right now he trying to acclimate himself to cilantro. Yuck.

[PRgal]

Kids probably won't expand their palates unless adults encourage them to do so.  Restaurants are NOT doing their job either - kids' menus are the same EVERYWHERE.  Plain (or pepperoni) pizza, chicken fingers, pasta with plain marinara sauce or mac and cheese.  Kids' menus should be slightly simplified and smaller portioned versions of what's on the regular menu. 

[riley702]

@peacheslatour - You may have a gene that makes cilantro taste like soap. Some do, some don't. Nothing you can do about it if you do.

[SaySay24]

27 minutes ago, riley702 said:

@peacheslatour - You may have a gene that makes cilantro taste like soap. Some do, some don't. Nothing you can do about it if you do.

Carrots to me always tasted like soap. 

[Sun-Bun]

Only one thing I honestly refused to eat as a child, and that was *anything* burnt. And my grandmother burnt a ton of food((her stove was antiquated and she’d often forget about checking stuff cooking on it in time)). I’d do my best to eat around burnt areas, but she’d still expect me to eat *every* bite((being from the depression-era, she was pretty adamant about not wasting a single bite of food; we were forced to be a Clean Plate Club family)). One time I sat at the table staring at my uneaten burnt grilled cheese for 4 hours before she finally understood my extreme burnt food aversion.

To this day, I physically recoil at the smell/taste of anything burnt!!

[auntlada]

38 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Kids probably won't expand their palates unless adults encourage them to do so.  Restaurants are NOT doing their job either - kids' menus are the same EVERYWHERE.  Plain (or pepperoni) pizza, chicken fingers, pasta with plain marinara sauce or mac and cheese.  Kids' menus should be slightly simplified and smaller portioned versions of what's on the regular menu. 

I hate restaurant kids' menus. Some at least offer broccoli as a side choice. That is often what my son gets. He likes it. I wish fries weren't always a side option, though. Chicken fingers and fries. That's nutritious. (Some restaurants it's OK because it's that kind of restaurant, and that's what we're all having. That is the small version of the adult meal. We don't eat at those places a lot, though.) Sometimes when we order from Panera Bread through the app, he will get a sandwich that isn't on the kids' menu because the app will let you pick a kid-size version of any sandwich.

I hate that when we go to something that is for kids and pizza is available, it's always cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza, and my son hates it, too. He doesn't like pepperoni. He says it's too hot. He'll eat cheese, but what he prefers is spicy Italian sausage (which he likes, even though pepperoni is too hot) and fresh tomato. No one serves that at kid meals.

He used to like Brussels sprouts, but now he says he doesn't. He still eats them, though, because I tell him if I have to eat them, so does he. My husband loves them, so occasionally I'll fix them. My son and I only eat a couple, though.

And you would have thought the squash the other night was going to kill him. He ate it, but put on a dying performance worthy of Sarah Bernhardt. There were other vegetables, so he only had to eat a couple of pieces of squash.

At his age, he eats what I fix or he doesn't eat. So he eats. It's not like I'm fixing liver or chicken gizzards. And I try to cook things we all like.

I also hate that restaurant kids' meals are so big. I always feel bad when he leaves so much on the plate, but he's only 6. He's not going to eat a giant bowl full of spaghetti. Sometimes we bring home the leftovers, but not usually because I know we're not going to eat it. It's such a waste, though.

Just now, Sun-Bun said:

Only one thing I honestly refused to eat as a child, and that was *anything* burnt. And my grandmother burnt a ton of food((her stove was antiquated and she’d often forget about checking stuff cooking on it in time)). I’d do my best to eat around burnt areas, but she’d still expect me to eat *every* bite((being from the depression-era, she was pretty adamant about not wasting a single bite of food; we were forced to be a Clean Plate Club family)). One time I sat at the table staring at my uneaten burnt grilled cheese for 4 hours before she finally understood my extreme burnt food aversion.

To this day, I physically recoil at the smell/taste of anything burnt!!

If you ask my son, he can still tell you the story about the time his daddy burned his pancakes. It was more than a year ago. My husband is pretty sure our son is going to tell about it in my husband's eulogy.

[riley702]

17 minutes ago, SaySay24 said:

Carrots to me always tasted like soap. 

https://www.thekitchn.com/this-is-why-some-carrots-taste-soapy-222090

[PRgal]

23 minutes ago, auntlada said:

I hate restaurant kids' menus. Some at least offer broccoli as a side choice. That is often what my son gets. He likes it. I wish fries weren't always a side option, though. Chicken fingers and fries. That's nutritious. (Some restaurants it's OK because it's that kind of restaurant, and that's what we're all having. That is the small version of the adult meal. We don't eat at those places a lot, though.) Sometimes when we order from Panera Bread through the app, he will get a sandwich that isn't on the kids' menu because the app will let you pick a kid-size version of any sandwich.

