Paradise

Back when I was dating James in college, there was a moment I’ll never forget.  We were driving along in his truck (yes, I got a lot of flak from my high school boy friends, two words, that I was dating a cowboy) and somehow we broach the topic of favorite pizza toppings.  It was early in our relationship.  A potentially make or break moment:

He says, “Hawaiian.”

“Pardon?”

“Hawaiian.”

OMG, this is the man I’m going to marry.  Ha, ha.  Of course I didn’t say that.  A) I know how not to spook a good boyfriend and B) I’m destined to marry Ricky Schroder.

Fast forward 15 years and our boys basically think Maui Wowie is the only option.  Except when we order Margherita, the pinnacle of pizza perfection.

When Jacob was little he gained a bit of a reputation as an adventurous eater.  We fed him sushi and pickled ginger and salsa and all sorts of atypical kid food and he’d practically eat the fork along with it.  These days he’s definitely more of your common kid except, well, he won’t eat grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, spaghetti with butter, potatoes (even with ketchup), mac & cheese or PB&J.  The J is the problem for JJ.  He does however eat relatively mountainous piles of salad, broccoli, grilled prawns, salsa and loves green tea ice cream (me, too).  Though if it was up to him I think he’d eat potstickers soaked in vinegar for every meal.

Now Nate has always been suspicious of vegetables.  He’ll literally eat a dozen clementines if you let him, but rarely do I trick him into eating anything green.  Well unless you count guacamole or avocado.  I didn’t eat avocado until my mid-twenties.  He’s a great little consumer of grilled cheese and quesadillas.  He’ll also eat chili-lime pistachios.  Sometimes he comes over, wipes his tongue off, drinks water and then asks for more.  This week I saw him stuff an entire strawberry into his mouth, green leafy crown and all.  I almost stopped him but, he needs the roughage.

So when it comes to Hawaiian pizza, Jacob “makes” me eat all the pineapple off his pieces because “it’s too stingy.”  I’ve always dreamed of getting to eat all the warm pineapple off an entire Maui Wowie.  When I was a kid I used to pour pineapple rings into a bowl, microwave them, and eat them like cereal.

And we all lived Canadian bacon and pineapply ever after.