To whoever suggested make your own taco night: Thank you! They loved it. We had crunchy taco shells, corn tortillas and flour tortillas. We had grated mild cheddar cheese, chopped lettuce, hamburger, pinto beans, tomatoes and Pace picante sauce. It was nostalgic for me and G — we both grew up with taco nights — and both kids seemed pretty enthusiastically happy with it.

Jack and I were at Kathy’s house after a parent-teacher conference. We’d gone together with G in one car, and we’d dropped off G. Jack needed a book he’d left at Kathy’s, so the three of us went back to her place together. Kathy invited us in and offered us ice cream. As we sat around talking, I realized there was something odd about the situation. This ice cream was green. This was mint chocolate chip ice cream. And Jack was eating it. In the world I know, the only ice cream Chris and Jack will eat is vanilla.

“This isn’t vanilla ice cream,” I said.

“True,” said Kathy.

“But Jack is eating it. He and Chris won’t eat anything but vanilla ice cream at our place.”

“How weird. We eat this all the time over here.”

“I also like lemon sorbet and rainbow sherbet,” Jack piped up.

Sometimes I wonder if the kids are playing elaborate practical jokes on us between houses. (“Okay, we’re going over to Dad and Jill’s house. Remember, we will not eat ice cream when we’re there unless it’s vanilla.” “Check.”)

More likely, their eating habits have been changing. When they politely refused all non-vanilla ice cream a few years ago, it made a strong impression on me. It hasn’t occurred to me in the years since to try again in any kind of elaborate, investigative way. Most of the time I buy vanilla ice cream. Sometimes I’ll get strawberry or coffee for me and G, but they always turn that down, so I assumed they still liked nothing but vanilla.

Maybe that’s not it at all, though. Maybe they’re just not crazy about strawberry and coffee ice cream.

Last night I watched them both down gourmet chocolate gelato.

I wonder what else that I think “just is” really isn’t.

* * * * *

I just went into Jack’s room to ask him again what flavors of ice cream he eats. He added Rocky Road, chocolate, and a particular kind of chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream to his list.

“All these years I’ve been thinking you ate nothing but vanilla ice cream,” I told him.

“Hunh??? Why would you think that?”

“Well, because I kept offering you strawberry and coffee and you didn’t want it.”

“That’s because it’s coffee and strawberry.”

“I’ve also seen you turn down chocolate ice cream, though. But it sounds like you like that now.”

“Hmmm.”

Exactly.

Bloody Marys are a long standing Christmas morning Doughtie tradition. We spend our Christmas mornings together, and now that I’ve joined the clan, we make Bloody Marys two ways: the hard core Clamato version, which is a recipe handed down from G’s mom, and the Spicy V-8 version, which comes from a friend of mine. One day, I may reach Clamato-level Bloody Mary enlightenment, but I’m a beginner Bloody Mary drinker, and the Spicy V-8 version goes down easier for me.

* * * * *

Bloody Mary (Clamato version)

• 1 (32 oz.) jar clamato juice
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 oz. celery salt
• 1/2 oz. Worcestershire sauce
• 3 oz. lemon juice
• Angostura bitters
• Tabasco sauce
• 1 tsp. onion juice (very optional)

Combine first four ingredients. Add Tabasco and bitters to taste. To obtain onion juice, squeeze 1/4 med. onion in a garlic press and use juice and pulp to get 1 tsp.

Mix all ingredients together with a whisk or spoon. Pour over booze and ice and squeeze a fresh lime wedge over the top. Garnish with a celery stalk.

* * * * *

Bloody Mary (Spicy V-8 version)

• Ice
• Vodka
• Spicy V-8
• Fresh bright green celery stalk
• Tabasco sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh horseradish
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 lemon
• Fresh pepper

Fill glass half-way with ice.

Fill glass 1/3 of the way with vodka.

Pour Spicy V-8 over the vodka to fill glass a total 5/6 of the way full.

Add a minimum of 9 shakes of Tabasco (or more to taste).

Add 1 tablespoon fresh horseradish.

Add 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce.

Squeeze juice from 1/4 lemon into the glass, then drop squeezed lemon into glass.

Stir with a fresh, crisp, bright green celery stalk.

Sprinkle with pepper.

Adjust to taste.

“Would you like some peanut butter cookies?” I asked the kids one day. I’d made them from my mom’s recipe. They’re one of my favorites.

“No thanks!” they both said politely.

Hmmm. I now had a whole plate of cookies to myself. This was good in some ways, but bad in others.

A few weeks later I tried again.

“Would you like some oatmeal cookies?” I asked the kids. I’d made them from my dad’s recipe. He’d perfected it over the years. My mom made them for us kids over and over. They were one of my favorites.

“No thanks!” they said politely.

Hmmm. I had another plate of cookies to myself.

“Do you guys like chocolate chip cookies?” I asked them one day. (G wasn’t a big cookie eater, either, and I was done with eating plates of cookies.)

“Maybe. Usually,” they said.

Aha!

I remembered that my mom made chocolate chip cookies from the Nestle Tollhouse recipe on the back of the semi-sweet chocolate chip bag, so I decided to try that first.

They tried the cookies cautiously. They looked surprised. They liked them! They wanted more. Bingo.

Next time I made them Jack asked, “Can I have some cookie dough?”

I imagined him in the hospital with salmonella poisoning. I imagined being the stepmom who gave him salmonella poisoning.

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Raw eggs are dangerous for kids. I don’t want you to get sick and have to go to the hospital.”

He was disappointed, but he seemed to understand. When he’d left the room and I was sure he wasn’t looking, I ate some raw cookie dough myself.

Every time I made cookies after that, he asked if he could have some raw dough. Every time he asked, I imagined being the stepmom who was responsible for him having to be rushed to the hospital, and I said, “It’s not safe for kids.”

One day, I was talking about my dilemma with some friends who knew a little more about agriculture than I did. They told me that the salmonella bacteria were likely to be on the egg shells, and that if I washed the eggs thoroughly with soap and water before I made the cookie dough, they’d be less likely to make anyone sick.*

Aha!

Now I wash the eggs with dish soap and warm water for a long time. I dry them off. I wash my hands with dish soap and warm water. Jack gets a tiny bowl of cookie dough for a snack while the cookies are baking, and I don’t worry about being a careless child-sickening stepmom. Win-win.

* * * * *

Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from the Nestle Toll House recipe)

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (My mom taught me never to scoop the flour out of the jar with the measuring cup, but to spoon the flour lightly into the measuring cup, and then to use a knife edge to brush any flour that pokes above the top of the measure cup back off into the flour jar. She also taught me never to pack the flour into the measuring cup.)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (Softening the butter — getting it out of the refrigerator a few hours before cooking and letting it come to room temperature — makes a big difference in this recipe.)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (Dark brown sugar is especially good.)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• (This recipe also calls for 1 cup chopped nuts, but the kids don’t like them, so I usually leave them out)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove with a spatula to wire racks to cool.

* * * * *

When Kathy and I got together to bake Christmas cookies last December, we discovered that we both used the same chocolate chip recipe.

* * * * *

*Note: I am not an expert and cannot vouch for the idea that washing eggs reduces salmonella risk. (Which I’m sure you all know. This disclaimer is for anybody surfing through looking for information about salmonella and eggs and raw cookie dough.)

* * * * *

P.S. If you haven’t guessed yet, it’s possible that I am a wee bit paranoid. But in a normal, healthy way. You know. The kind of paranoid that manifests itself in me keeping a hard hat by my bed in case of earthquakes. The kind, I’m told, that is mostly amusing. I hope so.