I hate that when we go to something that is for kids and pizza is available, it's always cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza, and my son hates it, too. He doesn't like pepperoni. He says it's too hot. He'll eat cheese, but what he prefers is spicy Italian sausage (which he likes, even though pepperoni is too hot) and fresh tomato. No one serves that at kid meals.

He used to like Brussels sprouts, but now he says he doesn't. He still eats them, though, because I tell him if I have to eat them, so does he. My husband loves them, so occasionally I'll fix them. My son and I only eat a couple, though.

And you would have thought the squash the other night was going to kill him. He ate it, but put on a dying performance worthy of Sarah Bernhardt. There were other vegetables, so he only had to eat a couple of pieces of squash.

At his age, he eats what I fix or he doesn't eat. So he eats. It's not like I'm fixing liver or chicken gizzards. And I try to cook things we all like.

I also hate that restaurant kids' meals are so big. I always feel bad when he leaves so much on the plate, but he's only 6. He's not going to eat a giant bowl full of spaghetti. Sometimes we bring home the leftovers, but not usually because I know we're not going to eat it. It's such a waste, though.

If you ask my son, he can still tell you the story about the time his daddy burned his pancakes. It was more than a year ago. My husband is pretty sure our son is going to tell about it in my husband's eulogy.

I think parents and other adults need to start some sort of campaign.  We can't sit around and complain.  We need to start Tweeting restaurants about healthier options.  If kids don't see it on the menu (or parents/caregivers when the kids aren't able to read yet), then they're not going to order it/eat it...unless they eat off their parents' plates.   The restaurants think they won't sell enough kids' tossed salads or steamed carrots.  Well, you're also NOT OFFERING IT, so how would you know?  It's not like you're drizzling the carrots with balsamic vinegar!

[Quof]

On another board I frequent, an American adult was seeking advice for a trip to London because she will only eat "American food".   People tried to help her with suggestions - maybe try a cuisine you don't have access to at home? No.   Traditional British food like Sunday roast dinner of meat, potatoes and veg?  No.  Her adult palate could only tolerate pizza, burgers and fries - all cooked the "American" way. Not pizza cooked the traditional way by Italian immigrants to London, or authentic British fish and chips.   I travel mainly for the food. I can't imagine eating the same food I can get at home.

[MargeGunderson]

5 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I was a picky eater as a child one time my parents made me sit at table until I finished my milk (yeah, warm milk, not gonna happen) but they gave up. Another time my dad was making me eat scrapple, I said I would puke and he made me eat it any way. Sure enough, it came right back up. That was the end of forcing me to eat. I loved veggies, my friends always liked to have me over for dinner because I would eat all their vegetables. I still won't eat mayonnaise, clams, veal or lamb.

I have a similar story involving canned asparagus. In my defense, that stuff is nasty. As an adult I love asparagus

[ALenore]

A coworker of mine had a good idea for ordering food for her young kid at restaurants.  She would let him order whatever he wanted off the adult menu, then her husband would order just a cup of coffee or something for himself.  When the kid inevitably couldn't finish his meal, Dad would take over and eat the rest.   

About picky eaters, a lot of kids need multiple tries to get used to certain foods, especially strong-tasting ones.  It May Take 10 Tries to Familiarized Picky Easters with New Foods.   

Quote

 

It's not just a control issue though. There's an actual genetic feature at play, which I found really interesting when I started to dig into this. One does think, "Why are some kids pickier than others?"

There's a very interesting fact which is that we are all born with about 10,000 taste buds. Over the course of time, by the time you reach full adulthood, you only have 3,000 taste buds. The number simply diminishes. So whatever we perceive as pleasantly bitter, kids perceive as extremely bitter because they have all their little receptors firing away.

 

[Katy M]

I have to revisit the zipper merge conversation from a while back, because I can't believe that what I saw tonight was right.  There was a traffic jam at the exit. The left lane was travelling and the right lane was lined up to get off at the exit. I, and others, eventually got out of line to go up to the next exit and turn around.  As I got near the exit, another car got out of line. A car in front of me, who had either gotten out of line, or had never been in line to begin with, I don't remember and I don't think it makes a difference, scooted into the space that the car just getting out of line, in effect jumping in front of at least 20 cars.  You zipper merge proponents have to give me this one as wrong.  Traffic getting off the interstate was not moving at all.  Left lane was, rightfully IMO, only being used for traffic continuing past the exit, otherwise that lane would have been needlessly blocked along with those getting off.

