The Artichoke Fail (And Truly Great Pizza)

For Christmas, my boyfriend gave me a written note promising to take me to a local pizza place that he'd been to and really liked.   (He got me a couple other things as well...not just an IOU).  This past weekend, we finally had the chance to go.  I got my mouth all set for pizza, and we headed over there.  Unfortunately, when we arrived, we discovered that they had gone out of business! What a bummer! I hate when little local places can't make it.  :(  We were both really disappointed, but I think he was even more so.  He'd been so excited to take me.  After deciding that we still were in the mood for really good pizza, we headed over to one of our favorite pizza places.  Tony Sacco's is a chain, but they make some amazing pizza.  They use a big coal fired oven, and the crust is perfect.  We perused the menu for a bit, and then settled on the Marco Polo pizza. 

Let me tell you, I find going to new pizza places so much more exciting than I used to.  A couple years ago, it would not have mattered what the place was, I would have been ordering a cheese or pepperoni and cheese pizza.  There are so many more options open to me now! It's a good thing to because Mr. Boyfriend doesn't think a cheese or pepperoni and cheese pizza is worth much.  He needs more interesting toppings. The Marco Polo pizza held tomato sauce, chicken, artichoke, and sundried tomato.  I think I had artichoke once before on a pizza at Big Al's, but I couldn't really taste it.  It had been the most bland pizza I'd ever eaten.  I've had stuff made with sundried tomatos...flat breads and feta and stuff, but I'd not had them on pizza before.  This pizza was a whole new experience for me.  When it came out, I ate several bites of the pizza all together. (I've always been one to eat the toppings first, then the cheese, then the crust...I'm growing out of that on really good pizza, but I still do it at someplace like Domino's or Pizza Hut.) The crust, sauce, chicken, and sundried tomatoes were all amazing.  Honestly, I think Tony Sacco's is my favorite pizza place I've tried yet.  It was so delicious.  However, the more I ate it, the more the taste of the artichoke bothered me.  I picked a little off to try on it's own to make sure that's what it was, and yes...ick.  My boyfriend, who loves artichoke, said it had a funny taste to it, so I'm hoping that there is still hope for me to like artichoke someday.  Saturday was not the day though.  I ended up picking most of the artichoke off the pizza.  Thankfully, the pizza was delicious enough to make up for the icky artichoke.  We even ate the leftovers warmed up for dinner that night.

Hibachi and Mushrooms and Flames, Oh My!

I believe I have mentioned before that I teach preschool. Let me begin this post with a funny preschool story. One year, I was teaching 2 year olds, and had a very verbose girl in my class. This girl had just turned two and spoke better than some adults I have known. However, she always called herself, "you." I suppose this makes sense as it was how others would have referred to her. One day this small person said to me (and remember, this was within only a couple months of her turning two) "Last night, you went to the Japanese restaurant, and they cooked a fire!"

Well,  Friday night I went to the Japanese restaurant, and they cooked a fire! My very good friend Keli told me a couple weeks ago that she was going to take me out to dinner for a late birthday celebration.  Originally, the plan was to go the Cheesecake Factory, but the Cheesecake Factory is about an hour away, and we were trying to come up with other ideas.  A few days before the intended dinner, Keli asked if I'd ever been to a Japanese Steakhouse.  I said that I had not, but that I was certainly up for trying one out! 


I believe the hibachi experience is pretty similar wherever you go, but it was all new to me.  Our meal started with clear soup and house salad with ginger dressing. 

I picked out the offending mushrooms, and tried the clear soup, but I wasn't thrilled with it.  It needed...something...anything.  I had several tastes of it because I know sometimes I need to get used to something, but it just wasn't doing anything for me.   The ginger dressing on the salad was yummy, but there was seriously WAY too much of it.  The lettuce was floating.  I'm the kind of girl who makes a huge salad and puts a tablespoon of dressing on the whole thing, so having a massive amount of dressing on a tiny salad was not appealing to me.  Still, it was tasty. 

