What's for dinner?

We all have things that trigger a childhood memory.  A smell, a song, a place, a person, something.  I have a lot of things that trigger childhood memories.  My grandmother's cheese soup reminds me of Christmas.  The smell of my stepdads camera strap reminds me of the old lake house.  The smell of chocolate chip cookies reminds me of my stepmother, Sandy.  The song Rockin' Robin reminds me of my mom dancing around my childhood home.  I can still envision her dancing wildly with us throughout the house.  That is a really good memory.  Such a good memory in fact, that several years ago I bought her a CD at Christmas and we danced around the house.  That is a good memory too.  I have locked that one away to make certain that I always remember it.  I wonder what it is about an event, a place, a time, a person that makes you lock something away.  What is it that makes that moment in time so precious that you don't want to forget?  I don't know what it is, but I cherish the memories that I have.

One of my childhood memories is my moms tuna nuna (noodle) casserole.  You see, my mom was a single mom for many of my youthful years and she worked hard to make dinners as she got home in the evenings and like most families we had a few regulars in our repertoire.   You know, tuna casserole is a simple dinner, very easy actually, but even as an adult I still love it.  Maybe it is because is it reminds me of home.  I used to make it as a single person, a lot actually, but once I got married and had children for some reason I convinced myself that I needed to have my own repertoire.  A staple around here is spaghetti. Why?  Because it is one of the easiest meals on the planet with the exception of pb&j or something you throw in the microwave.  Anyway, my husband has voiced concerns numerous times over the complexity of my meals.  What that really means is that I dirty a lot of dishes.  I have really tried to minimize my dinners, since it is only dinner for 2 really.  The other 2 people around here could survive on hot dogs, pb&j and strawberries.  I didn't realize that things could be so simple, but apparently that is the case.

Tonight I was trying to make things simple.  I hadn't thawed anything out and I was searching for something.  I really wanted Mexican food, but since we are going out tomorrow, I thought I should cook.  I searched and found a few things to make a staple meal from my own childhood.  The kids like noodles, Jack likes tuna, this should be a hit right?  Simple enough.  Done.

I whip up dinner in a flash.  I even throw it in a fancy pan.  I mean if I was going to make a simple dinner the least I could do was throw it in a fancy pan.  In 20 minutes dinner was ready.  AWESOME!  I serve up dinner and immediately, I see people turning their noses up to my version of my mothers tuna casserole.  Oh, how dare you people.  You don't know what you are missing.  This is friggin fabulous.  In my head I am actually thinking, "thank goodness, that means I can have lunch tomorrow."

For the next 30 minutes we try to convince two little people to eat something that was out of the norm to them, but totally of the norm for me.  I couldn't believe they wouldn't eat it.  My husband did.  Although, I'm not fully convinced that he liked it.  However, being the good husband that he is, he ate and he didn't complain.  I have told you many times the guy is smart.  Seriously, he knows.

So I guess they don't appreciate tuna noodle casserole, but I wonder what meal will trigger childhood memories when they are older.  All I know is that hope they don't say, "chocolate milk."

Now, just because you all need to listen to Rockin' Robin, click here.  Come on, everyone needs this song.  It is a happy song.  If you don't have a little peep in your step, then listen to this and your day will be better.  Trust me.