[peacheslatour]

25 minutes ago, Quof said:

On another board I frequent, an American adult was seeking advice for a trip to London because she will only eat "American food".   People tried to help her with suggestions - maybe try a cuisine you don't have access to at home? No.   Traditional British food like Sunday roast dinner of meat, potatoes and veg?  No.  Her adult palate could only tolerate pizza, burgers and fries - all cooked the "American" way. Not pizza cooked the traditional way by Italian immigrants to London, or authentic British fish and chips.   I travel mainly for the food. I can't imagine eating the same food I can get at home.

Sounds like the type who goes to Paris and will only eat American fast food. ?

[Wiendish Fitch]

All this talk about getting kids to eat healthier makes me so glad I'll never have kids. :)

[auntlada]

55 minutes ago, Quof said:

On another board I frequent, an American adult was seeking advice for a trip to London because she will only eat "American food".   People tried to help her with suggestions - maybe try a cuisine you don't have access to at home? No.   Traditional British food like Sunday roast dinner of meat, potatoes and veg?  No.  Her adult palate could only tolerate pizza, burgers and fries - all cooked the "American" way. Not pizza cooked the traditional way by Italian immigrants to London, or authentic British fish and chips.   I travel mainly for the food. I can't imagine eating the same food I can get at home.

We went with a group to Estonia several times. There were always people (mostly kids, but not all) who complained about the food and how different it was. My husband and I kept telling them, "It's pork or chicken and potatoes. It's not different." His biggest problem was a lack of flavor. The second time we went, he took tiny bottles of Tabasco with him. The only bad thing I had there was a dessert that was sort of like a cross between pudding and porridge and coated the inside of my mouth like chalk. We were in the hotel's dining room, so I ate what I could of it. (It wasn't a hotel dining room where you went in and ordered stuff off the menu. We went in and they fed all of us the same thing, like we were in a school cafeteria.) I figured I had eaten all of my other food, and it was dessert, so it was OK if I didn't finish it, and I wouldn't be offending anyone.

29 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

All this talk about getting kids to eat healthier makes me so glad I'll never have kids. :)

It's not really hard if you have a kid that doesn't have other issues (like the potential ones that started this conversation or allergies). My son likes broccoli and cauliflower, I think, because when he was starting solid food, I steamed and pureed broccoli and cauliflower for him. I bought most of his food because I did not want to spend all my team pureeing food, but you can't buy pureed broccoli and cauliflower for infants/toddlers. You can get peas and green beans. I wanted more variety.

[theredhead77]

46 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I have to revisit the zipper merge conversation from a while back, because I can't believe that what I saw tonight was right.  There was a traffic jam at the exit. The left lane was travelling and the right lane was lined up to get off at the exit. I, and others, eventually got out of line to go up to the next exit and turn around.  As I got near the exit, another car got out of line. A car in front of me, who had either gotten out of line, or had never been in line to begin with, I don't remember and I don't think it makes a difference, scooted into the space that the car just getting out of line, in effect jumping in front of at least 20 cars.  You zipper merge proponents have to give me this one as wrong.  Traffic getting off the interstate was not moving at all.  Left lane was, rightfully IMO, only being used for traffic continuing past the exit, otherwise that lane would have been needlessly blocked along with those getting off.

That was not a zipper move - that was jumping the line. I see that at the intersection by my office all the time. The light to turn isn't that long and cars will go straight and turn around (myself included). Other cars will jump right in, instead of going straight) if a car or a big rig takes too long to accelerate. 

[NutMeg]

To chip in on the kids menu topic, I never found any listing that mine would go for, so we always ordered regular meal for him. The fact that it was all nuggets, spaghetti, etc. may have something to do with that. Even at a young age he would rather go for lamb shanks, lamb chops, etc. Yes, I have a meat loving child (and have to scramble to remember to buy it and how to cook it when he visits now). 

