Another Item for the Freezer

We went grocery shopping with the kids over the weekend. This is something that we really enjoy doing as a family. For the kids, they love lining up for samples given out at the market. It's nice to see them wanting to try new things.

One of the items we sampled were these frozen dumplings that you cook on your stove top. You add a little water and oil, cover with a lid and steam them. When the water has evaporated, the dumplings are done - idiot proof and fast (a little over 10 minutes). The kids loved the teeny, tiny morsels that were given out as samples. For us, if the kids like the samples, our question to the person doing the demo is "can we get a discount if we buy bulk?" Besides, doesn't the picture on the bag look yummy?

Well, tonight we cooked the dumblings for Andrew and Caleb as a little snack just before bed time as they both were a little hungry. When we cooked the dumplings, they turned out a little soggy (probably added a bit too much water). Isn't it funny how at the demo at the market, the samples always come out perfectly? We figured, "No problem, just a little extra water... more juicy, right?" We put the dumplings in front of Andrew who looked at them and said "you've got to be kidding!" We encouraged him to try it, and after putting one in his mouth, he spat it out and had this look of utter disgust on his face. Caleb spat his out too and refused to eat them, just like his big brother.

Well, we thought about the best approach to get them to eat the dumplings and realized that our options included 1) lecture them on how difficult it is to make money to buy these expensive dumplings, 2) tell them how there are poor people in the world who don't get to eat even one meal a day, or 3) remind them that they were the ones that wanted to buy these damn things in the first place. Eventually we decided on the tried and tested method for getting kids to eat Chinese food.....add more soy sauce and beg them to eat.

After much pleading and numerous threats, we managed to get them to finish a few more dumplings. We promised that we would make it better the next time. Andrew immediately retorted, "Better next time? I don't ever want to eat this stuff again!"

The dumplings are now stacked nicely away in the freezer and in about six months when we do our semi annual freezer purge, the remaining 11 bags will be rediscovered and tossed into the garbage can.