Noodles are causing me oodles of grief.
My Year 3 son has decided he simply has to have noodles for school lunch.
Why? Well, he does like the taste of them, but mainly I suspect because Finnick is taking noodles to eat every day.
I don’t know Finnick, but he seems to be the guru of the Year 3 kids.
We all had a Finnick in our class.
So, I said to Augie he could heat the noodles in the morning and take them to school.
That was a fail, as the noodles were cold by morning tea.
My kid swears the only way to eat the noodles is to take them in a thermos of boiling water.
This does not sound legitimate or safe behaviour to me: to have a piping hot drink container floating around your backpack, alongside a copy of Harry Potter.
I am already an average Mum, so I do not need a phone call from the school.
I pondered it all and wondered how we could get the kid his hot noodles.
If only I knew Finnick’s mum.
I could phone her and ask her about this hyper focus of mine that is taking up way too much of my time.
You see, I have made a rod for my own back by allowing my kids to have their own choice of lunch each day.
My daughter loves a salad and a bit of cooked pasta.
But it must be bow-shaped pasta.
My middle son only eats strawberries and chicken.
He has autism and has issues with textures of food.
So, I do not mind going out of my mind if it means he will eat his lunch.
And now my baby wants hot noodles every day of the week.
Insert loud moan here …
Remember when we all just got Vegemite sandwiches and an orange every day and that seemed simply fine?
I am also partial to a packet of noodles.
I was a latch-key kid growing up.
Mum worked two jobs and Dad had long gone sailing into the sunset.
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So, my brother, sister and I walked home every afternoon and would eat toast with 2 Minute Noodles on top while we watched Days Of Our Lives.
I was invested emotionally in that soap opera despite the fact the ‘Salem Strangler’ storyline gave me nightmares for years.
Anyway, my point is that I grew up a happy kid consuming Sunny Boy frozen triangle drinks and 2 Minute Noodles in the 80s.
I am surprised I developed healthily, given that the nutritional value of noodles is equivalent to eating six shoe boxes.
If we were feeling extra indulgent we would add cheese and butter to the cooked noodles.
Do not tell Finnick that little recipe or the whole of Year 3 will be asking for that.
Sami Muirhead is a radio announcer, blogger and commentator. For more from Sami, tune into Mix FM.