[backformore]

Some kids are going to be picky eaters no matter what.  I raised two sons.  One is the pickiest eater you can imagine.  Hated most foods, was grossed out by a lot of things, was skinny and hated especially, anything that tasted fatty or oily.  (only exception was French fries).  it was a chore to get him to eat, and got even worse when he developed food allergies.  

second son ate anything and everything, the weirder the better.  all kind of ethnic food, seafood, including octopus, he loved indian food, german food, Chinese food, and  anything that most kids won't go near, he loved.  

they were raised in the same household, always encouraged to try various foods.  One would try anything, the other was cautious and liked only familiar foods.   At a restaurant, one would order a burger off the kid's menu, the other was more interested in trying something he's never had before.  

As adults, there is still some remnant of this, not only as it relates to food, but their approaches to life, their personalities.  

[backformore]

2 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

I have a similar story involving canned asparagus. In my defense, that stuff is nasty. As an adult I love asparagus

canned veggies are awful. 

My mom used to serve "Mixed Vegetables" that came from a can.   Peas, carrots, something else, and LIMA BEANS.  I used to try to get away with eating everything else but the limas, push them around on my plate, put my napkin over them.   Dad said we had to eat everything on the plate, but I'd get away with it most times.  Then one day he caught on, and wouldn't let me leave the table until I ate all the lima beans on my plate.  The taste was so nasty to me, I swallowed them whole so I didn't have to bite them and taste the nastiness inside. 

As an adult, I have not eaten a lima bean, and I never will.  Though I eat other beans, so I think  I'd probably be OK with them if I hadn't developed the aversion from being forced to eat them.

[Sun-Bun]

1 hour ago, backformore said:

As an adult, I have not eaten a lima bean, and I never will.  Though I eat other beans, so I think  I'd probably be OK with them if I hadn't developed the aversion from being forced to eat them.

Ah, yes!!! How could we forget those damned LIMA BEANS??!! I dunno what it is about them, but they have the weirdest, funky plastic and metallic taste to them. I’ll eat them if they’re mixed in with something else, but I really can’t eat them on their own. 

[DeLurker]

I still pick out the veggies I don't like if they are mixed into a dish.  They just get tossed or go into a veggie relocation program if I am with other people I know well enough. 

[JTMacc99]

An old one, but since it happened to me again this morning...

I understand if someone wants to lollygag down the 55 MPH road between 42 and 48. I do. And I will follow behind you at a reasonable distance.  Although you probably got that I wanted to drive the speed limit by how rapidly I closed up behind you, so even without tailgating, you understand that we're not on the same page. 

What is completely unacceptable is when we get to the stretch of road with the dotted line, that you speed up to 65 MPH as I'm in the other lane legally passing you. You piece of shit. Why are you doing that? What do you gain by attempting to keep me behind you? 

I'm just so completely of the opposite mind set. If I'm on the same road doing 55 to 59 and somebody rolls up behind me and is possibly even tailgating, when I get to the dotted line area, I slow down and move to the right. Have fun buddy. See you later.

Whatever. I don't even know why I bother posting a specific example of the general rule that "Sometimes, people are jerks". 

[theredhead77]

17 hours ago, auntlada said:

At his age, he eats what I fix or he doesn't eat. So he eats. It's not like I'm fixing liver or chicken gizzards.

Lucky kid! My mom would fix liver and onions and I had to eat it. Same with tongue. I hated liver (the texture, I also hate uni and other things with pasty textures). I refused to eat tongue as soon as I was old enough to realize what it was.

[janestclair]

I was a picky eater as a kid, and still am picky as an adult to some extent, but my parents never made me anything separate from what the rest of the family was eating.  I just had to eat some of it.  Now I'll happily eat vegetables or beans of any kind (except the horrid lima beans), olives, and cilantro but I still hate eggs, seafood, veal, mushrooms and mayonnaise.  Blech.  My younger sister was ridiculously picky as a kid and I remember her subsisting on hot dogs, apples and scrambled eggs.  Now she eats more than I will.  My 20 month old niece will eat anything and everything you put in front of her, except eggplant.   

[auntlada]

1 hour ago, theredhead77 said:

Lucky kid! My mom would fix liver and onions and I had to eat it. Same with tongue. I hated liver (the texture, I also hate uni and other things with pasty textures). I refused to eat tongue as soon as I was old enough to realize what it was.

Well, I hate liver and gizzards, so I'm not fixing them. My dad loved both, but my mom didn't, so when she cooked them especially fir him, she'd always cook something else for us.

My son will eat eggplant, but not hot dogs. He will eat corndogs, though. I haven't told him that corndogs are hot dogs inside. He still thinks the shape of the cheese makes it different cheese, even though it is all cheddar. Also, he wants white cheese not yellow. I'm not sure which white cheese, although he does like gouda. You can't get that on most kids' sandwiches in restaurants.

