Homemade burgers

I didn't grow up on fast food. Alhamdulillah, due to my father's love for Minang food, I grew up eating my greens under the watchful eye and sharp tongue of my grandmother.

"If you want to look young, eat your greens," she would say, and I would hastily eat my greens.

Somehow most people in my family value a youthful appearance, and attribute it to healthy eating. I thus became fearful of shrivelling like a raisin, and heeded every tip there was in order to delay the onset of aging, even before I began aging. There was one time where my aunt made a comment,

"Nadia, your hair doesn't shine as it used to. Don't you eat your tomatoes?"

However, that doesn't mean I necessarily have good eating habits growing up. I binged on all the junk food I could get, and downed gallons of soda on a daily basis in college. It didn't last long though.

When I became pregnant with S, I abandoned my bad eating habits. No more sodas, no more junk food. Up to this day, I still practice the same regimen, though with some flexibility here and there.

Yesterday I made burger patties. I fed my children burgers for lunch. It was my first experiment. It was a successful one alhamdulillah. I suspected the patties to shrink while cooking, yet I uderestimated its capacity to fill. Each of us ate two burgers. By the time I was halfway through my second one, I grew increasingly drowsy, and very full.

That evening, as we walked back to our van from Target, I asked the kids,

"Do you want burger for dinner tonight?"

To my ultimate shock, disappointment and surprise, not to mention a little irritation, they all shook their heads.

It was a completely different picture from the one where they were jumping with joy when I mentioned that we were going to eat burgers for lunch. We very very rarely eat out, so they would savor any chance of eating out, especially fast food.

"Why?" I asked, somewhat annoyed, due to the fact that I hadn't prepared anything else for dinner.

"It makes us full," replied S.

I was miffed, irritated, annoyed, pleased, and overjoyed at the same time. Of course, this just means that it's all up to me to provide my family with homemade food most of the time. At the thought, my jubilant smile dimmed, my shoulders slumped, and a heavy sigh escaped me.

I say this again, for the umpteenth time: mothers would be the wealthiest people on earth, if they are paid for all they do. I'll wait for my compensation from Allah.