Eating Greens is a REAL Treat
I don't know about you, but I grew up on Bambi memorizing Thumper's life recitation about greens. Although I never had much trouble as a kid munching like a rabbit on any sort of green thing in the garden in Alaska -- mostly chard -- or making a mixed green herb salad drizzled with olive oil and garlic salt with mom. Yum. Oh! Or Greek greens, which is just cooked spinach with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Green was, and is, always a part of my life, until now. I don't think I've ever craved vegetables so much until being plunked down at the table amidst a family of ten with only a plate and knife for dinner. What are we going to eat? Bread and spreads. This includes cheeses (the goat cheese turning into my favorite), pâté (if you are lucky to have some meat at the table) and then all sorts of sweets ranging from peanut butter and Nutella to butter with chocolate sprinkles. I'm told this is traditional Dutch dinner. And then again for breakfast. Yes, we do have lunch with rice and chicken or a quiche with a bit of broccoli. And sometimes. Yes, sometimes. There might just be a small bowl of fresh salad (lettuce and tomatoes) sitting at the table for lunch. Most of the family barely touches it as I eye it wistfully, attempting to be a decent guest and not grab the whole bowl inhaling it like the cows demolishing their morning silage. I actually followed that bowl to the kitchen after lunch and sat there quickly munching in cattle fashion the remains of the lettuce. Let them laugh, I need greens in my life and I am not about to let one leaf be wasted. I've even snuck in a carrot here or there in such a nonchalant fashion I think I successfully hid the desperation in my eyes. Am I hungry? Not really, there is enough bread to eat for days and snacks of cookies with coffee anytime. Who doesn't enjoy a day of bread and spreads for breakfast, crepes with sugar or jam for lunch and then, you guessed it, bread and spreads for dinner. That Sunday treat was a real carb crusher. Funny enough, I am getting used to it and have created a meal system where I rationalize peanut butter on bread as breakfast, eat another with cheese and then dinner is usually cheese finishing off with Nutella as my dessert. I think this works. Whatever the cultural differences, I remain a firm fan of Disney's childhood lessons and will never agree with Thumper that anything green is awful stuff to eat. He obviously has not experienced a bread only diet.