[SunnyBeBe]

My peeve is when a child LOVES fruits, vegetables, grilled chicken, etc.  and will eat them plain, no cheese or sauce needed, but the PARENTS INSIST ON  barraging the child with pizza, tacos, fast food, candy, etc.  It's beyond infuriating.  There needs to be accountability, imo, especially, if there are health issues with the child. 

[Brookside]

2 hours ago, janestclair said:

I was a picky eater as a kid, and still am picky as an adult to some extent, but my parents never made me anything separate from what the rest of the family was eating.  I just had to eat some of it.  Now I'll happily eat vegetables or beans of any kind (except the horrid lima beans), olives, and cilantro but I still hate eggs, seafood, veal, mushrooms and mayonnaise.  Blech.  My younger sister was ridiculously picky as a kid and I remember her subsisting on hot dogs, apples and scrambled eggs. 

So your parents would be short order cooks for your sister, but not for you.  I'm sorry.

[Brookside]

21 hours ago, PRgal said:

Kids probably won't expand their palates unless adults encourage them to do so.  Restaurants are NOT doing their job either - kids' menus are the same EVERYWHERE.  Plain (or pepperoni) pizza, chicken fingers, pasta with plain marinara sauce or mac and cheese.  Kids' menus should be slightly simplified and smaller portioned versions of what's on the regular menu. 

We were once at a restaurant in a touristy area and they had a fake/joke kids' menu with "weird" stuff on it.  My kids were about to order the liver and onions when the server came back with the real kids' menu of crappy chicken nuggets, burgers, etc.

(Good friends long ago took care of our 3 year old for the day when we moved house.  Unfortunately they took her to MacDonalds for the first time.  We spent our first night in the new house scraping regurgitated strawberry milkshake off the wall and floor.  Fortunately the washing machine was hooked up.)

[peacheslatour]

5 hours ago, auntlada said:

Well, I hate liver and gizzards, so I'm not fixing them. My dad loved both, but my mom didn't, so when she cooked them especially fir him, she'd always cook something else for us.

My son will eat eggplant, but not hot dogs. He will eat corndogs, though. I haven't told him that corndogs are hot dogs inside. He still thinks the shape of the cheese makes it different cheese, even though it is all cheddar. Also, he wants white cheese not yellow. I'm not sure which white cheese, although he does like gouda. You can't get that on most kids' sandwiches in restaurants.

My mom would occasionally make my dad liver and onions and she would have oysters. Since I hated both she'd make ma a pork chop, :)

[StatisticalOutlier]

Quote

I'm just so completely of the opposite mind set. If I'm on the same road doing 55 to 59 and somebody rolls up behind me and is possibly even tailgating, when I get to the dotted line area, I slow down and move to the right. Have fun buddy. See you later.

I'll lift off the accelerator a little if I think they need it, but I don't move to the right.  In rural parts of Texas the convention is to move over and drive on the shoulder to let people pass, and I did it forever.  Then it occurred to me that there could be something in the shoulder coming up that I can't see (especially on a rise), and if hit it and die because I was being courteous instead of making somebody do the passing, I'm gonna be pissed.

Also, if oncoming traffic is such that the passer can't be in that lane, then he just shouldn't be passing.  Three abreast on two lanes of road is never a good idea.  If he needs to be in that lane just a little because he's passing someone on the shoulder, then he can also be in that lane a lot because nobody should be over that line even a millimeter if oncoming traffic is using that lane. 

I was once driving my motorhome, towing a car (total about 60 feet long), on a rural road there, where you can see for LONG distances.  I ended up with a huge line of pickups behind me because the asshole right behind me wouldn't pass.  I guess he wanted me to drive this thing on the shoulder at 60 mph.  But since he wouldn't pass, nobody else would, except for a few attentive leapfroggers who figured out what was going on.  But even they had to pass me AND the asshole when they got to the front of the line because the asshole didn't leave enough clear space between me and him.  Not to mention the general bedlam back there. 

 

21 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

That was not a zipper move - that was jumping the line. I see that at the intersection by my office all the time. The light to turn isn't that long and cars will go straight and turn around (myself included). Other cars will jump right in, instead of going straight) if a car or a big rig takes too long to accelerate. 

