try new things.

This year has been the year of trying new things - mostly food. Sadly I haven't gone as extreme as Ross did on Friends when he tried a new adventure each day, like his leather pants on a movie date. I already made that mistake once, and on Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale no less! (Note: They weren't actual leather but still way too hot to be wearing such a torture device!)

I guess I tend to make resolutions mid-year, not during the New Years celebrations like most normal human beings. So far this year I have re-tried Olives. Still hate them...(I'll never been grown up enough to enjoy olives),  pickled okra, I really liked it (but it's possibly because I was a bit tipsy at the time), and avacado. I loved the avacado and enjoyed the pickled okra more than I dare admit (I hate almost the whole jar).  I also took time to FINALLY try sushi. Yes, at age 32, I have only now braved sushi. I must say I love it. I didn't think that I would get the cravings that I hear friends say they get every once in a while - but I do! I'm not sure if it's for the actual fish, or the soy sauce that causes these cravings, but they are strong!

Sadly I've sworn off sushi until I get back over to the East Coast to visit. I had a bad bout with some sushi recently and I don't really want to relive that. I may have to break this vow to try a new place that just opened in town that everyone is raving about - then again the place I got ill from eating was a spot that everyone was raving about as well.

It is amazing to me how much your taste buds change as you age. I can remember vividly swallowing an entire mouthful of asparagus with milk like I was taking a horrible bitter pill at the dinner table in my youth. Now, I will eat it by the fist full. Same goes for mushrooms and even onions. I can recall picking onions out of meat loaf and taking almost an hour to eat one slice as a child - and I hated when my mom would add mushrooms to the peas. She did this because I loved peas, and my father hated them alone, he had to have something added to them to want to eat them. In the end we both grumbled but at least I got peas. Truth be told there are still a few vegetables that I will not eat, brussle sprouts, beets, and I'm still not a big fan of cooked cabbage (although I will eat red cabbage, raw in salads). And I still don't enjoy blue cheese. I can handle it on it's own mixed in a salad, but do not give me blue cheese dressing it makes my stomach turn to look at it. Come to think of it cottage cheese is something I've never tried... maybe that will be next.

I'm trying to figure out a few new things to try now that my taste is starting to change. Any suggestions? What is something new that you tried recently that you loved, or hated? Or maybe a suggestion on how to prepare something I've mentioned above that I swear I'll never like - that would be extremely helpful!