Traditional Resolutions
It is that time of year when we begin thinking about resolutions for the New Year! At some point between now and year end, our family will sit down and talk about our goals for 2007. I will most certainly revisit my 2006 good intention of going to a nice, sit-down dinner with my family once a month.
The idea is to take our two sons, now in 4th and 5th grades, to a nice restaurant to work on 1) manners, 2) trying new foods, and 3) developing their palate/opinion on cuisines. Our default dining spots don’t count, so when we hit our neighborhood joints like Rosita’s, Pagliaccis, or Red Mill Burgers they don’t qualify as “nice, new restaurants.” Nor would they stand out in my boys’ minds as unique and different from what they have encountered before. To us they are familiar, easy places to frequent where we often order “the usual.”
I adore finding new restaurants, trying menus deep and wide, exercising my palate. And I really love the idea of my kids pushing their palates to do the same.
I often tell them they probably haven’t tasted their favorite food yet. When they were little tykes I would tell them, “your eyes are not in charge, your mouth is,” so they would at least attempt to move beyond the visual put-offs of multiple colors, something scrambled, stewed, or completely new. When they were in their younger elementary years, I would encourage them to give different dishes a percentage depending on how much they liked something (they would try anything just to give their personal vote—”Mom, I give it a 67% or a 32%”). Now enter nicer restaurants—we are making progress, folks.
Just last weekend we visited, on a whim, a very new-to-us restaurant in Vancouver, B.C., the Red Door. My 10-year-old’s palate was finally primed for a pan-Asian experience. It was perfect; we ordered a handful of dishes to share and they loved some and disliked others, wondered if it would taste better if the pot stickers were crispy instead of soft. Our family favorite was the Shaking Beef with caramelized red onions, accompanied by a tiny dipping bowl of salt/pepper/lime zest right next to the beef. Lovely, interesting, memorable.
Though my goal is to provide them with a plethora of unique food memories, I may very well be encouraging them to be food critics! They are increasingly curious about food, confident in their food praises and criticisms (”Mom, don’t take this the wrong way but I think you could have cooked the beans a bit longer”), and raring to jump to the next unique food experience.
Palates evolve, we tell them; even as kids your mom and dad didn’t like tomatoes and now we love them!
Although last year we fell short of our monthly excursion goal, I would say we made it to almost half a dozen unique restaurant experiences with our boys. No doubt a few of their new favorite restaurants are Lola (Seattle), Red Door in Vancouver, B.C., and Crow (Seattle). Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to dinner at Mama Melina’s, an amazing Italian restaurant with ambiance bigger than the place itself, occasional bursting of opera music via the owner, a sprightly mix with dim lights, authentic cuisine, and a warm, family feel. I guess I have my opinions, too.
Because it was such a great experience for the entire family, our monthly unique eating experience will no doubt become a traditional, annual, family resolution. I cannot wait to discover what great restaurants we will experience—as a family—in 2007.