I'm actually okay with tucking into a vacancy IF AND ONLY IF nobody is affected by or has to react to your move.  That means you didn't slow down in the moving lane to troll for an opening, and you didn't cut anybody off or even make them brake when you got in.  My rule is that if I want to try for a vacancy then I have to be willing to go on to the next exit if one doesn't appear.  It is not acceptable to make someone accommodate my move.  This has actually become easier now that people are looking at their phones all the time when they're stopped, and don't go when traffic starts moving.  I look at it as my reward for driving attentively and being willing to accept consequences by having to go to the next exit.

The problem is that most people don't understand the "accept the consequences" part, so they just zoom past and either cut somebody off or put on their entitlement blinker and expect people to let them in.  That's foul.

[bilgistic]

This conversation is as bad as the deviled eggs conversation. Liver and tongue! Y'all are killing me!

[SunnyBeBe]

I was recently yelled at, cursed and given a hand gesture in traffic for something that wasn't even my fault.  I was in shock, but, you can't explain to the guy what happened, so, I just let it go.  I was actually afraid that he might come after me and try to shoot me or something, but, I saw him pull into a gas station and I kept going without delay.  Not that it matters, but, he must have thought that I was trying to get ahead of him in traffic. The two lane road was closed due to construction and we all sat for app. 5 minutes. I decided to follow this car in front of me and go on up and get into the left turn lane and actually turn left on a side road, that would have meant I had to go out of my way, but, still.....so, after we got up there, the traffic directing people would not allow us to turn left and a truck pulled up and blocked that side road...THEN I noticed that the regular lane was closed and they were having ALL cars get in that left turn lane to come forward.  So, I had actually complied with the directions BEFORE I was aware of them.  Well, this one guy was OUTRAGED. I suppose he didn't realize what happened.  He could see that I couldn't turn left, though I had tried. He was so out of control that I stopped my car and allowed him to go in front of me, even though, he was not in the right lane to go forward.  If I hadn't, I think he would have crashed into my car........ Anyway, it's the most violent I've ever had anyone get with me.  I wonder if he might have been drunk, but, it was 10:00 a.m. in the morning!  lol  It made me wonder if I can protect myself in a situation like that. 

Edited July 26, 2018 by SunnyBeBe

[BookWoman56]

I generally feel that forcing kids to eat something they clearly dislike is a waste of time and energy. My family didn't do that on a routine basis, but for most of my childhood we lived next door to both a set of grandparents and a set of great-grandparents, so if you didn't like what was for dinner, you could make the rounds until you found something you did like. There was one occasion when I was around 8 or 9 when my mother insisted I eat some kind of cooked greens (collards or turnips most likely, which I fucking hated then and continue to hate), and there was no way I was going to do it. After about 5 minutes of her watching me stare at the uneaten greens, she and my father left to go somewhere, and I immediately gave that crap to the dog. I had eaten other stuff for dinner, so it wasn't like I was going to starve or anything, but by that age I was old enough to have definite likes and dislikes regarding food and it just seemed to me to be stupid to try to force me to eat something I hated.  With my own kids I provided them with a variety of foods, and even though there were short periods where they repeatedly wanted the same thing for dinner, by and large they ate well. I remember reading about some study done years ago that showed if you offered toddlers a variety of foods, they might stick with just one or two items for a few days, but over a period of a month or so, they would get a balanced diet from their own choices. I do feel that too many parents opt to give kids fast food on a regular basis, and some seem to have no sense of nutrition. Roughly a year and a half ago, when my son, DIL, and grandson moved from overseas to stay with me while they found jobs, etc., here, I had to have a discussion with my son about what they were feeding their son. Neither my son nor DIL had ever cooked much for themselves, and while overseas had relied on her mother to make meals for their son. Once they got over here, they were giving him way the hell too much junk food filled with caffeine and sugar, and then wondering why he would be up half the night. So I had to point out to my son that the child needed protein and so forth for growth, and while an occasional cookie isn't going to hurt, it shouldn't be a significant portion of the meal. 

Now that my mother is living with me, my cooking has turned into not quite being a short order cook but very different from what I had been doing. My daughter and her boyfriend both cook their own meals, usually very spicy stuff. I am fine with making a big pot of something on the weekend and having it every day for a few days, supplemented with a green salad and so forth. My mother likes veggies that I hate, so she still wants turnips and so forth. While she was in the assisted living facility, she had no real choice as to what the meals would be, and that bothered her. So I am now making cornbread about once a week, making rice and tomato gravy to last a couple of days, and then opening up a can of preseasoned turnips or something for her, or using one of those packages of frozen veggies that you steam in the microwave. I fix her a plate of what she likes, and then make my own plate of stuff that I like. She doesn't like a lot of meat, so I mostly grill chicken a couple of times a week and leave her to her own preferences, but add some salad to round out what she's eating. Sometimes she wants stuff that is heavy in carbohydrates or fat, but FFS she's 90 years old and she'd rather eat what she wants and die a little sooner perhaps than eat stuff she can't stand just so she might live a couple of years longer. I really feel that if bad nutritional choices were going to kill her, she'd already be dead. 

