February 3: Strange Eats

We're back to food again. Last month, about a dozen days into my blogging here, my sister commented that "everything seems to be about food". Since then, I've made an effort to focus my new experiences on everything but dining, eating or cooking. But, food does play a significant role in my life, in all our lives. So, here we are again, back to food. With a bit of a twist today, however. For some reason, over the last few days, my mind has weighed heavily on the topic of odd combinations of food that people like to consume. For example, a traditional favorite for pregnant women, the old pickles and ice cream! I've never tried it, but how can 1 million pregnant women be wrong (or 50,000 Elvis fans for that matter)? Truth be told, I don't know why this particular topic has been occupying the corners of mind lately, but, since it wasn't going away, it seemed like I had an opportunity here to experience something new. After some initial research into some of the combos I might sample, I quickly discovered that people eat some very, very odd things...and enjoy the taste of them! And, while I wasn't ready to go whole hog and start working through this list, 1-20, I was in the mood for a snack and I wanted something different. So, I selected two suggestions that sounded like they would NOT be part of a Survivor food challenge, and for which I assumed we had the ingredients on-hand here in the house. Keep in mind, the strategy here is to start small and build your way up to the more extravagant duos. The first concoction: cheddar cheese and peanut butter. It wasn't bad - nothing notable; neither delicious nor disgusting. The second concoction: apple sauce and cottage cheese. Again, simple yet different. This one gets a slight nod on the satisfaction scale, although I've never really enjoyed the lumpiness of cottage cheese. In the end, my belly was full for bedtime, and I was able to try something new from the kitchen. It's funny, all those years my Mom served beets and horseradish with our Christmas ham, and I never thought twice about whether or not that was normal. One final note, you would be amazed at how passionate people are in their desire to share their suggestions for unique food combinations. Personally, I find that to be much weirder than anything they're recommending.