The chili gene.

One of my biggest dreams for JED is for them to love Peranakan food like I do; after all, it is part of our heritage. In order to enjoy Peranakan food, they would first need to learn how to eat chili and spice. The twins gave me hope, just shy of 24 months when we managed to catch them on video eating mee pok ta ai hiam jio (dry noodles with chili). Unfortunately, that was a fluke.



                                

For years after, the twins avoided like plague, anything that would set their mouths on fire; chili, pepper, mints and garlic.

Then we went to Phuket where out of sheer desperation and hunger (the pool made them so hungry we couldn't keep up with their food demands), they ate what was on the table. Since it was Thailand, one of the staples on our meal table was tom yum soup. The first time required copious amounts of cold water on stand by. But the two boys kept going back for more.

I haven't wanted to get my hopes up but it looks like it's here to stay. We have taken to buying bigger packets of noodles so that Evan and Muffin can take some off us without us still feeling hungry at the end of the meal. Muffin has taken it one step further and has asked on three consecutive mornings, dry chili noodles ('hot noodles') for breakfast and finishing the entire pack all by himself.

So now, we'll try other things like Ayam Merah (spicy fried chicken) and curry. We've got 2 Baba boys in the making now though Jordan is still staunchly refusing!