the boy and his strop.....

Ebi-kun is a pretty happy kind of kid, he has his moments, don't we all? but on the whole is he pleasant person to be around. Yesterday he wasn't, he has a half day at yochien on a Wednesday so he is back in time for lunch, he came back in a foul mood, rude to me, slamming doors, stomping around. I asked if something had happened at yochien, he shouted back at me so I sent him to the genkan (entrance way) and told him to stay there until he could be a bit more civil. He sulked back in 5 minutes later, we had lunch but he was still grumpy so I suggested a nap figuring he might just be over tired, he near bit my head off! So, I explained that because he has yochien Saturday and sports day on Sunday he won't be able to have a lie in this weekend, and he will need all his energy for sports day, would a nap be a good idea? ALRIGHT THEN, IF YOU SAY SO and he stormed off upstairs. 

He did have one, for about an hour then came back down still grumpy so I gave him his cook book and told him to pick something for dinner because he was cooking and he needed to write a shopping list for the ingredients we need. I can't remember what his first choice was but it involved out of season veg so he opted for mac and cheese but then he complained that there were no vegetables, I asked what he wanted to eat with it and he told me steamed broccoli.

Off to the supermarket we went, he rides his bike there now which is better for me since having an almost 20kg dead weight on the back of the bike is a bit of a killer! Stress levels are up though but we are getting better at it. We picked up what we needed and came home to cook! I helped a little bit but he did the bulk by himself, he still has a strop on, look at his face...

Once we made the mac and cheese we decided to make apple crumble too, so he chopped the apples as I made the crumble mix, he lost his grump and got chatting about yochien, I was expecting some tale about an incident that had upset him but nothing, I still have no idea why he was in such a strop but working together in the kitchen broke the spell...

Delicious! and what did he learn from all this? If you come home and shout at the woman of the house for no good reason, you will be cooking your own dinner. ha.  

We used the Honest Pretzels cookbook, by the same author who did Pretend Soup. We both like these books, Ebi-kun complained that their are no real photos of the finished dish, my main gripe is that the measurements are all in US standards so I have to go through and change everything before we start. Pretend Soup is good for beginner chefs, I think Ebi-kun could make more of the recipes in there by himself now, Honest Pretzels is the next step up oh yes and all the recipes are meat free - good for veggie families!