Carnivores

A couple of months ago I was stopping at the grocery store on the way home from wherever I have been (I am ALWAYS stopping at the grocery store, no matter where I have been or what time it is!) and I got the following text message from my 15-year-old stating his needs:  “Milk.  Cans of chicken.  String cheese.  Protein bars, either Musclemilk, Pure Protein, or MetRX Big100 Original.”
Can you tell that Teddy (to us)/Theo (at school) is serious about meeting his protein needs?
By far his preferred way of meeting those needs, though, is MEAT.  “What can I eat” is his frequent question, and unlike the little people, who I can placate with cereal and bowls of sherbet, he usually has a followup question to whatever I have offered him:  “But is there any MEAT?”
Meat, of course, has to be thawed out (if I have any) and then cooked (in my already 85 degree kitchen).  Sixteen-year-old Jake, a big eater himself, is also a big fan of meat (and almost anything else that is not tied down or hidden away so other people can have some before he eats it).  But I am trying to be understanding, so last night before John and I went out around 7 p.m. to a farewell party for our departing pastor, Father Joe Ciccone, at the Foundry, I made hamburgers for all the children.  They were really good hamburgers, too–Angus beef, pre-formed and BIG, bought on sale (I only buy it if it’s on sale!).
On the way home (after 10 p.m.)  we had to stop at the gas station, the mailbox, the library book-drop, and, of course, the grocery store.  I bought popsicles for the little kids, and for Jake and Teddy, I found two enormous sirloin steaks on sale for just over $3 each.  I thought what a nice dinner they would make.  Perhaps there would even be enough for them to share (they were over a pound each). 
When we walked in, Jake wanted to know where his “treat” was. I showed him the steak.  The next thing I knew, he was slicing onions and grinding up peppercorns and before long those two steaks which I had thought would make a good dinner had become a midnight snack (although Teddy didn’t eat all of his–it was both midnight snack and this morning’s breakfast.).