Ten new foods (at home)

"Expanding Horizons" item number eight is to try ten foods that I've never tried before. Item seven is just about the same thing, only that's for eating in restaurants and this is for cooking at home..


01.) PB & Pickle Sandwich - Recently, the subject of peanut butter and pickle sandwiches has come up in several places in my life. No fewer than three people in more than one social circle have recommended it. So I got some pickles and I gave it a try. I made myself half a sandwich because, honestly, I expected it to make me gag as soon as I took a bite. As it turns out, I didn't hate it! It's never going to make it onto my list of favorite foods, but it was surprisingly not disgusting. The rest of the pickles in the jar are probably going to go on chicken sandwiches and burgers instead of on peanut butter sandwiches, but ... I'm glad I tried it. And if I ever want to gross people out by eating it in front of them, at least now I know I can!

02.) Corn Soufflé - When my sister came to visit between Christmas and New Year's, one night she made corn soufflé. It's whole corn, cream corn, corn muffin mix, eggs and sour cream all mixed together and baked with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top. And it's just about the best thing I have ever eaten. EVER.

03.) Fish - Yes, I'm in my mid-20s and "fish" is on a list of "new foods" for me. I have eaten fish before, I know, but I have no lasting memories of it. All I know is that when I did eat it as a child, I didn't like it. I've spent my whole life declaring that I do not like fish. Well, not long ago it occurred to me that I might not dislike it anymore and I probably ought to give it a try to make sure. And, as it turns out, I don't dislike it anymore. At least, not the kind I tried. (...Flounder, I think it was?) It's not my favorite; I'm unlikely ever to say, "Hey, let's have fish for dinner!" but it isn't disgusting. [Edit: I went and looked at the packaging. There were two different kinds of fish. One was, indeed, flounder. The other was tilapia. I liked the flounder a bit better.]

04.) Frosted Mini-Wheats Chocolate Little Bites - I wrote about this in my LiveJournal: "How goddamn 'mini' do mini-wheats have to get before they'll stop!? What the hell is next? Pre-chewed cereal? Don't they fucking call that 'oatmeal'? That said, it really does taste good. I just wish the pieces were at least normal mini-wheat size." They're one of the very few cereals that I'll eat that messes with the milk.

05.) Cottage Cheese (plain) - As a person whose food likes and dislikes rely more on consistency than on taste, I've always been a little bit afraid of cottage cheese. It just looks so ... er ... cottage cheesy... But my best friend Chantal said it's one of her favorite snack foods, so I decided I should give it a try, just to see. I really thought it was going to make me gag, but it didn't! I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it, though. It wasn't bad but I'm not completely sure I actually liked it, either. I have to think about it and try it again. I also plan on trying it with fruit eventually.

06.) Cottage Cheese (with STUFF) - I tried cottage cheese with pineapple chunks and I liked it. But by that time, I'd tasted a spoonful or two by itself so many times that I'd gotten used to it and actually preferred it to the pineapple. However, then a friend told me she eats it with jelly and I tried that. Woooooo, I found my preferred cottage cheese companion! So tasty.

07.) Cereal with chocolate milk - I was craving chocolate milk so I asked my mother to bring home a Stewart's refresher bottle of it for me. Since a quart is twice as much as a refresher and costs less than twice as much, that's what she brought home, so I had some milk to be creative with. I decided to pour it over my corn Chex this morning for breakfast. It wasn't bad but I don't think I'm going to make a habit of it. Chocolate milk tastes better by itself.

Ten new foods (eating out)

"Expanding Horizons" item number seven is to try ten foods that I've never tried before. Item eight is just about the same thing, only that's for cooking at home and this is for eating in restaurants.


01.) Shepherd's Pie - I went to The Cheesecake Factory with Laura and my parents and I had shepherd's pie for the first time in my life. It's kind of odd, I think, that I'd never tried it until now. It sounds like the sort of thing I'd love. I know Laura likes it but before we ordered she said it's the kind of thing that everyone makes a bit different and she'd never had it there. It was really good, I thought. The onions, zucchini and carrots were julienned and there were peas and mushrooms and ground beef, too. I hate the consistency of mushrooms, so I picked around the big ones. The potatoes that topped it were really great; there were lumps (I love lumpy mashed potatoes) and the skins were included, too. Mmmm, nom nom nom. I give it a thumbs up.


02.) Runza - From Wikipedia: "A runza (also called a bierock or fleischkuche) is a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of beef, pork, cabbage or sauerkraut, onions, and seasonings. They are baked in various shapes such as a half-moon, rectangle, round (bun), square, or triangle." I got my runza (with cheese) from -- wait for it...! -- Runza. It was just plain awesome and I'm terribly sad that it's a regional thing and I won't be able to get them in New York.

03.) Deep-Fried Mac & Cheese - I half expected to keel over and die from 100% clogged arteries by the time I was finished, but I didn't, and even if I did ... I would've died happy. Mmmyummy...

04.) Wendy's Bacon & Blue Burger - I had to give this one a second try before I could make a call, but not because I wasn't sure how I liked the first one. I liked it quite a bit, for a fast food burger. The problem was, my parents brought it home for me and there was no bacon on it. Um! That's an important part of a "bacon and blue" burger, I think! They brought another one home for me a few days later, and when they went through the drive through, they made sure to tell the person not to leave off the bacon. XD Anyway, Wendy's describes it as such: "Fresh, never frozen beef covered in real blue cheese crumbles layered with FOUR strips of thick, fresh-cooked Applewood Smoked Bacon. Top it off with sautéed onions, a creamy steakhouse sauce and crisp, fresh veggies." I removed the tomato and the lettuce was hardly what one could call crisp and fresh but it never is when it's been sitting under a warm meat patty for any amount of time. Like I said, as fast food burgers go, I really liked it. It might be my new favorite fast food burger, actually. I'm a total sucker for blue cheese.

05.) Olive Garden's Four Cheese Stuffed Pansotti with Sausage - This year for my birthday, Laura (and her baby!) and my parents and I went to the Olive Garden. I stayed safe with one of my usuals but my dad ordered one of the new dishes -- four cheese stuffed pansotti with sausage -- and generously handed over one of the pansotti to me. The menu describes it as "Pyramid-shaped ravioli filled with mozzarella, ricotta, asiago and parmesan cheese, served with grilled Italian sausage and melted mozzarella in a tomato alfredo sauce." I'm pretty sure with all that cheese, my digestive system would've been in panic mode an hour later if I'd had a whole serving, but that one pyramid ravioli that I ate was delish.

06.) Pizza Hut's Hershey's Chocolate Dunkers - Holy crap. If you're the sort who occasionally braves Pizza Hell, TRY THESE. Make sure you do it when you're not alone, though. Abso-fucking-lutely delicious as they are, they are so sweet you won't be able to finish them by yourself. I shared an order with gramma and still had to bring two of the five sticks home.

07.) Cheeseburger Remix - One day I was browsing through pictures on Flickr and I came across something called the Cheeseburger Remix. It was a McDonald's cheeseburger with chicken nuggets on it. Now, I love cheeseburgers and I love chicken nuggets (though both preferably not from McD's) so I figured this was something I had to try. Turns out I definitely could've lived without it. It wasn't gross (in the context of McDonald's food) but each food kind of masked the taste of the other one and it wound up being … just fattening. I'll be keeping my burgers and nuggets separate from now on, thanks.