Ratatouille - a la Julia Child

Anton Ego would have loved the birthday dinner here tonight.  In my quest to get people eating more veggies here, I made Julia Child's Ratatouille.  It was amazing.  Not nearly as pretty as Remy's presentation, but it was divine.

What I am more excited about is that my husband tried it, even after telling my children stories of the "eggplant incident" when he was growing up.  I won't give you the details.  I'm sure you probably can figure it out yourself.  But even better, the kids tried it.  The WEE ONE, who turned ONE today, by the way, had thirds.  She ignored everything else on her tray.  I usually don't have seconds, but I did tonight.  It was delicious!  The other kids didn't love it, but I was happy they at least tried it, given the stories they had heard from their dad.

So, thank you Disney, for making a movie about a rat named Remy that made ratatouille something kids might try.

Right now I have a lot of friends who are losing weight and family members, too, who get all hung up on the time I spend making food.  To each his own.  Please don't be too quick to chastise those of us who like to cook.  Cooking, is, for me, a chance to flex a creative muscle that often goes unexercised.   It is that love of cooking that allows people with lots of food allergies to come to my house and not have to bring their own food.  It is what keeps those of us with allergies that live in this house alive and out of the hospital.  More importantly, it's also a part of my personality.  I want people to FEEL like they are well taken care of at my home.  Perhaps I should focus more on decluttering and cleaning and less on the food ;-).  Nah!  I'll still do that, but I won't give up the cooking.