Horizons Broadened, Mind Blown

If you had asked me 2 months ago if I was a picky eater I would have said no. I would have explained that growing up I was always pretty finicky but living in Texas and learning to eat foods I had previously didn’t like had really helped me change my palate. Well, if you were to ask me today if I was a picky eater I would have to answer a resound yes.

The fact that I am a picky eater has become apparent through, what you might think of as an unrelated event. That event? My new roommate Liz moved in. How are these two things related? You might ask.

Well, Liz is a bit of a gourmet cook. Seriously. She has cooked some of the most scrumptious things I have ever tasted. There was the epic Quesadilla night. Liz had bought those Costco tortillas, which in their own right are a culinary delight. I thought we were just going to put some cheese, maybe some chicken and eat with salsa and sour cream. Oh, Star. You uncultured simpleton. Liz had a whole different breed of quesadilla planned. At first glance, I was convinced I would hate it but… It was magical. I had two, and then asked her to make them again a few days later. (I’m not sure what the exact ingredients were but there was basil, spinach, special kinds of fancy cheese, some seasonings, possibly onions.) Then there was the ward mingles salad. I was convinced I wouldn’t like It, mainly because It consisted of cucumber, tomatoes, and bread. But it was the best thing ever!

Liz is a busy, busy girl. She works and she’s in school. Scheduled to graduate this May. So on those few nights when she has time she comes home and prepares spectacular meals. Which, thankfully, she is anxious for me to try. In the conversations leading up to these meals she’ll ask me if I like certain things. More often than not… no, I don’t. I’m willing to try just about anything (except fish, when she cooks fish, I lock myself in my room and don’t emerge until the next day, when hopefully the smell has sufficiently dissipated). I have discovered oh so many things that I dislike that I had never realized I disliked before.

The short list of things Star doesn’t like:
Fish
Mushy stuff: Cooked carrots, oatmeal, grits, etc.
Mushrooms (Whole mushrooms are gross, cut up mushrooms mixed in meals or cream of mushroom soup is fine, there are actually plenty of foods I like the essence of, but not the whole thing)
Eggy Desserts: Flan and the like
OLIVES
And plenty of other stuff

Last night Liz held a Dinner Group at our house. Her dinner group is wilding entertaining and delicious. She made Chicken stuffed with… I’m trying to remember exactly, but I’ll get most of it wrong. Goat cheese, diced almonds, peaches, spices and herbs. The chicken was served with this amazing Mint Pesto.

The salad was amazing, except she made me put these smelly olives in it. If I picked those out the salad was delicious.

She broiled carrots, and even though I loathe cooked carrots I have to admit they were pretty good. And for dessert was some sort of lemony custard thing. It was delicious.

Dinner was amazing. I felt like I had gone to a fancy restaurant or something, except that this restaurant made me help them prepare my meal. Liz didn’t make me, I was happy to learn. I learned to zest a lemon, fold stuff into a dessert (I never knew what that meant, basically just stir softly.)

Besides eating better food, Liz living with me has taught me much about the food world. 1. I LOVE basil. Holy Crap I love it. 2. I really like herbs. I’ve never used them in my cooking because I didn’t know how. Gone are those bland days of yore. 3. I bought freshly grated parmesan cheese, some Italian spices and have created my own culinary delight to sprinkle on spinach raviolis

Horizon Expanded; Mind Blown! Thanks Liz!