Petty Squabble

Mr Liow's mum had been making our meals lately and Mr Liow did mention that he missed his mum's cooking once in a while before she came over.

Ok, AN loves vegetables and would not reject them at meals. She loves all sorts, from brinjal, greeny leafy ones and their stalk, string ones, flowery ones, and didn't mind them in whichever colour.

That lunch, Mr Liow asked his mum how she made her brinjal so soft. She said to just cook it longer. Mr Liow then commented that 'we' could never get it as soft as that and emphasized that he had never seen AN enjoy brinjal like this time.

I felt offended in the beginning! Firstly, she bought eggplant that was anothr species of brinjal that would not cook to the tenderness of brinjal. This 'brinjal' dish was tougher to chew up than the usual. Secondly, AN loves brinjal. She can finish as much brinjal as I make if she didn't have to eat rice with it.

Thirdly, my MIL's prideful reply wasn't pleasing as well. She said: "Judy don't know how to make, nevermind. When you come back to Singapore, I'll make it for you all."

For all my efforts put in making meals for the past 2 yrs, this was the "thank you" that I got, a subtle suggestion from my husband that he was just tolerating my cooking to go back to mum's, that my daughter didn't enjoy my cooking as well as she enjoyed grandma's.

-_______-"

That was just a passing moment of feeling offended though. I knew AN enjoyed my vege dishes better because she would rather eat the food I cook and if she had enough of her food, she would only be left with plain rice. That day, she had problems chewing the eggplant and spinach and swallowing them, and had a large portion left that she gave up eating. I loved my own vegetable dishes much better as well, so I wasn't too affected at the end of the conversation.

I whispered to AN in front of Mr Liow, loud enough for him who was sitting at the table with us to hear, that I prefer my own cooking and so am not going to feel 'beaten'. AN then whispered back asking: "Mummy, why are you whispering?"

I replied softly with a palm over her ears: "bcause I don't want papa to hear us."

Our angel who never likes us to argue then loudly asked in shock: "why does mummy not want papa to hear us??!!"

That made us laugh. We can't trust AN with secrets at this age. Imagine what could have happen if I was whispering something worse to her. Hee.

Seriously, I am fully aware my skills have improved over the years and I am confident. I do not make the best dishes but I have tasted better cooking than my MIL's (Isabelle for one wins her hands down).

I also understand it's not surprising a child often prefers mum's cooking to others, just like I always prefer my mum's over MIL's (before mum turned 'less salt less oil')

I can make fantastic dishes with MSG too, but do I need to subject my family to it?

So I can't make Mr Liow agree my dishes taste better than his mum's because he grew up eating food the way she made it.

We're ok now. Ok the minute AN made us laugh. Hee.