Getting to Know Your New Foodie Friends

Since my wife and I are still trying to come up with some recipes on here to share with you, or at least figure out what we DON'T want to share with you (not because we don't like you… it's because some recipes are more special to us like my grandmothers spaghetti sauce… sorry. It's for our eyes only), I wanted to take some time and tell you a little about ourselves. We both grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh Pa, and still live here today. I grew up in an Italian/polish house and my wife grew up in an Italian/Lebanese house. Because of this, we have very similar tastes when it comes to Italian food. As far as other foods, we can differ greatly! The good thing about us is that we are both willing to try new things. I got my wife to try some homemade Halushki several months ago… she claimed she didn't like cooked cabbage, but she tried it anyway and really liked it! I would say in general I'm a little more adventurous when it comes to food, but I'm very proud of her for how she is opening up to other foods.

As far as foods that we don't like, we both have very distinct tastes. I personally don't like iceberg lettuce, eggs, canned tuna fish, mayonnaise, raw peppers and onions, and mushrooms of any kind! Not too bad huh? There are some instances where some of these may be ok… Eggs when used in fried rice or with French toast is great. I just don't like hard boiled or scrambled eggs for some reason. I can handle mayo if it is used in something like a chipotle dipping sauce, but mayo by itself is gross! My wife has a much longer list of dislikes… some of which I still don't understand. These include things like ham, bacon, pepperoni, or any other cured meat (she's a sorry excuse for an Italian… LOL… She knows I'm just kidding), peppers, onions, ranch dressing, Mexican food, pickles, and anything slathered in sweet BBQ sauce. You may be wondering what the heck she eats! Believe me, I did too! I also found out when I married her that she had some weird habits when it came to food… She used to be the type of person that would eat a steak well done and with Ketchup!!!! I don't know what it is about Ketchup with her… she even believes that french-fries are the perfect vehicle for eating ketchup (which I don't necessarily disagree with). She has also been knows to snack on a bun with ketchup and cheese on it… LOL. Needless to say I finally got her out of that little funk with the ketchup/steak and got her to eat one juicy and medium done that was nicely spiced without the need for ketchup. I have been slowly trying to get the both of us to explore new foods. The BBQ pulled pork recipe I provided you last week is a perfect example of something she initially though she didn't like, but she ended up liking it because it wasn't the typical Pittsburgh sweet BBQ sauce.

Despite all of the dislikes, we can find many ethnicities of food that we can enjoy together. These include Chinese, Thai, and Japanese! I don't know what it is about these ethnicities… or at least the Americanized version of these foods that make them SO GOOD! I know it's not REAL Chinese… but General Tso's Chicken is one of mine and my wife's guilty pleasures! Thai food is another obsession that we have. We are working on perfecting some recipes from all of these ethnicities. Once we get them perfected, I'm sure we will be able to share some of them. We also really enjoy Jamaican food ever since we took our honeymoon in Jamaica. This food was absolutely amazing. We still have a packet of Jerk seasoning sitting on our spice rack. I love to marinate chicken for several hours in the jerk seasoning and then throw it on the grill! AMAZING!

All in all I feel we are both still young when it comes to our tastes and we are working towards an open mind about new flavors and types of food. If you are reading this then you are a part of our adventure. Keep checking back soon for our recipes.