>>That was against the rules in my house. You ate the dinner that was served and except for special circumstances (one kid didn't eat red meat, for example), everyone had the same meal. I was a mean mom. <g>
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>I guess I must have been a mean mom too <g> ... the kids either ate what we were having, or they didn't eat at all (nothing more until the next day's breakfast). But I seldom got any arguments ... I guess I cooked stuff that they liked.

My younger daughter, from a very early age, would practically eat nothing but dairy: cereal, rice pudding, yoghurts, etc. - or just ketchup. Meal times were a nightmare with her when she was a toddler. Still we have to provide her with a different menu. Strangely, when she first started on solids, she's eat the leavings of our elder daughter (who was going through a fussy stage then), esp. the peas!

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>When I was a kid, I didn't much care for my mother's mashed potatoes (to this day, I'm still not a big fan of mashed potatoes, but I'll eat a little of it). Anyway, what my mom did was to set aside a few hunks of cooked potato for me and then mash the rest of it. So, I still had potato like everybody else and she didn't have to do any extra work to give me something a little different.

How about roast potatoes? I never hear or see any American talk of eating them. The are the main-stay of the British Sunday Roast. On films and TV shows (esp. re: Thanksgiving) US families are always passing around a huge tureen of mashed potatoes, but never any roasties.

BTW, esp. FYI has anyone eve tried boiling the spuds with fennel seeds? I tell you, it's delicious. I got the idea from Madhar Jaffri, the famous Indian cook, in her idea of an Indian slant to Xmas dinner. Since then I can't look back, and am not happy if my spuds (and the roasted ones) aren't done this way. Give it a try.

BTW, she also did her sprouts the following way: fry them from raw in butter, with mustard seeds, till you hear the seeds exploding, THEN put them on to (par)boil. This makes even THEM edible! :-)
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>Now, peas, on the other hand .... yuck!!! I just CAN'T eat those things! <g>

It's easy - you squash them between the tines of the back of your fork! :-)

I'm CCing this to you all cos I really want you to hear of spuds in fennel seeds :-)

Terry