Chicken tikka

Neither of our children are amazing eaters, of the eat anything variety. But they're pretty good and we do feel fortunate not to have nightly dinner table struggles.

Sebastian can stuff huge quantities into himself. He is excellent at meat, grains, fruit, fish, and beans. Vegetables are definitely hit and miss - some he usually eats, some he never eats, and many depend on mood and context. But he'll usually consent to try anything at least once.

Liesl is harder to figure out. She is occasionally very picky - only wants fruit and Cheerios. But more often she mystifies us by devouring a food in great handfuls one day and utterly refusing to even taste the same food the next day. Meals with her consist of the offering of many options, with no idea which she'll consent to eat. There's an appalling amount of waste.

But then sometimes they really surprise and delight us by loving something we didn't expect them to like. Tonight we ordered Indian food and they both loved the chicken tikka. Seb loved salmon sashimi the other night. They both ate very well at our Chinese New Year dinner, devouring duck, broccoli, sticky rice, and tofu. And those are really happy moments for us, hoping that our children will share our love of tasty food.