As we moved on to the Hibachi portion of the experience, I was pretty excited.  I've been to a Mongolian Grill (Oh BD's, how I love thee), so I've seen some cool tricks, but this guy was pretty impressive.  I particularly enjoyed watching him bounce and crack the eggs over his metal spatula. 
The fried rice was yummy, but I wanted to taste everything together, so I didn't eat much before the other portions were on my plate. 

The flaming tower of onion rings was fun! Keli warned me it was coming so I'd be able to get a picture.  :)  The veggies were good, but I was a little troubled by the fact that there were mushrooms all mixed in.  As soon as they got on my plate I popped one mushroom in my mouth in an effort to be brave.  I chewed it up and swallowed it, but I came pretty close to gagging.  There is something I really don't like about the texture.  Maybe someday I'll get over that.  I'm sure I had some mixed in with my other veggies, but they didn't seem to bother me. 

I ordered chicken with my meal, and that was really good.  I especially liked it all mixed together with some of the ginger sauce they gave us drizzled on top.  The whole experience was really enjoyable.  The food was good, and the flames and tricks were fun to watch.  I would say though, that if given the choice, I'd choose BD's Mongolian grill over a Japanese Steakhouse everytime.  There are just so many more choice and you don't have to try to pick around the things you aren't crazy about.  Still, I'm really glad we did this.  It pushed me a little more out of my food comfort zone, and turned out to be really good!

Toes in the Water and Crab in my Belly

Do you love this picture of my oh so attractive foot? It's nice, huh?  My boyfriend found out he was going to get to have his boys for part of Saturday on his "off weekend."  His ex-wife had to work, so we got to play! :)  We hadn't been to the beach in a long time, and the weather was nice, so we packed up and headed out for some fun in the sun and sand.

After a full morning at the beach, I was craving either seafood or Mexican food (something about the beach always makes me want one of those two things).  We decided to have lunch at Pincher's Crab Shack.  I ordered blackened grouper tacos, and the boyfriend ordered crab.  Fish tacos used to sound like the most disgusting thing in the world to me, but now I think they might be one of my absolute favorite dishes.  The ones I ordered came out looking perfect.  They had a nice mango salsa on the side, and everything about them looked amazing.  Unfortunately, looks were deceiving.  The blackening seasoning they used was waaaaaaay too salty.  I was very disappointed.  However, I did manage to be brave enough to try some of my boyfriend's crab! I made him pull it out for me (there was no way I was going to be picking through crab parts for the meat), but I ate it.  I actually kind of liked it.  I can't imagine that I'd ever want to order it for myself and do all the breaking and picking, but I wouldn't mind having some crab meat in something sometime.  His boy's feelings on the matter of picking out the meat were very different than mine.  They had a great time cracking crab legs open and pulling out what they wanted to eat.  They kept begging for more.  In some ways, they are far more adventures eaters than I am!

An Airport, A Burrito, and the Beginning of an Obsession

Here we are. Aren't we fabulous? ;)

In November of 2010 I flew out to Washington (the state) for a visit with one of my bestest friends. While in an airport in some state (Texas maybe?) on a layover, I walked into a little Mexican Grill (I believe it was Qdoba).  I had started trying more things at this point, but I was still heavily altering my food at most restaurants (hold the tomatoes, no onions, etc.)  I decided I would try a burrito, but I planned to ask for it without several things.  I stood there for a few moments, and looked at the menu.  Finally, I told myself, "Just get it as listed!" So I did.  I walked up to the counter and ordered the most loaded up burrito on the menu.  That thing had sour cream, guacamole, salsa, beans, and all sorts of things I normally wouldn't go near.  I watched nervously as the guy wrapped it up for me.  Could I really eat this? It had tomatoes in it.  I had only just started occasionally trying to eat tomatoes, and I still wasn't crazy about them. (Once upon a time I wouldn't even eat something that had come in contact with a raw tomato.) I liked baked beans and chili beans, but would black and pinto beans be scary and gross? Would guacamole be disgusting?  However, I was determined.  I was alone (which is sometimes the best way for me to try something...I don't have to worry about other people's reactions to my reaction) and I was hungry and I was really trying to make a better effort to broaden my eating horizons. 

