Sugar Cookies!

I was never afraid of eating sugar cookies. I could eat sugar cookies morning, noon and night. They have always been one of my favourite cookies and in honour of Christmas approaching (and my flight home being less than a day away) I am featuring them here.
I like sugar cookies without icing. I like sugar cookies with icing. I like sugar cookies with too much icing.
I remember making sugar cookie candy canes growing up with the red and white dough you would twist up and than shape. They were so good and are one of the reasons I have sugar cookies on my Christmas post. The soft sweet cookie taste is so addicting. I wish I had one right now.
Another reason is a Fiel tradition I was introduced to through my wife, Kristin. Sometime before Christmas (its hard to tell what day it will be in post-secondary age) all of Baba's grandchildren come together at her house and sit down at her table and decorate cookies like there is no tomorrow. It's a very accurate description if you know how many cookies a Baba can bake ;) Everyone has a different decorating style, but rested assured if it is possible to use to decorate a cookie Baba has it ready to go on her table. There are gingerbread men cookies (the only non-sugar cookie of the bunch), circular, wreath, tree, holly, heart, bell, and star shaped cookies. Oh, and with breaking cookies or creative reimagining of what a shape represents the options are literaly endless.
I have made a plaid-heart cookie (using icing and a lot of sprinkles), a nativity cookie, an alligator (out of  the legs of a gingerbread man), and a pirhana plant just to name a few. I once made a gingerbread me as well. Some people peter out and just start slapping icing onto cookies distractedly, but I could decorate all day long. I love it. I love it all the more because I get to decorate fabulous tasting treats.
VERDICT: Favourite!

photos borrowed from http://kidscooking.about.com/od/christmascookies/ig/Christmas-Cookies/Sugar-Cookies-Recipe.htm

Spinach

Spinach is not something I have tried recently, but for a good chunk of my life I steared clear of it. I can't remember exactly when I first tried it either, but I do remember when it made the switch from "well-I-guess-IF-it's-in-there-already" to "Hey-where's-my-spinach?!". It was shortly after I met Kristin, thus it being the first entry on the KB List. She put it in everything and it was strange at first, but you don't really notice it chopped in a tomato sauce and it has health benefits (superstrength being the most attractive one...). So, we'd put it in lasagnas, spaghetti, eggs, and salads even. I've come to really appreciate it, most recently on pizza. I don't know if I can ever make another pizza without a healthy layer of baby spinach. That was what really solidified its status for me. When you try something on pizza and never want another pizza without it you know it's good. Also, when I run to the store on my way home from work, say to pick up milk or chicken wings, I find I'm buying spinach of my own volition too. Since I use it mainly as an ingredient in something else I can't quite justify making it a favourite, but I definitely love to make things with it.
A quick word about forms of spinach. I enjoy baby spinach most. It's good as is, but is also easy to cut, especially since we got a slap chop. Frozen (mushed) spinach is not something I'd dive into with a spoon, but is easy to mix into sauces, fritatas, and the like. I still haven't found the type that bestows superstrength, but the search isn't over.
VERDICT: Make, KB List

Photo borrowed from http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/season/guide/spinach.html

Pomegranate

11/03/09 - I've heard a lot of people talk about pomegranates, but I don't get it. They taste good, but not great, especially weighed against what you have to go through to taste them at all. First the cutting it in half and then awkward spoon-work that follows. Spending minutes studying the woody branches between you and scooping out the massive seeds trying to pick the perfect place. And, if you succeed you get a couple of the massive seeds. These massive seeds have a tiny coating of juice and pulp. Picture the earth as the seed and the atmosphere as the good part. There is barely enough juice there to register that it has a taste, let alone whether it is good or not. Then the seeds: spitting them or eating them? Is either option any good? This is why they invented seedless watermelons.

This whole experience has taught me why pomegranate juice is so expensive. I think I agree most with the French word for the fruit: pomme grenade. I think it would be most useful if converted into a fruit explosive device. No one would suspect it and the seeds would do major damage.

Pomegranates don't taste bad enough to be gross, but the work is too much for me to actually like them. IF they came in seedless varieties, now that would be another story.

