Bunny has decided that we're to become vegetarians. (She pronounces it "fetch-etarian.")
It started a couple of nights ago with me trying to convince her to eat spinach. "It'll make you kick farther at soccer camp," I said. Then she shoveled in 6 bites. She woke up the next day kicking at imaginary balls and feeling her biceps. "I do feel stronger," she declared. "Let's be vegetarians! Vegetables are much more healthier than meat."
Today at the farmer's market she was pointing out all the yummy veggies she wanted me to buy and when I swung by the fishmonger to buy some black cod, she admonished, "That's NOT vegetarian! You're buying fish!!!"
When I stopped to buy some spinach, bengan bartha, and naan from the Indian food vendor she beamed with pride when the smiling man behind the counter said, "What a good mom feeding her kids this healthy vegetarian food." The timing couldn't have been more perfect, really. And Bunny looked up at me as if it were the universe trying to convince me of something she already knew. The man then turned to his assistant, pointed to Bunny and Wallie—Wallie with her chin resting on the counter and cherubic face turned up to him—and said, "Get these two girls some mango lassi."
Bunny and Wallie sipped their lassis as we walked the rest of the market, never mind that orange liquid was sloshing out of their cups and down the front of their shirts. Bunny had the self-satisfied look on her face that seemed to say, "See? Vegetarians get anything they want."
We came home and I prepared lunch and Bunny told J. proudly that our entire lunch was vegetarian and declared that our family was no longer eating meat. J. turned to me and said, "Is she serious? We're vegetarians now?" I shrugged not really knowing what to say. In truth, I was delighted and curious to see if she wielded enough power to change our family's eating habits.
"I'm fine with it," J. smiled. "I mean, I'll eat anything you cook so it's fine with me if we become vegetarians."
No one mentioned vegetarianism at dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. After an afternoon of biking and swimming she was hungry, and I didn't have the heart to tell her that pepperoni was meat. At dinner J. and I were discussing J.'s post-bedtime grocery/beverage run and the snacks that Bunny would need when she started soccer camp tomorrow. I was telling him that she needed portable snacks, things easily packed in a lunch box. We decided that he'd hit up Trader Joe's.
I looked across the table to where Bunny was sitting and asked, "What kind of snacks do you want from Trader Joe's?"
She thought for a moment then said, "Anything vegetarian. Like rocky bars (what she calls Lara bars) or tomato sandwiches."
When we got home I checked the freezer to see if there was anything non-vegetarian in it (aside from today's fish purchase.) I found 4 hamburger patties which I shaped and froze before we left for Hawaii. I put them in the fridge to defrost and we'll have them tomorrow night. With bacon. And then, we'll become fetch-etarians.
