Food Facts: the beginning

As far as the food route that got me here, let's start this blog with a shout-out to my mother, whom I love dearly.   She has an admittedly picky palette and no patience for the kitchen, so growing up we ate the following foods on rotation:

1. Meatloaf.  Mom used to say, "just slab a slice of cheese on it and cover it with ketchup.  It's like a cheeseburger!"  Um.  No it is not.  Because of this tortuous experience I will NEVER eat meatloaf again.  This is a promise.

2.  Chicken Tarragon.  This is the one and only meal of my childhood that I still thoroughly enjoy and have yet to fully master the recipe.  I will blog this up at some point.  This is a promise.

3.  Baked Ziti and meat-sauce.   All together now: "whomp whoommpppp".

4.  Burgers. IN THE OVEN.  [This is a good moment to point out that when I was little I saw a news report about e.coli at Jack-in-the-Box restaurants in California.  We don't even have JITB restaurants on the east coast, but I didn't eat burgers again until I was maybe 13 or 14 years old after that.  My parents tried to tell me I was being ridiculous, but I literally thought I would keel over and die with just one bite.  Cue my slight paranoia.  Then when I was around 18 I started eating ground turkey in place of beef.  Now whenever I try to go back to beef, it hates me.  Revenge much?]  Anywho- burgers in the oven are the single most disgusting thing I can ever think of eating.  The fat gets all congealed on top and it tastes like shoe leather. ga-ross.

5. Salmon Croquettes.  What is a "croquette" you ask?  It's canned salmon and breadcrumbs smooshed into a patty and fried in a pan.  Clearly a hit with the after-school crowd.

6.  Tuna noodle casserole.  I can't even discuss this without wanting to vom.

7.  Hot dogs. Boiled. You love it.

Needless to say my adventures in eating were kind of non-existent.

I also have a dad (hi, dad) with slightly more adventurous and advanced taste buds, and he introduced me to things like un-canned salmon, spicy (turkey) chilis, and eventually, my greatest love of all: SUSHI.  More on that in another post.

We dined out a lot when I was younger, and that certainly helped to form my love of food, and eating.  I was the 8 year old ordering fettuccine alfredo when the rest of the kids were getting chicken fingers.  I was also the fat kid.  So there was that.

Today, my personal food pyramid includes the following favs:

-Seafood.  If it swims, i eat it. if it swims and it's raw, i devour it.

-Pasta.  Whole wheat is good, but i love a fresh ravioli, a fettuccine, and a cavatappi.  all of these are mostly always covered in my next favorite...

-Cheese.  I would marry cheese if it was legal.  

-Coffee.  Ok, so technically not a "food."  But i consume it daily and can't have it any other way.

-Chocolate.  Dark.  WITH SEA SALT. I definitely have a sweet tooth, and for that, I'm giving my mom another shout-out.

Future blogs will feature my favorite go-to recipes for my favorite meals.  I come from the Rachael Ray School of Eye-Balling, so you won't see any set measurements or anything.  What you will see is home cooked, easy, and inexpensive meals and sides, a few desserts, and lots of love for food.

come back soon!

-d.