How to cook for a picky eater

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A little backstory: After lots of acupuncture, weekly Moxabustion, endless inversions, bouncing on the exercise ball, seeing the best chiropractor in New York and all the yoga I could handle, Charlie remained breech the whole time he was in utero. This meant a C-Section was “our path,” which was, in a way, good for me: a person who loves a plan and the illusion of control.

In an effort to “plan” for my impending incapacitation, we nested the best we could. Bought a chest freezer to store all the broths, beans, soups and stews I was going to spend the month making. Started a shared Notes app list of “things I would like to eat postpartum” in case people asked what they could make for/bring me and a separate list of things I could teach Max to make for us when I couldn’t physically get out of bed. (People are often surprised to learn I married someone who doesn’t cook, but I feel like that’s the only way I could make a relationship work. Imagine my lover telling me the best way to sear a steak, why garlic doesn’t actually belong in Carbonara or how they think they could make a better chicken pot pie? I love a healthy discourse, but respectfully: pass!)

Of course, you plan, God laughs, etc. One minute you’re making Split Pea Soup for your future self, the next minute your water’s breaking all over the living room floor. After a very dramatic arrival, Charlie arrived exactly one month early, healthy as can be (very much the overachieving Capricorn he is, not the Aquarius I thought I was getting). The first of many lessons in “acceptance and letting go” this sweet boy is teaching me.

Anyway, I didn’t have time to make any food (unless you count seven containers of Split Pea Soup) before this happened, so thank God for our beautiful friends who brought of all the things I listed in my shared Notes app (lots of broths, containers of pierogi, bags of frozen dumplings). While Max knows how to make a few things that are most important to me– matzo ball soup, Goodbye Meatballs, pork noodle soup–