KT (now 6yrs old) had been asking about Gumbo. He had seen it in a movie he watched lately and was full of questions. So being a good dad, AT thought he would look up a recipe and get KT to help him make dinner and give me the night off. The two had been talking about Gumbo for days now, and little LT (now 4 yrs old) asked once or twice ‘Who is Gumbo?’ To which we replied it’s a dish… food. But he didn’t seem to understand or to care, as is his way.
So it’s dinner time (5.30pm in my house) and we sit down to a lovely Gumbo meal that KT was taking great pride in sharing. And it tasted great. Really, it did. I wanted seconds…and thirds, but held back. AT loves left overs. As I tucked into my meal with LT sitting next me at our little table looking out into to the streets of Battersea asked ‘Does he have a mouth?’
I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly. I looked at him as he poked his meal with a fork. Then I looked AT, who mustn’t have heard. So I looked at KT who was grinning from ear to ear. It seemed he had heard it too, and what’s more, his reaction confirmed what I had suspected.
So I asked him ‘What did LT say?’
To which he replied- trying not to laugh, ‘He thinks Gumbo is a person’.
At which point we both cracked up laughing. LT never knew we were even having a giggle at his expense, I think he was probably still trying to figure out what exactly happened to poor old Gumbo and why we were eating him! I didn’t know what I found funnier, the fact that LT thought Gumbo was a person; or that he wanted to know where his mouth was; or that his big brother had thought this adorable little faux pa was as funny as I did.
Anyway, if you want to make this delicious gumbo recipe, AT found it at Gumbo City, and it was this recipe we used: Easy Chicken Gumbo. And can I say it any more times?
Gumbo, gumbo, gumbo.
Here is a little photo of LT. Just in case you didn’t know how cute he was.
The loneliest little man in Kensington Palace.