냠의 냠 or (Yum Yum)

Jonathan enjoying his mango and sticky rice at a local Thai restaurant

Jonathan, being the son of two food lovers, is a great eater. He rarely will turn down  food, and people are often in awe (or sickened) of how much he packs away. At a checkup, when his doctor was slightly concerned on how low his weight was on the growth chart, I recounted all the food he had eaten in the past 24 hours. Our pediatrician was quite taken back and no longer concerned about his weight. His doctor did mention that he must be very active (uh yes!) to metabolize such large amounts. Most toddlers slow down their consumption around this age and become a little picky with their food. Well...not Jonathan. I can only imagine what our grocery bill will be once he is a teenager.

 Any of you who have spent any time with me know how much I enjoy food. I love to consume it, love to smell it, and love to watch it. When I was in the hospital a few years ago and wasn't allowed to eat for a few days, the food network kept me happy. The nurses, doctors, and  Nate thought I was torturing myself, but no, it was pure enjoyment to watch all those delectable creations, even if I couldn't eat. However, as much as I love food, it wasn't until 2 years ago when I actually enjoyed creating it. Don't get me wrong, I could cook (had to eat didn't I?), and I did cook, but didn't get such pleasure out of it. I would chose eating out at a restaurant over cooking any day.  

After I got sick 2 years ago, and was so limited in what I could eat, I began to get serious about cooking. There were few restaurants that served food I could eat, so I cooked and cooked and cooked. And I actually found that I enjoyed it. I loved the order of it all (I mix a and b, and it equals c!). I loved the creativity. I loved preparing food for my loved ones and seeing their smiling, messy faces enjoying it. I loved knowing exactly what was in my family's and my food (the control freak in me). I loved how healthy it was compared to most restaurants. It has become one of my favorite things to do.

Nate's favorite food group is "anything Asian". He loves it all--Thai, Chinese, Korean, you name it. A delicious thing about the Seattle area is that there is asian food everywhere. On any major road there is at least one restaurant per block that has "teriakyi", "thai", or "chinese" in its title. There is a huge asian market just down the street from us, that has the largest inventory of asian ingredients I have seen. There have been a lot of Thai and Chinese recipes that I have wanted to make that had ingredients I couldn't even find at Wegmans. But hooray, they were all at the market, and then some. Looking forward to making some yum yum!