yes, bill is kind of a picky eater. but not NEARLY what he was when we got married. ok, ok. i know. he was barely out of his teens, still a kid, but still.
when we first married, he would eat two vegetables. two. corn and plain, undressed lettuce. i’m not counting potatoes as a veggie. that’s cheating. so is counting applesauce. which is what he did. i don’t count applesauce as a vegetable. he eats a lot more vegetables now. in fact he tries everything. except mushrooms. that’s not an unusual thing to dislike, so i don’t bug him about that.
but that plain-bare-lettuce thing. what the hell was that? it drove me crazy. so on our honeymoon (if you count one night in lima, ohio, and the rest of the week at our little apartment in ada, ohio, as a honeymoon), he tried bleu cheese dressing on a salad. it was like bringing sight to a blind man!
i also remember the first time i made breaded beef cutlets. i had purchased the thinly sliced beef cutlet meat from the little local ada butcher. i’m talking maybe ½ inch thick – at most. i brought it home and he was like “oh boy! steak!” WHAT??? STEAK??? in MY family, steak was a HUGE 2-3 inch thick hunk of sirloin, marinated in vinegar, olive oil, italian spices, and barely allowed to warm up on the grill. THAT’S steak. so i said, “nooooo, you’ll see.” so i set to pounding, breading, and frying up the cutlets. the man (boy) was soooo upset the entire time i was “destroying his steaks.” and then he tasted them. i’m sure he ate 2 pounds of beef that day.
in the 30 years since then, he’s become quite a cook. he IS cheesecake man. he’s fearless in the kitchen. you’d think, therefore, that our kids would be more evolved than he was when he was young. nope. matt had a brief (unfortunately) fling with mushrooms when he first started dating mel. he actually called me one day to tell me that he tried mushrooms – and actually liked them. he said “you know what they’d be great on, mom? PIZZA! wouldn’t THAT be great?”
Posted by Stacey at February 3, 2004 11:37 AMcuilinary adventures bind people together. I'd been dating kel for a few months when I took her out for sushi. She was from north PA, didn't think much of seafood, but was willing to go along for the ride. That first bite of maguro opened her pupils about two feet wide. She cleared the table and we had to order more. Now she's the one cooking me bizarre yam-garbanzo-peanut soups that I will never get tired of. Kitchens can be so much fun.
Posted by: dan at February 3, 2004 03:45 PMI was a picky eater growing up and besides mushrooms and raisins and such like additions to a meal which I would pick out, we were not allowed to leave the dinner table unless all our vegetables were consumed. Often when no one was looking I would scoop my vegetables bit by bit into a paper napkin on my lap and then hide it under the table until it was safe to put it in the bin. Now I don't have a problem with food excepting Sushi but only because I don't like the sound of it, not because I have tried it and don't like it.
Posted by: Michelle at February 5, 2004 04:03 AMI had to teach Rob how to eat more vegetables. If I give him lettuce he still grabs it and stuffs it in his mouth and swallows with great exaggeration, like medicine, but he says "at least I ate it".
Posted by: Anji at February 5, 2004 05:08 AM