The Terror of Potatoes

My children think I am a terrorist. They act as if I stand in the kitchen wearing a ski mask and holding a rifle, threatening to take down every school-aged infidel who comes to the table to eat. THAT is reaction I got from the kids when I tried to serve them not only mandarin oranges but broccoli and cheese and mashed potatoes over the weekend.

There were tears. Many of them. We had whine with dinner. There were faces made, protests, crying. There was gorging on peas in an effort to avoid the potatoes. What is wrong with them? I should note that the kids love broccoli and Annie's Mac 'n Cheese and will devour both on an ordinary day. But Sophie likes to get creative and once developed a "recipe" in which she mixed broccoli and Annie's and ate it for dinner and lunch the next day. So why the tears when it was broccoli and cheese without the pasta?

Notice anything different? Yes, I'm using caps. It came to light at my birthday dinner with the family that 1. no one north of Florida that is related to me reads this blog except my husband and even his readership is occasional and 2. the aforementioned husband believes that I fancy myself to be e.e. cummings since I post in all lower-case letters. At least I did until today.