What’s on the Menu

The good news is that Jip’s appetite is good and she generally likes what she eats. The bad news is that she eats the same damn thing at nearly every meal.

I’m still waiting for her to wake up and ask for something really hot and spicy. But no. Here we are in Thailand, where the cuisine varies from tangy to sweet to fiery to coco-nutty, and Jip plays it safe. Her breakfast tastes run almost exactly the same as they have for the last couple of years: oatmeal and rice soup.

Happily, her diet includes more fruit than she was eating in the States, and of greater variety. In addition to guava and papaya, she now eats lots of the huge grapefruits known as pomelos. Sometimes she has been tempted by a pink, scary-looking number known as dragon fruit (shown at right).

Alas, almost every afternoon she requests that I make her holy basil and tofu. At night it’s kale and carrots, rain or shine. Now, I admit that I do a pretty good job with these dishes (how could I not have the recipe down pat by now?), but how about some cool local seafood now and then? Instead, Jip asks for salmon.

Chao and I keep trying. He brings over new Thai delights often. We wave them under her nose. And then guess who ends up eating them?