veggies

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — June 30th

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Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Flashback Friday post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (30th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on June 30, 2017.

Like Father Like Son

candy and cookies

Danny was sitting at the dining room table doing his homework. “Mom, can I have a snack?” he called out to his mother, who was fixing dinner in the kitchen.

“Danny, I gave you some milk and cookies when you got home from school. Your father will be home soon and we’ll be having dinner in a little while,” Danny’s mother answered.

Danny loved snacks. Dinners not so much. The main dish, usually chicken, steak, meatloaf, or fish, was tolerable. But then she’d pile onto his plate things he didn’t like: broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, cauliflower. Yuck.

Why couldn’t she let him have cookies or Pop-Tarts or a Snickers bar or a pile of M&Ms on the side? Why force him to confront those yucky veggies that he had trouble chewing and swallowing because they tasted awful?

“Because they’re healthy and they’re good for you,” she’d answer when he asked why she made him eat those things rather than giving him snacks as side dishes. Danny never really understood why she always said that. Who cares, he thought, if food is “good for you” if it doesn’t taste good?

“When I grow up, I’m going eat nothing but snacks,” Danny announced, a tone of defiance in his voice.

“Okay, I tell you what,” his mother said. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll let you have a snack now, but then you can’t have dessert after dinner.”

Danny’s six-year-old mind started churning. “What’s for dessert?”

“I cut up some fruit,” she said, “and I’ll put a dollop of whipped cream on top just for you.”

“Okay, fine,” Danny said, returning to his homework.

At about that time, Danny’s father walked into the front door of their apartment. He walked over to his son and ruffled his hair. Then he called out to his wife, “Honey, can I have a snack?”

This post is in response to today’s Daily Prompt: Snack.

You Get What You Pay For

Fandango12 Comments

E184707D-3E6E-4AF0-B3CB-0C26E06F4903“Dammit!” Marla exclaimed. “This food chopper is supposed to be unbreakable, but look at this. I just bought it yesterday and it broke already.”

“Well what did you expect?” her twin sister and roommate said. “That’s what happens when you go to that bargain store and buy something with the label ‘Piece o’ Shit’ on it. You need to stop being so damn cheap and to spend your money more wisely. You get what you pay for, you know.”

“Why do you always have to admonish me?” Marla said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “I thought sharing an apartment with a sibling would be a good thing, but you’re constantly criticizing me. I was just trying to chop up some veggies to make us both a nourishing snack.”

Feeling badly, Carla came over to her twin and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry, Marla,” she said. “I’ll try to be a better sister and roommate going forward. I’ll try hard to ignore your bad habits and the stupid things you’re always doing and to not go all haywire on you.”

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (unbreakable), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (label), Your Daily Word Prompt (admonish), Ragtag Daily Prompt (sibling), Word of the Day Challenge (nourish), and Weekly Prompts (haywire).

One Constant Negotiation

Fandango32 Comments

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“Brussel sprouts and baked potatoes,” his mother replied to her son’s inquiry about what side dishes she would be serving with the meatloaf she was preparing.

Ten-year-old Michael made a gag-like gesture, mimicking someone trying to avoid throwing up. “Brussel sprouts?” he shouted out. “Those things are barely edible. And I know Dad doesn’t like them either.”

“He’ll eat them,” she responded, “and so will you.”

“Will not,” Michael said defiantly, stomping his right foot down hard on the kitchen floor for added emphasis.

“You need to eat your veggies,” she insisted. “Brussel sprouts are good for you.”

“I hate any food that is green. Why are all of the things you say are good for me not even edible? Brussel sprouts suck, Mom.”

“They don’t ‘suck,’ Michael. You can’t just eat meats and starches for dinner. You need green vegetables. Would you prefer broccoli?”

“Broccoli is green, too,” Michael protested. “And it’s also inedible.”

“I can make cauliflower instead,” she offered. “Cauliflower isn’t green.”

“Yuck! Not edible!”

“Okay, fine,” his mother said. “You don’t have to eat the brussel sprouts, but then you won’t get dessert, either.”

Michael thought about that for a few seconds before asking, “What’s for dessert?”

“I made key lime pie,” she said with a smile, knowing it was one of Michael’s favorites.

A big grin came to Michael’s face. “Now that’s something green that is definitely edible,” he said. “I’ll eat three brussel sprouts.”

“Four or no pie,” she insisted.

“Okay fine, four brussel sprouts.”

Life with this kid is one constant negotiation, Michael’s mother thought.

This post was written for today’s one word prompt, “edible.”

 

Like Father Like Son

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candy and cookies

Danny was sitting at the dining room table doing his homework. “Mom, can I have a snack?” he called out to his mother, who was fixing dinner in the kitchen.

“Danny, I gave you some milk and cookies when you got back from school. Your father will be home soon and we’ll be having dinner in a little while,” Danny’s mother answered.

Danny loved snacks. Dinners not so much. The main dish, usually chicken, steak, meatloaf, or fish, was tolerable. But then she’d pile onto his plate things he didn’t like: broccoli, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower. Yuck.

Why couldn’t she let him have cookies or Pop-Tarts or a Snickers bar or a pile of M&Ms on the side? Why force him to confront those yucky veggies that he had trouble chewing and swallowing because they tasted awful?

“Because they’re healthy and they’re good for you,” she’d answer when he asked why she made him eat those things rather than giving him snacks as side dishes. Danny never really understood why she always said that. Who cares, he thought, if food is “good for you” if it doesn’t taste good?

“When I grow up, I’m going eat nothing but snacks,” Danny announced, a tone of defiance in his voice.

“Okay, I tell you what,” his mother said. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll let you have a snack now, but then you can’t have dessert after dinner.”

Danny’s ten-year-old mind started churning. “What’s for dessert?”

“I cut up some fruit,” she said, “and I’ll put a dollop of whipped cream on top just for you.”

“Okay, fine,” Danny said, returning to his homework.

At about that time, Danny’s father walked into the front door of their apartment. He walked over to his son and ruffled his hair. Then he called out to his wife, “Honey, can I have a snack?”

This post is in response to today’s Daily Prompt: Snack.