Macaroni Monster

I think that I have created a monster--a macaroni monster. Let's just say that Claudia is a bit of a picky eater. She has certain foods that she likes and she will occasionally eat them. One food that I can get her to eat on a regular basis is macaroni n' cheese. Her very favorite place to get this tasty dish is "Noodles & Co." Claudia has a short-hand for the name, "Roni."

During the winter in Minnesota, sometimes stay-at-home moms are short on indoor activities for kids. There are only so many places to go and trying to discover a new game to play in the same four walls of your house just isn't possible. That is when you pack up the kids and go and get lunch just to get out of the house.

It has been a long and cold winter in Minnesota.

So, I guess I inadvertently created a monster by going to "Roni" more than I should have. Now, Claudia almost has a Pavlovian response every time we get in the car and she will say, "can we go get 'roni, mamma?"

When Gran was in town from Philly, she had to eat "Roni" 5 times (she was only here for 12 days-you do the math)! We are such frequent diners at our local "Roni" that one time we walked in and one of the employees ran over to us and asked, "did you leave a baby's hat here?" And, we had. I was very thankful, but also a little mortified that we ate there so much that they recognized us the instant we walked in the door. I wonder if they think, "oh, here is that mom again who obviously can't cook lunch for her kids!"

Since that incident, I have taken to trying to change up the "Roni"s that we go to. I think that in the past 2 weeks, we have gone to 4 different "Roni"s. Thank goodness it is a chain restaurant! Although, I now feel a bit like a drug addict that has to spread out the places that we go to for "hits."

Summer truly can't come soon enough! I wonder if I am going to have to put Claudia in treatment for 'roni withdrawal?