Things in the kitchen will definatley be a little bit different with your hosted children. For the twins first night, I kept things simple. Roasted chicken, corn on the cob and bread and butter. They absolutely loved the Pillsbury French Loaf bread. I don't think they typically get bread hot out of the oven, so we had this with many meals to come.
The next night I took the twins to a big mall. I had the camera with me, so they loved posing in front of fancy settings and having me take pictures. I thought we'd go for pizza after the mall. They had said they liked pizza. What they like is pizza dough with EVERYTHING scraped off. They really disliked tomato sauce which surprised me because the next night we were having friends over to meet the kids. I asked them what they'd like for dinner and they requested spaghetti. Puzzled by their hatred for tomato sauce, I said OK -- spaghetti it is. My friend Jill and her daughter Grace came over and all the kids colored and played great together. When it came time for dinner, I put the spaghetti on the twins plates and just as I was about to pour the tomato sauce over it they politely said "No.... salt." And so it was. Spaghetti with salt for the twins. Of course, accompanied by warm bread and butter.
What do they like?? I asked them if they liked steak with mashed potatoes and they said "Fooi" (sp??) This is their commonly used word for yuck. But, with things turning out a little differently than I expected where meals were concerned, I decided to make it anyway. It was a huge hit! They loved steak and even more they LOVED mashed potatoes! Alex had mashed potatoes all over his face and he kept pointing to the pile remaining on his plate saying "GOOD! GOOD!" Maybe they are used to powerdered potatoes or something. They sure LOVED homemade mashed potatoes!
It was alot of fun seeing how they would react to different foods. Here are some of the key things I tried that got a big resonse, one way or the other....
The next night I took the twins to a big mall. I had the camera with me, so they loved posing in front of fancy settings and having me take pictures. I thought we'd go for pizza after the mall. They had said they liked pizza. What they like is pizza dough with EVERYTHING scraped off. They really disliked tomato sauce which surprised me because the next night we were having friends over to meet the kids. I asked them what they'd like for dinner and they requested spaghetti. Puzzled by their hatred for tomato sauce, I said OK -- spaghetti it is. My friend Jill and her daughter Grace came over and all the kids colored and played great together. When it came time for dinner, I put the spaghetti on the twins plates and just as I was about to pour the tomato sauce over it they politely said "No.... salt." And so it was. Spaghetti with salt for the twins. Of course, accompanied by warm bread and butter.
What do they like?? I asked them if they liked steak with mashed potatoes and they said "Fooi" (sp??) This is their commonly used word for yuck. But, with things turning out a little differently than I expected where meals were concerned, I decided to make it anyway. It was a huge hit! They loved steak and even more they LOVED mashed potatoes! Alex had mashed potatoes all over his face and he kept pointing to the pile remaining on his plate saying "GOOD! GOOD!" Maybe they are used to powerdered potatoes or something. They sure LOVED homemade mashed potatoes!
It was alot of fun seeing how they would react to different foods. Here are some of the key things I tried that got a big resonse, one way or the other....
YUMMY Foods:
Fresh Fruit -- they ate so much I bought it at Publix by the gallon and just put it on the table for breakfast and gave them toothpicks to eat it with. They had fun and it was easy. They also enjoyed dipping the fruit in yogurt. They loved cut watermelon, strawberries, pineapple, canteloupe, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and grapes.
Salami & Cheese -- they wanted this every day for lunch! Muenster cheese, no mayo, just butter on the bread.
Hotdogs -- Before we checked out they had the bag of hotdogs open and were eating them! You have to watch them with those hotdogs!
Sausage -- they loved spicey italian sausage cooked out on the grill.
Latvian Salad -- a mix of cut cucumber, tomato and onion mixed with sour cream. They will eat this with lunch and dinner every day. Or skip the sour cream for lunch and just give them sliced cucumber and tomato with their lunch.
Radish -- sliced radishes were their favorite snack
Pickles -- warning: do not put out the whole jar. Just give them 1 or 2.
McDonald's -- although I had told myself I would not take them to McDonald's, this was their first full sentence to me in English "Veronika & Aleksandrs like to eat lunch at McDonald's". I was so proud of Alex for saying his first full sentence in english I had to take them there. Alex enjoyed a cheeseburger and Veronika had McNuggets.
FOOI Foods:
Hamburgers -- big, fresh grilled burgers were definately "fooi". They just like McDonald's dreid up burgers.
Most Veggies -- difficult to get them to eat many types of vegetables. Aside from cold veggies (like the cucumbers and tomatoes) all they would eat was corn on the cob.
Sauces -- they would not eat gravy or toppings. Liked things dry or with salt, ketchup or sour cream.
Salad -- regular lettuce salads they would not touch.
Homemade chocolate chip cookies -- would not eat them, asked for fresh fruit instead!
Macaroni & Cheese -- they said they liked it and recognized the box of Kraft Mac & Cheese, but they would not eat it. Maybe it was just me....
Milk -- Alex ate his cereal dry and would not drink milk. I was told they had lived in a place with no electricity before the children's home, so if you don't have a fridge, I guess you get used to eating your cereal without milk.
Those are the food do's and don't for now. As I think of more I will add them for you.
I did find a great international market that specializes in Russian foods. The owners and clerks are russian, so they were able to talk fluently to the children and translate some things for me. I let the twins create a menu for the next few meals and teach me how to make perugi's and some other tasty russian dishes!
Russian Grocery Contact Info:
New Odessa International Market and Deli
2793 Clairmont Road, Atlanta, GA
Phone: 404-321-3544
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