Norq From Ork

‘what’s for tea?’

‘Spaghetti  Bolognese’

Not chicken korma?’

‘no’

*silence*

Firstly let me apologize to Facebook friends for my second rant on this subject in as many weeks.  Secondly if I was making chicken korma then the answer to the initial FAQ would’ve surely been chicken korma right? (duh!) and  thirdly spaghetti bolognese is a heck of a lot quicker and easier to say than ‘spiralized sweet potato and courgette bolognese for me and spag bol for you’

For over 22 years now I’ve been throwing food into the open mouths of the eternally hungry birds in my nest. It’s been met with a varying  responses over the years such as ‘does it have onions?’ ‘is this the sauce I like?’ ‘can I pick out the mushrooms?’ ‘how many mouthfuls do I have to eat?’ and my not so finest hour ‘I love it when the smoke detector goes off, it means tea’s nearly ready’  (Can I just say, we had a particularly sensitive smoke detector at the time)

Husband (Orkney beef) dutifully eats whatever is put in front of him without fuss, but 11 years of single parenting before he came along meant cooking night after night for myself and two small children was generally a chore not a pleasure.  There were occasions when at the height of my exhaustion and lack of inspiration I was known to serve breakfast cereal for tea. I told myself that what is nutritious in the morning  is equally nutritious in the evening and I managed to spin it to the little ones that it was very a exciting thing to do and they were extremely lucky children to have such an adventurous mom. Incidentally my teenage, hollowed legged son has just appeared with a bowl of cereal having  finished the ‘not korma’ less than hour ago.  He recently asked what was for tea whilst eating lunch.  I tried not to cry.

I’ve no doubt I will continue to  keep everyone fed and watered for many more years to come.  Recent rough calculations told me that I’ve been answering the ‘what’s for tea’ question over 8000 times. I also realised I’ve been answering another question in equal measure. ‘Is there pudding?’

‘no’