I took the burrito and headed to the waiting area at my gate.  As I took my first bite I realized something amazing; this thing I was eating was incredible! I didn't just like it, I loved it.  I was a little troubled by the fact that all the cold ingredients were at one end of the burrito and all the hot ones at the other, but I chalked that up to an incompetent burrito wrapper (is there an official name for that position).  It was still delicious.  I think I called my mom after I finished it.  I needed to tell someone about my brave new journey into Mexican (or at least Americanized Mexican) food.  I'm pretty sure I also texted my boyfriend to tell him about it as well.  I was so excited.  So many new foods all wrapped up in one deliciously wonderful meal.

While visiting with my friend that week, I got to experience another burrito at Taco del Mar, and I'm pretty sure I got another one in the airport on the way home.  I was hooked.  I couldn't wait to go home and start eating more than just chicken and cheese quesadillas at Moe's and Bajio's.  I couldn't get enough! At home, I started making myself big taco salads filled with anything I could think of.   Eventually, I started eating the burritos "naked" to save some calories, but my love affair with them has still not died down.  I've even branched out to more authentic Mexican food though I think I will always prefer the Americanized versions (only because it always seems to be loaded with more yummy stuff).


On Wednesday nights, I usually get together with some friends to play games or watch movies or just hang out.  Last night we had a taco night.  Our hosts provided the shells, beef, chicken, salsa, chips, and sour cream.  The rest of us brought other stuff to go on the tacos.  As I piled my taco with my homemade guacamole, beef, veggies, and cheese, I looked over and saw my friend's taco made of only cheese and chicken.  Man, it took my back to my not so distant past.  There was a time when that would have absolutely been me.  I don't miss those days!

Another Year Older and Another Bite Braver

I turned the big 3-0 yesterday.  My father and brother-in-law were both kind enough to remind me that I have now entered my 4th decade.  Gee, thanks guys.  Honestly though, so far I'm not bothered by it.  I'd rather be thankful for another year than lament getting older. 

For my birthday lunch, I decided I wanted to go to PF Chang's.  We had gone there for my boyfriend's birthday last year, and I'd really enjoyed it.  (Amazing, btw, since until that point, I wouldn't touch Chinese food.) My parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, nieces, boyfriend, and boyfriend's sons all came to lunch with me.  We ordered a few different things and then shared "family style."  In addition to my Sesame Chicken and Garlic Noodles (SOOOOOOOOO good!!!!) I tried out a few new things.  My sister wanted Chicken Lettuce Wraps.  I was nervous to try them since I knew there were diced mushrooms in the mix, but I braved it anyway.  They were really good!  I'm not taking mushrooms off my scared list because I still am not sure I could deal with them in other forms, but all mixed up in the meal, they didn't seem to bother me.  I also tried a piece of pepper steak (I'm not a big red meat fan aside from ground beef, but I keep trying to like it) and...gulp...fried calamari! Ok, if I'm being honest, I just barely tried the calamari.  I found the skinniest, most batter covered piece and had one bite of it.  It wasn't bad, but the idea that I was eating squid was creeping me out too much to take another bite.  Perhaps I'll try again some day.  I think I pushed myself enough for one day.  It was a good birthday, and I'm proud of myself for trying some scary new stuff.

~ Picky Chick

Small Victories

Successes, even little ones, make me feel like I am going to eventually kick the picky chick in me to the curb. Saturday was my nieces' joint birthday party. My brother in law spent all afternoon smoking ribs and sausages for dinner. We also had burgers, hot dogs, and enough side dishes to feed an army.

