The Dad Foodie



Remember, the ears must be perfectly shaped!



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I was talking to a co-worker today who was celebrating her birthday. Apparently her husband was taking her to quite the fancy new restaurant here in Seattle to celebrate.

It sounded like an impressive place. Very hip and hard to get a reservation at.  I tried to remember if Mrs. LIAYF and I ever dined somewhere similar, but I was drawing a blank as it's been a while since we dined out without Lukas.  My co-worker then went on to tell me about how her husband is quite a foodie, and how they watch The Food Network quite a bit.

I have two other co-workers who also label themselves as "Foodies".  Each has explained to me at length on more than one occasion about the length of time taken to prepare some of their elaborate and well thought out meals.  For example, one told me about the sauce for a side dish she made once that alone took 4-5 hours to prepare, including trips to the store to pick up missing ingredients.

You might have guessed that none of these co-workers have children.  Definitely not young children.

While their exploits are certainly impressive, I have a few exploits of my own, but generally keep those to myself.  Nope, I didn't let on to any of them that I am a foodie of sorts myself.  A Dad Foodie that is.
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Along with Mrs. LIAYF, I too will spend quite of bit of time doing research on particular restaurants before we decide to pull up our chairs and lay down our hard earned dollars there.   That's because, for a true Dad Foodie there are specific questions which beg to be answered before just any establishment will get our business.

Questions such as:

1. What is the noise level?  (The noisier the better)
2. Do they offer Peanut Butter and Jam?
3. How about milk, fruit cups, chicken strips, sandwiches, or hot dogs?
4. Are any of the items in #2 or #3 organic?
5. What about activities for the little ones? Do they offer crayons, coloring sheets, and/or mazes?

And, most importantly

6. Is the Happy Hour kid friendly, with decent food choices for the happiest among us?

Additionally, while preparing our meals at home, Dad Foodies such as myself will take great care with the presentation of said meal.  The temperature of soups must be a perfect luke-warm.  The meal also must include several options, including finger foods.  These options will always be well balanced between protein, starch, and of course fruit.  There must be milk and water available at all times, and by all means the fruit and vegetables must be organically produced.

Plus, as a Dad Foodie I will spend a large amount of time, and great care cutting Lukas' meals into bite size portions as well as giving foods interesting shapes - such as putting mouse ears on pancakes; or often cutting the crusts off of the bread of those aforementioned Peanut Butter sandwiches.

It's probably a good thing we don't have television in the LIAYF household.  That's because with the endless variety of programming available on cable TV, it's only a matter of time before someone catches onto the notion of Dad Foodies or Mom Foodies, and develops a Parents Food Network. I can only imagine the valuable time I would spend glued to, and mesmerized by, such a station.

Tell me readers, what kind of foodie are you?

That's all for now.  I've got the perfect PB&J to plan for.