VERDICT: Polite

Photo borrowed from http://chickspeak.com/blog/2009/10/16/pomegranate-dietary-supplements-can-you-ever-get-enough/

Strawberry Banana Yogurt

11/25/09 - Yogurt could be a category unto itself of things I don't like. It can be liquified, regular or frozen and I'm afraid of it. I've tried it on multiple occasions and every time it is the same. It's a sticky, mushy, paste sort of thing that I just can't seem to get off my tongue. Yogurt just sits there with it's gross texture like it knows what happens to it after it gets swallowed. The latest flavour I tried was strawberry banana and it was like whipped medicine. I had less than a spoonful and had to quickly find something to wash the taste (and memory) of it out of my mouth; I'm pretty sure it was carbonated.

There is one form of yogurt I am no longer scared witless of: frozen. Now, I'm not saying I like it, but if someone served it to me without telling me it was yogurt I probably wouldn't realize it unitl the second or third bite and would continue to eat it anyways without saying anything. I feel that frozen yogurt tries to hard to be ice cream though, so much so that it somehow tastes creamier than ice cream, which is weird. Also, it tastes like chemicals much more often that ice cream does.

I don't mind things made with yogurt, like butter chicken sauce or naan bread, but straight-up yogurt is a no, except for authentic Grecian yogurt when I'm on vacation since Kristin says it's very different.

VERDICT: yogurt = gross, frozen yogurt = polite

photo borrowed from http://www.danone.ca/en/products/silhouette.aspx

I ♥ hamgurgers!

Hamburgers are one of my all time favourite foods. So, in honour of them I am starting a monthly feature: I ♥ hamgurgers! I love homemade hamburgers. I love fastfood hamburgers. I love appetizer slider-burgers. I love chinese restaurant hamburgers. I just love hamburgers!

In the first installment I am going to feature a burger that I get to eat very infrequently: A Harvey's Ringer. Putting onion rings on burgers has only entering pop-cuisine fairly recently and I've only lived in one place that had a Harvey's (and it was in the airport) so I rarely get the chance to partake in this excellent example of burgermanship. I would classify Harvey's in the upper class of fast food restaurants. I love that they leave the topping of the burger totally up to the customer, Subway-style. You never have to feel weird or demanding requesting things be added or removed from your burger; since it starts as a blank slate, Harvey's gives you complete control in completing it. I usually get lots of lettuce, pickles, ketchup and a small squirt of hot sauce. Once seated I remove the pickles and give them to Kristin: 1) because she loves pickles and 2) because I like the pickle taste, but find that a pickle dominates the taste of everything around it. If removed, the pickle juice gives a nice pickle undertone to the burger, which is fantastic.

We were in Charlottetown for Thanksgiving and for our last lunch before heading back home we stopped at the Harvey's. Now, I have to confess, I didn't actually order a Ringer, I just got Frings (which is a mixture of fries and onion rings) with my cheeseburger combo and put some of my onion rings on my cheeseburger. It was great having two distinct crunches in the burger: lettuce and fried, breaded onion. The burger was so good it was the food I discussed most following Thanksgiving and it takes something very special to top stuffing.

photo borrowed from http://smartcanucks.ca/harveys-canada-free-original-burger-with-bacon-cheddar-ringer-purchase/

Pasta Carbonara

11/15/09 - I know it is only pasta, white sauce, pepper and bacon, but I still had never had it before and I figure I should have a post about something I like by now, so it looks like I'm making some progress. Anything with bacon is good (even scallops) so this was an easy food to try, especially when the bacon is real, thick, and in plenty. Oh, there was also freshly grated real parmesan to top it with, so I had no hesitation to try this.

As much as I enjoyed the bacon, I also enjoyed the white sauce. The creamy, garlickiness was a delight. I have gone from fear, to trying it and finding it not bad, to be able to now say definitively, "White sauce: I like it!" Pasta Carbonara is good to eat!

Not only have I learned of another food I like, but, when it was served,  I also heard a story about how it got its name. The pasta part is pretty obvious, but why carbonara? Pasta carbonara is topped with freshly ground pepper, but in Italy, where it originates, it isn't just topped with pepper, but literally covered in pepper. So much so that it looks black, like charcoal, or carbon. I don't know how well I'd do with that much pepper, but I definitely like the North American version.

