Chocolate Soup

Since we discovered Ian's food allergies, he has been a pretty good sport about the restrictions that have been placed on him. To help him get over the initial shock, I agreed to follow the same dietary guidelines so he wouldn't feel alone in his suffering. (I only did it for a few weeks until he got used to it.) It worked well, and he surprised me with a great attitude and rapid improvements in his attention, calmness, and willingness to try new foods.

I, on the other hand, had to choke the stuff down with a convincing smile on my face. Rice milk is just plain awful, and ice cream made from rice milk is just about the nastiest thing you could put in your mouth, other than rice cheese, which does not deserve to be called "cheese" at all. Ian LOVES the stuff. Occasionally, he gets upset that he can't have a traditional goodie, but that doesn't happen very often.

One night during dinner, however, Ian decided he was missing the richness of real chocolate. So, he came up with a recipe for chocolate soup. He began listing all the ingredients he would put in it: chocolate pudding, chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk, chocolate candy, oreos, chocolate syrup, etc. We all took turns adding our favorite chocolate temptations.

"And the secret ingredient is....." he announced, as he got up from his chair and walked over to my side to whisper it in my ear. My heart pounded as I expected to hear something sweet, like "mommy's kisses". In typical 6 year-old boy fashion, he said, very delicately . . .

chocolate farts!

I wonder if Martha Stewart would be interested in the recipe for this delicacy for her next cookbook.