Mid afternoon he pulled a few sausages out and cut them up for people to snack on. I am not entirely certain what kind of sausages these were, but I think they were similar to a brat. I have tried a brat once before. They have been one of those things that have always looked totally gross to me. The inside is so...pieced together and chunky looking. Scary stuff! Still I had sucked it up and tried a bite once already, and I hadn't hated it. It was time to try again. I only ate one little bite this time, but once again, I found it to be much better than I was expecting. I am counting calories, and knew that I needed to save up for dinner, so I didn't have more, but it is something I will keep trying until I can actually find it tasty instead of just OK.

At dinner, I decided on a burger. This may seem a safe choice for most people, but you should know that I have only been eating burgers for about 2 years. As a kid, I would pretty much only eat McDonald's burgers, and that was it. Now I love them. I love them piled with bacon, cheeses, peppers, pineapple, tomatoes, onions, etc. Steak 'n Shake has this chipotle burger...holy cow (pun intended)...sooooo good! Anyway, I fixed my burger, and got all my sides, and was all set to pretend the ribs did not exist. My bf and brother-in-law apparently had other ideas. I needed to try those ribs. I have this thing about bone-in meat. It grosses me out. The thought of picking around bones and other inedible body parts to get to my food is utterly disgusting to me. Also, I am not a fan of smoky BBQ sauces. My brother-in-law assured me though that his ribs would not taste too much like BBQ sauce, and my bf agreed to pull off a choice piece of meat for me. So, hesitantly, I gave it a try. Folks, I have to admit, I kind of liked it! Had I not been so full already, I might have had my bf pull off some more pieces for me.

This was not my first ribs experience, I must admit. Last summer a friend made some for my bf's son's birthday party. I tried a few bites of those as well, and I hadn't hated them either, but it takes me some time to work up to actually liking certain foods. Maybe someday I will be able to eat a rib without someone else pulling the meat off for me, but right now that is hard to imagine. Baby steps, friends. Baby steps.

Greek Fest Fail

I hate when I let myself down. I think I am going so well. I honestly believe that I am not that girl who has to fight back tears in a new food situation, but then it happens. Yesterday, I went to a local Greek Fest with my boyfriend's family. We had planned on having lunch there, and I had said I was willing to try it out. When we arrived, his family bypassed the outdoor food booths, and walked into a building that had been set up as a cafe. As I looked at the picture menu full of unfamiliar items, an extremely familiar and unwelcome feeling began to rise up in me. The terror was started to build. I could sense that if I didn't get a grip quickly, the tears would soon arrive. "Stop it!!" I told myself. It was irrational. There was nothing to fear here. It was just food, and there was not the slightest chance of my starving to death. I told my boyfriend that I didn't think there was anything in there that I wanted to eat. My plan was to walk through and look at it all, and then try to find something at the outside booths. Other people, however, are usually too helpful (and I really mean that in a nice way) to allow things to be so simple, and I was too emotional at this point to try to explain well. His family pointed out that there was chicken on the menu, but then remembered that I don't like chicken on the bone.  It is still so embarrassing to have so much attention on my pickiness. It makes me feel like a freak.

Eventually it was decided that my boyfriend and I would head outside to look for something else. I felt horrible because I knew he thought the food in there looked amazing. I finally did find something I was good with. I had Chicken Soulvaki on a pita with sour cream, tomatoes, and onion. My bf got a gyro that he thought sadly lacking in toppings.

We joined his family again to eat together, and I could tell he was jealous of their food. Honestly, one of the things they had ended up looking way better to me in person than it had in the picture. I kind of regretted not trying it (apparently it tasted like baked Skyline Chili). Thankfully my bf's family all had a ton of food and he ended up getting enough of what they had to more than make up for not ordering his own. The only one who really missed out was me.  They did offer, but I'm not big on eating after other people.

I hope that someday I will have put the pickiness behind me. I want to be un-afraid to try new things. I want new food experiences to thrill instead of terrify me. I know I have come a long way. I do try things now. I eat so many more things than I used to. I normally am proud of myself. But when I fail, I feel like I'll never change. I am not going to let those failures stop me though. It was a lost battle, but I will not let food defeat me in the end.