[Brookside]

Pet peeve: when people post and refer to tv shows by their initials.  Spell the name out for Pete's sake, I'm sure I'm not the only person who isn't au fait with every soap opera or fantasy show.

[TattleTeeny]

5 hours ago, bilgistic said:

This conversation is as bad as the deviled eggs conversation. Liver and tongue! Y'all are killing me!

Oh, deviled eggs, man! Why do they look so nice on a tray yet are so horrid?!

[Bastet]

26 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Oh, deviled eggs, man! Why do they look so nice on a tray yet are so horrid?!

Because there are egg yolks involved? 

(That's my reasoning, anyway; I loathe yolks -- one of those "hated it as a kid and hate it just as much to this day" things.  Which I was not forced to eat, because I hated them that much.)

3 hours ago, BookWoman56 said:

Sometimes she wants stuff that is heavy in carbohydrates or fat, but FFS she's 90 years old and she'd rather eat what she wants and die a little sooner perhaps than eat stuff she can't stand just so she might live a couple of years longer. I really feel that if bad nutritional choices were going to kill her, she'd already be dead. 

Right?  If I make it to 90, I'm existing on a diet of sour cream & onion chips, vodka, whiskey, bacon, and cheese - with ice cream for dessert.  (I like a lot of healthy stuff, and if I still do then, I'll eat it, but I won't give a moment's thought to nutrition or balanced meals if I want to eat a vat of spinach, artichoke, and cheese dip with tortilla chips three nights a week.)  If that means I die at 91 instead of 93, but enjoyed the hell out of my last year, I'll be thrilled. 

(Hell, I may very well do this if I make it to 81, never mind 91.)

Really, once you've made it that far, just live every day in whatever way makes you happiest, and unless it harms someone else, screw it.

Edited July 27, 2018 by Bastet

[bilgistic]

Because y'all kept telling me to, I finally had my "well woman" exam today for the first time in three-plus years.

I feel violated and disgraced. The doctor had to clear away the cobwebs and scare off the bats to be able to conduct an internal exam.

I also got tetanus and pertussis shots, so I can go step on rusty nails and cough on babies with abandon.

[Bastet]

14 minutes ago, forumfish said:

Oh my gosh, y'all, it has been the week from hell. Monday was about the hottest day of the year here -- 110° I think. Around 11 p.m., the compressor in our 24-year-old AC system bit the dust. If not for the loaner window units the service guy installed in my parents' and sister's rooms on Tuesday afternoon, we'd have had to go to a motel, it was 92° inside.

I feel your pain.  Before I replaced the original (single pane) windows with triple pane and installed air conditioning, there were miserable summer nights it "cooled off" to only 98 degrees in the house.  There were several times I had to dunk us all (the cats and myself) in cool water and then rely on the fans to let us drift off to sleep before we heated up again and couldn't.  When it's brutally hot, it pains me to think of the people who don't have AC or can't afford the electric bill to run it.  It's hard to function at those temperatures!

[backformore]

18 hours ago, Brookside said:

Good friends long ago took care of our 3 year old for the day when we moved house.  Unfortunately they took her to MacDonalds for the first time.  We spent our first night in the new house scraping regurgitated strawberry milkshake off the wall and floor.  Fortunately the washing machine was hooked up.)

Strawberry, huh? 

One thing a lot of people don't know is that there is a red dye used in foods , medicines and cosmetics which is made of ground up beetles.  It is called cochineal, and also Carmine. 

I learned this when my son was little, he had crying fits after certain foods, but also had a reaction to pink meds like amoxicillin and Benadryl. (Those meds have changed their formulas since then). It turns out that his headaches from having red dye, and my inability to wear lipstick, were because we both are allergic to ground up beetles. Go figure.

Bottom line, don't eat pink or red foods unless they grow that color naturally. Red food dye is either petroleum-based in bug-based.  The newest dyes are made from beets, much safer.

[peacheslatour]

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

Because there are egg yolks involved? 

(That's my reasoning, anyway; I loathe yolks -- one of those "hated it as a kid and hate it just as much to this day" things.  Which I was not forced to eat, because I hated them that much.)

