Hamburgers verses Beef Stew

So, the matriarch can't chew. I mean I guess she can chew food but, with no teeth, everything has to be soft, very soft...soupy. It is contradictory to write it but as much as she cannot chew and prefers to eat soft food, the matriarch wants to have a solid food dinner. It is all very confusing between what she wants, what she needs and, ultimately, what she will actually eat and enjoy.

This evening, my oldest daughter made hamburgers. They were really good, took a long time to cook and I made the matriarch a beef stew to eat beforehand. And, she ate it and loved it and spat just a little out. Okay, it is my impression the matriarch loved it because she spat so little out. Yesterday, at my mother's for dinner, the matriarch had fish, mashed potatoes and spinach, all soft and she spat out wads of food. I hate when she does it in public even if it is my parents' house and they don't care. It tells me she doesn't like what she is eating; it tells me she knows the children and I are eating something different to her. My father had made steaks for all of us and they were good, too, but the matriarch cannot eat steak, she cannot eat meat. It is difficult to manage the choices between the matriarch's desires for food she can no longer eat and the soft food she must eat to continue to be healthy. It is ever so much easier for dessert--as long as I put sugar on it, the matriarch will get it down.

Because the matriarch had the stew, she knew we were having hamburgers. She asked me if we were having any of her relish. The matriarch hasn't made relish in years and the last time she made it, she used food colouring to make it green. There is nothing in life like eating phosphorus relish on a hot dog. I told her my daughter had made zucchini relish last year and we were having that.

Would it be good on my stew?

I don't think so. Do you put relish on stew?

I put my chili sauce on my eggs and it was good.

Why don't I put some on a side plate for you?

Put it on bread and butter. I like relish on bread and butter.

Do you ever wonder about people's eating habits? In one way, I know the matriarch misses food she cannot chew; but, in another, way, I really wonder how so many tastes can combine in one mouth. It is all going to the same place but, still, I cannot but wonder.

We ate the hamburgers; the matriarch ate the stew and forgot about the relish and bread and butter; and, we had no dessert. To the matriarch's chagrin.