VERDICT: Make

photo borrowed from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1052/ultimate-spaghetti-carbonara

Hard Boiled Egg

11/08/09 - So, I'm a little picky when it comes to eggs. I prefer scrambled or fried and like the yolk to be thouroughly mixed with the whites. Going to extremes with eggs is frightening for me. Cut into it and the yolk starts leaking everywhere? No way, José! Boil it to the point of retaining its shape? No, thanks. I've always associated hard boiled eggs more with bouncy balls than with food.
However, I have now tried them. I had supper/a crepe party with the family we practice our French with and they were a topping. I figured they were inside of a crepe so why not? I was a little bit hesitant, but I had melted cheese on my crepe so that gave me extra confidence. Surprisingly hard boiled eggs taste just like eggs. Who knew?
Now, I probably won't start buying egg dishes and boilers anytime soon. The whole yolk still freaks me out and I really enjoy fried eggs, but I could have a hardboiled egg if I wanted to. So many more salads are available to me now and I'm one step closer to deviled eggs.
VERDICT: Polite, Owen List (I don't mind them and I just love eggs Owen-style too much!)

picture borrowed from http://monsterguide.net/files/2009/04/hard-boiled-egg-with-yellow-yolk-150x150.jpg

Fish Sticks

10/??/09 - I haven't had fish since I was a young kid. We mainly had breaded fish and once in a while some regular fish. As a kid it wasn't a good experience. I have avoided it passionately since. However, In honour of living on the east coast we bought some breaded fish (from the fresh fish section of Superstore) and cooked it up with some fries for some good ol' fish 'n' chips.
When I tried it I wasn't surprised by the taste, I was surprised that I remembered what the taste was like. It wasn't horrendous, but familiar. Not a taste I enjoy though. I would say I probably wouldn't want fish sticks again, but I'm willing to try fresh or fancy fish now, so that's growth right?
VERDICT: Polite

Prickly Pear

11/03/09 - My only knowledge of prickly pears comes from Balu's song in the Jungle Book and he only mentions them in passing. So when one of the teachers I work with brought some fruit in for me to try and told me one was a Cactus Pear I didn't think twice­. Only later did I make the connection.
Prickly pears grow on the Prickly Pear Cactus and outside of grocery stores have needles just like the cactus. There are none of those cacti growing around here, so the one I had was no longer prickly.
The outside is nothing special, but the inside is very pretty to look at. My pear had a bright pink/purple hue best described as magenta. I have no idea how to eat a fruit like this. I cut it open and took slices. In hindsight I would have halved it and spooned out the flesh. However, since a prickly pear tastes like eating a mixture of sugar, sand, water and rocks, I'll never get the chance. I plan on never entering a desert for the rest of my life just to avoid the possibility I may get lost and have to live on a prickly pear diet.
VERDICT: Gross

picture borrowed from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Prickly_pear_CDC.jpg

Shrimp

10/??/09 - I first tried shrimp shortly after I met Kristin, if I can recall correctly. I have always had a strong irrational fear of shrimp. The ridiculous amount of legs. The inedible tail that isn't taken off. The fact that it was seafood. All scary stuff. It was seriously like fear factor the first time. It was just a shrimpy shrimp from a shrimp ring, but I was scared. I tried it anyway and found out I had reason to be afraid. Shrimp are like pulverized, bad tasting rubberbands. In any concoction, in any configuration, in any incarnation I have not liked shrimp.
However, I lived most of my life in Manitoba, and there are no shrimp anywhere near here. Living in New Brunswick now, I figured I may as well try shrimp again, just to see if there is some reason people like it. Say, perhaps it is actually good when its fresh. My opportunity arrived when we went for sushi in Caraquet. I ordered a sweet shrimp nigiri roll.
VERDICT: Shrimp is still gross!

picture borrowed from http://www.jura-sushis.ch/Sushis/Nigiri

Pumpkin Pie

10/12/09 - I have always shied away from pumpkin pie. It's pumpkin! In my mind pumpkins are solely for decoration and I blanche at the thought of eating one. Mix this attitude with pie and it's no wonder that it took my wife's intervention for me to try a slice.
I just can't get over the mushiness. The last time I tried it, it was one of the desserts for Manitoba Thanksgiving in PEI. I haven't made a habit of eating it so I still get nervous. It's okay, I guess. I never remember the spice and am always pleasantly surprised by that. However, the pie mush will keep it on my Owen List: I don't mind pumpkin pies, they just don't agree with me.
VERDICT: Polite

pictured borrowed from http://img.foodnetwork.com/FOOD/2006/10/17/Pumpkin_Pie_lg.jpg