Bonus Gastronomical Narcissim

Filling out the CT questionnaire has of course triggered all sorts of additional self-reflection as regards food-related issues. This being the internet, of course, tradition dictates that I must transcribe and publish my every stream-of-consciousness for posterity. See below.

Stuff I really, really like.

• Spinach. Including creamed.
  
  
• Mushrooms (on a business trip a couple weeks back, the colleague I was traveling with noted that three of my four dinners were portobello-based).
  
  
• Sandwiches. Big fan.
  
  
• Including hamburgers.
  
  
• Chocolate chip cookies.
  
  
• And ice cream.
  
  
• Veggie pizza (see mushrooms, above).
  
  
• Most shellfish, though I basically don't cook seafood, for no discernable reason.
  
  
• Avocados. Could live on these. Good with shellfish.
  
  
• Hummus. Could eat it with a spoon.
  
  
• Artichoke hearts.
  
  
• Lamb, though it's also something I never cook, I think because I don't know how to eat it other than as "chunk of meat next to some vegetables and potatoes," which is very rarely how I cook or dine.
  
  
• Eggs, all ways. Try them with oregano.
  
  
• Black beans.
  
  
• Indian and Thai cuisines, though I take both mild. I don't really see the attraction of the flavor of pepper/capsaicin spicy - horseradish/wasabi-type spice I much prefer.
  

Stuff I won't be eating, either often or ever.

• Fish. Not shellfish - those are fine - but fish-fish, with scales and fins and gills and whatnot. Tuna, salmon, trout, etc. I don't know if I'm actually allergic in a clinical sense, but I feel ill after eating it, so I don't. Correllary: even when it's very fresh, all fish smells like cat food to me, so even before I started to notice that it disagreed with me, I didn't care for it much.
  
  
• Ham (mostly). This one is weird - the affect on me is similar to that of fish. Other forms of pork aren't implicated, including things like prosciutto and Canadian bacon, which technically are ham. I don't know what the deal is, but it's not my imagination.
  
  
• Pickles. I love them, but they don't agree with me. I guess it's the cucumber factor.
  
  
• The smell of overcooked green beans has always made me gag.
  
  
• Tart fruit. That sour bit under the skin of plums makes my jaw clench up involuntarily. I only buy sweet apples.
  
  
• I'm pretty indifferent to bell peppers and passively avoid them, though I'll eat them if they're put in front of me.
  
  
• Generally speaking, I don't like soup. I feel somewhat self-conscious about this, because if there's any catgory of food so broad that it should include something acceptable for everyone, it's soup. "I don't like soup" is a very different sort of statement from "I don't like green olives," or "I don't like Safeway's house brand soy milk." Soup can be...well, basically anything. Yet, with a very, very small number of exceptions, I never want to eat it.
  

Other

• My mother is from North Carolina; therefore, "barbecue" has nothing whatever to do with "barbecue sauce." This is one thing I find deeply annoying about the midwest, though I recognize the problem is entirely mine.
  
  
• Also, because my mother is from North Carolina, oatmeal is savory, not sweet.
  
  
• Speaking of hot cereal, I believe that grits are underappreciated because people don't know how to cook them. They should be cooked enough that they're eaten stiff, not runny.
  
  
• I remember, when I was a child, bringing grits with us whenever we visited my grandparents in Ohio, because at the time they couldn't often be found that far north. (This was southern Ohio, very near Kentucky - my hillbilly ancestors actually migrated from Kentucky to Ohio because of feuding, like the Hatfields and McCoys. Seriously. And not that many generations ago, either.)
  
  
• I bought grits on my first grocery run when I moved to Chicagoland. The cashier, who was from Louisiana or someplace, raved to us (My Sister the Blond Artist was with me) that she'd never before sold grits to anyone in all the time she'd been working at this particular grocery store.
  
  
• My first year or two living on my own, approximately 90% of the new recipes I tried contained plain yogurt. It wasn't intentional. There are only a couple I still make.
  
  
• I can't turn on my oven in the summertime, even a coldish summertime like this one. My apartment retains temperature extremely well, for the most part, but baking anything, even briefly, heats the entire place to an intolerable degree. This should be my hint to roast chickens all winter, since my heat is electric but cooking gas is included in the rent.
  
  
• I've loved cheese my entire life, except from ages 6-12, when the very thought of it made me sick. I've never known why.
  
  
• I'm not fond of cooking meat, though I'll do it.
  
  
• I've been thinking of this piece I wrote a few years back about grocery shopping in Greater Boston (formerly known on the book blog as "Selfimportantville"). Yet another aspect of life that's easier here (though I do miss being able to pick up a lobster roll in the prepared deli case).
  
  
• I've long had a strange desire to make a batch of bagels from scratch. I doubt I'd ever want to make a second batch, but it's one of those weird things I'd like to try for no particular reason.

Ok. That's enough.