Family Foods

I know I have spoken on this subject before, but it's my blog, so humor me...

I have had this conversation several times in the past few months/days with numerous people and I'm wondering what's the deal?

I have found that there are certain foods that families just seem to like, but it is only THAT family. It doesn't seem to leave the immediate family. For whatever reason, you just can't seem to initiate the in-laws into believing how wonderful and how much of a delicacy that meal is.

For example, (and I have brought this up before) our family enjoys a thing called rice custard. We just about had either that or mac n cheese with pigs in a blanket everytime my parents went out for a date. However, I don't think ANY of the in-laws in my family like it.

Then there is the Choc -o- mint that we (the family I grew up in) have for Christmas each year. Some, who will remain nameless {read Brett} can't get past the fact that it is made with lime jello. Now I will admit that there are a few in-laws who actually like it, but not many and not all.

Then there is the fact that every family has it's own lasagne. Everyone seems to like it the way they had it when they were growing up. However, why is it my kids don't like the lasagne I had when growing up? Why do they like Steve's Mom's better? And why is it that as a whole my kids like the kind of food that Steve grew up on better than the food I grew up on? When in reality (no offense to Steve's mom) the food I grew up on was {I need to say it carefully} more flavorful? A little side note on the lasagne: Steve's Mom's lasagne literally made me puke everytime I had it, but as the dutiful wife, I continued to eat/choke it down everytime, AND made it for my husband and have as a result produced an acquired taste for it.

In my defense though, Steve's family does have it's share of weird things. For example, they always mix eggnog with orange juice and Sprite. And being the typical in-law, I hate it. Then there's the fact that ALL home-made ice cream revolves around some flavor of jello {there are some I actually like}. Then there is the Spam and Cheese that they all seem to like or Creamed Tuna on Toast. And like all "family-type" foods, I think those will die with his immediate family. I'm just sayin'.

So, what kind of "family foods" do you have/like?

Those Things we Hate to Love

I know before I ever had kids that I was could be heard saying, "I will never let my kids EVER watch Barney!" Yeah, famous last words... We now even own the videos and know ALL the words to ALL the songs. And even know ALL the kids names clear back to when it was Barney and the Backyard gang with Michael, his sister Amy (who at sometime overtook the older brother in size), Lucy and her little sister Tina, Adam (who they changed the actor that played him partway through) and Derek.

Then there were the "Teletubbies" who 'experts' came out and said was detrimental to your children to watch. It would slow them in their vocabulary development. But who cares because for a while there we never missed an episode, it was a chance for me to sleep in an extra 30-minutes in the morning while Melissa was completely engrossed in mindless entertainment.

And who could forget Caillou who was so sickly nice to his sister 99% of the time and was so unnaturally good that it made you want to puke. Yet, Jenna thought that it was the best thing in the world. She even wanted to go get her some fast new running shoes just like he had in one episode.

And last but certainly not least the "Boobah" who I loved to watch with Spencer because it made him laugh so hard, I could not help but laugh right along.

For as much as these shows were completely annoying and obnoxious, there is something about them that kids just love. And we love them too because lets face it, it keeps our kids occupied and entertained so we don't have to. They're happy, we're happy what's not to love? I'm just sayin'.

What would you add to the list?