The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and you better go there.
I have basically maintained a gluten-free kitchen since December of last year. That means I no longer bake all the white-flour goods that I used to for my family. No more Buttermilk Pound Cake. No more Toll House Cookies. No more Butter-Me-Not Biscuits. I've tried a couple of times, but no matter how hard I try to contain it, that all-purpose "dust" seems to go everywhere, eagerly awaiting a chance to cross-contaminate something.
Nathaniel has taken this pretty hard, even though he is free to eat these kinds of baked goods away from home, and he is away from home a lot between college classes and work. I thought at the beginning that it wasn't such a big deal because of this. I thought he was lucky because at least he didn't have to give it up totally like Emma. And I thought he would realize this and actually be supportive.
Nope.
He has grumbled and complained and has refused to try the alternative baking that I have done using almond flour. I was pretty disappointed in his attitude. Then he started asking me to buy him cookies at the store. I would do it rarely. Reading the ingredients on the package always makes me feel like I am poisoning him instead of doing something nice for him, so most times I would talk myself out of it. This happened again a couple of weeks ago. I got home from the grocery store, and he immediately searched through all the bags to see what I had gotten for him. "You didn't buy me any cookies!" he announced, furrowing his brows in consternation. Then he said it. He asked me the big question that revealed all, that explained why he had been such a grumpy, unsupportive young man.
"Don't you LOVE me anymore?"
My jaw dropped as I thought, "Is that what he thinks? I tell him I love him every day and hug him and kiss his cheek and talk with him and wash his clothes when he has been too busy because of work and school, but Cookies = Love?"
Then he smiled and laughed to cover up his wounded heart. I smiled and laughed with him, but the next time I went to the store, I bought him a bag of Chips Ahoy. When I got home he looked through all the bags and found the one labeled, "MY MOM LOVES ME A LOT". His attitude has improved dramatically.
2 comments:
LOL - I see the same thing in my 14 yo. If I bring home some tasty thing he has wanted, he will just be SO happy! "Oh, you are so sweet, you DO love me!" Of course I think of the hundreds of other things I do for him, but making his belly happy is of primary importance!
Well, that's reassuring! I was feeling awfully inadequate. At least these boys are easy to please.
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