Right?  If I make it to 90, I'm existing on a diet of sour cream & onion chips, vodka, whiskey, bacon, and cheese - with ice cream for dessert.  (I like a lot of healthy stuff, and if I still do then, I'll eat it, but I won't give a moment's thought to nutrition or balanced meals if I want to eat a vat of spinach, artichoke, and cheese dip with tortilla chips three nights a week.)  If that means I die at 91 instead of 93, but enjoyed the hell out of my last year, I'll be thrilled. 

(Hell, I may very well do this if I make it to 81, never mind 91.)

Really, once you've made it that far, just live every day in whatever way makes you happiest, and unless it harms someone else, screw it.

My dad is 84. He goes out to lunch every day and eats healthy. He has ice cream for dinner every night. 

[theredhead77]

11 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Because y'all kept telling me to, I finally had my "well woman" exam today for the first time in three-plus years.

I feel violated and disgraced. The doctor had to clear away the cobwebs and scare off the bats to be able to conduct an internal exam.

I also got tetanus and pertussis shots, so I can go step on rusty nails and cough on babies with abandon.

I hope this is hyperbole and not an issue with the doctor!

[bilgistic]

It is! I like my doctor. I've seen her for nearly 20 years. She goes very fast and I didn't have a chance to relax and breathe through the spelunking. It was like, "OH! OK, OUCH, you're up in there!"

And the sound the speculum makes... *shudder*

[TattleTeeny]

2 hours ago, bilgistic said:

It is! I like my doctor. I've seen her for nearly 20 years. She goes very fast and I didn't have a chance to relax and breathe through the spelunking. It was like, "OH! OK, OUCH, you're up in there!"

And the sound the speculum makes... *shudder*

I totally just made an involuntary hiss-and-clench combo here at my desk! And I don't even know the last time I went to that infernal place.

[2727]

As the years have gone by, my GP has switched from nagging me to get a pap smear to nagging me to get a colonoscopy.

[SunnyBeBe]

1 minute ago, 2727 said:

As the years have gone by, my GP has switched from nagging me to get a pap smear to nagging me to get a colonoscopy.

I'm due for both and it has to be done within the next couple of months.  Hmmm......I don't mind the pap, but, the other....it's not the prep that bothers me.  I just have a fear of a injury from the procedure.  I'm not sure why....it's just a thing with me.   I have to get past it. 

[PRgal]

On 7/25/2018 at 6:55 PM, Quof said:

On another board I frequent, an American adult was seeking advice for a trip to London because she will only eat "American food".   People tried to help her with suggestions - maybe try a cuisine you don't have access to at home? No.   Traditional British food like Sunday roast dinner of meat, potatoes and veg?  No.  Her adult palate could only tolerate pizza, burgers and fries - all cooked the "American" way. Not pizza cooked the traditional way by Italian immigrants to London, or authentic British fish and chips.   I travel mainly for the food. I can't imagine eating the same food I can get at home.

What did that person mean by "American" pizza anyway?  Chicago deep dish?  Greasy New York slices?  Detroit style?  Am I missing any regional pizza?

[Quof]

Papa John's, I assume. 

[auntlada]

Pizza Hut. Mazzio's. Little Caesar's.

[Blergh]

On 7/25/2018 at 5:55 PM, Quof said:

On another board I frequent, an American adult was seeking advice for a trip to London because she will only eat "American food".   People tried to help her with suggestions - maybe try a cuisine you don't have access to at home? No.   Traditional British food like Sunday roast dinner of meat, potatoes and veg?  No.  Her adult palate could only tolerate pizza, burgers and fries - all cooked the "American" way. Not pizza cooked the traditional way by Italian immigrants to London, or authentic British fish and chips.   I travel mainly for the food. I can't imagine eating the same food I can get at home.

 I'm with you! I remember I was in a mall food court in Singapore that had virtually every kind of Asian cuisine (authentic, fast food, dessert,etc.) on display with detailed signs in four languages including English  and it was remarkably spotless. Anyway, a right in front of me was another couple from the US and the woman took one look  and said she had to eat at the SUBWAY! I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I had to say 'You're in SINGAPORE with all these wonderful choices and all you want is a SUBWAY ? Come on!  '

 I don't know if it did any good but I thought someone had to call her out.

[formerlyfreedom]

Hey, we seem to have strayed from Pet Peeves into a lot of Chit Chat in here. So let's take a moment, and get back to the peeves we all have, and return Chit Chat to the proper topic. Thank you for your assistance!