Try The Tray

Hey y'all -

I grew up in the South, which means I was raised on a diet of deep-fried goodness. In my 20s, when I had only recently moved to Los Angeles and would get homesick, I would open a Miller Lite and watch Ms Lucy's Cajun Cooking on the rural television network (RFD-TV). With a nostalgic tear in my eye, I would turn to my roommate Brian and say, "I bet you a hunnerd dollars she's about to top that casserole with grated cheese and Ritz crackers." And sno nuff, she usually did.

One of the biggest disagreements your dad and I have is about vegetables. He thinks they should be crispy and green. I think they should be boiled for an hour with ham. He made green beans the other day, and when Laney refused to eat them, she explained, "These are hard. I only like 'em when they're short and soft." I high-fived her. Preach, sister.

In the way that people in Los Angeles are snobby about clothes and cars, people in Missoula are extremely particular about their food. We march against Monsanto, we buy local, and we know our farmer(s).* Before I moved here, I would have said about Missoulians: "Those people need to shut up and eat a corn dog." But I'm coming around to a more enlightened, cream cheese-free way of thinking.

We now live three blocks from the elementary school. All the time lately, Laney's been saying, "I can't wait 'til I'm five and can go to the elemen'ry school." It seemed like perfect timing when I found out about a "Try The Tray" fundraiser that was happening at the school; the school district is hoping to initiate a new local/organic food program, and was inviting families to come have dinner in the cafeteria (for $3 a person). I signed us up, not because I'm particularly invested (yet) in the food program at the school, but because I knew it would thrill Laney to no end if I told her we were going to have dinner at the big kid school.

So last night we all walked down and had dinner at the cafeteria:

Dinner was veggie lasagna, kale chips, a tossed salad with wheatberries in a lemon/thyme vinaigrette, and veggies and hummus.

The most heartening thing to me was the line of families around the building to get in and support the idea. It says a lot about the place we've chosen to live.

Love,
Mom


* No, really, this is our farmer, Max. Nice guy: