“Eeeewwwwwww............! Are you sure you want me to eat this?” my future niece-in-law asked hesitantly, giving me a long, searching look. “I don't think Jon will ever do anything that lands him in the dog-house this bad.”
We all smiled and shook our heads up and down. The younger cousins began chanting, “Eat it, eat it,” and my sister-in-law, Tammy, patted her son's fiance's hand and gently urged, “It won't be that bad, Natalie.”
Carefully, picking up just the tiniest morsel of the disgusting looking food out of the bag, Natalie opened her mouth, made a terrible face, and gingerly placed the lump on her tongue. Her lips closed, her eyes shut, and she chewed.
Suddenly her eyes flew open, a huge grin popped on her face, and she began to laugh. “Oh, you guys”, she giggled, then grabbed a handful of 'dog food' and shoved it into her mouth. “This is delicious!”
Everyone agreed as the bag was passed around the circle of laughing cousins, aunts and uncles, and we helped ourselves to handfuls of the unappetizing but yummy mess. I grinned as Jon leaned over his future bride, pecked her on the cheek, and congratulated her for being a good sport. Natalie had just passed the first test of fitting into our extended family.
The dog food tradition began years earlier, at my little sister's bridal shower. We have an aunt, Amy, who was always a favorite with all the cousins. She was fun, sweet, and a little bit crazy. She presented Julie with a bag of dog food and a big ceramic doggy dish when it was her turn to give her a gift.
“This is for those times when your husband ends up in the dog house,” Aunt Amy informed Julie. “I know he seems pretty perfect now, but it's going to happen one of these days.”
Julie laughed and put the bag down by her side, next to her other opened gifts.
“No, you'd better open it and try a little for yourself,” Aunt Amy coaxed her. “You need to be able to assure him it won't kill him to eat it for a few days.”
“You want me to eat some of this dog food?” Julie asked, horrified.
“Yup,” Aunt Amy told her. “It won't hurt you.”
Julie looked at Aunt Amy with disbelief, then turned to the rest of us with a questioning look, but we were all laughing so hard we weren't able to help her.
“Come on,” my youngest sister, Sharon, coaxed. “I want to see you eat dog food.”
Julie was not at all sure she wanted to oblige, but with everyone's insistence, she finally opened the top of the bag. I could tell she had been hoping Aunt Amy was just teasing her, maybe thinking she had already opened the bag and replaced the real dog food with something else, but the top of the bag was still sewed shut and looked as perfect as it had the day it was bought.
Aunt Amy was actually cleverer than any of us thought. It turned out she really had replaced the dog food with her own concoction of chocolate covered cereal; which looked just like the real thing, by the way; then resewed the top so it just looked like it was unopened. We all got such a kick out of her gift that giving dog food to new brides became our family tradition. I still don't know if we enjoyed it most because of the horrified looks the poor fiance's got when they had to eat it, or because the rest of us loved eating the special treat so much, but one way or the other, it was sure a fun thing to do.
Just in case you have a bridal shower coming up, here's the recipe for our home made 'dog food'. Just remember to clean out the original bag well, then put your new mix in a clean plastic bag before you lower it into the dog food bag and restitch, or in some cases, re-glue the top shut. And have fun!
Dog Food
1 stick of butter or margarine
1 ½ cups peanut butter
2 cups chocolate chips
In a very large bowl, melt this in your microwave for a minute, then stir until completely blended. Pour a box of rice or corn chex cereal (I use the generic brand because it's cheaper) over the chocolate and stir to coat.
Sprinkle 1 to 2 cups of powdered sugar over the mess in your bowl and carefully stir it around until all the cereal is coated. Sometimes it takes a little more sugar, especially if you like your dog food kind of white and powdery looking, sometimes less. When it's completely coated, pour out on a big cookie sheet and let dry.
Scoop your dog food into a big plastic storage bag, seal, and put inside an emptied and cleaned real dog food bag. Then reseal the top so it looks like it hasn't been opened.
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment