Adventures

I started this blog to keep track of the fun, food-related stuff I’ve been up to.  In addition to being a big fan of eating new and unusual things, I love a good kitchen project.  Making my own butter, cheese, and bread totally from scratch has been very rewarding, and I’d like to have a record of these and other experiments.  I also have several area restaurants that I’m looking to check out, ranging from super-fancy to hot dog stands.

So in this post I just want to make a list of upcoming or hoped for adventures, most of which I’m hoping to document here!  I’m breaking them down by new food, outing (restaurants or otherwise), or project.  Naturally this isn’t a totally comprehensive list, just what’s on my mind at present.

Foods:

Grasshoppers – this one is actually happening in September!

Dragon Fruit – also soon, I bought one at Super 88

Durian – I’m scared, but fascinated

Sweet breads

Haggis

Huitlacoche – might be able to do with the grasshoppers

Cactus – ditto

Outings:

Sushi, possibly at Fugakyu? – I know, not very exciting, and I’ve eaten it lots of times, but I have a friend who is not a bold eater who wants to go.

Starlight Lounge – excited for this to open!

No. 9 Park – probably won’t happen for a while…

Garden at the Cellar

Eastern Standard

Oleana

Ten Tables – Cambridge or JP, I haven’t been to either!

Kimballs – grew up near here, but want to take some friends who are uninitiated

The Big E – my favorite yearly food adventure!

Speed’s – the best hot dog in Boston, so they say…

Underground Food Party/Supper Club – may have a chance to go to one of these soon…

Projects:

Pasta making – a friend gave me the means ages ago, I need to just DO it.

Sausage making

Curing bacon

Hard cheese – mozzarella, only the first step?

Bagels

Beer – used to do it, want to get back into it

In the comments,  I’d love ideas for other adventures!  And if you know me, let me know if you’d like to join in!

Picky, picky

When I was a kid, I was a tremendously picky eater.  For many years, for example, I would only eat any pasta that was being served to me with butter.  This meant just mac, no cheese; plain spaghetti, no sauce thanks.  Then I got a bit older and liked the sauce, but loathed the noodles.

Vegetables were another victim of my distaste.  I did like a few – carrots were OK, and I never minded broccoli, but I pretty much loathed every other savory plant-product that came my way.  No cabbage, no spinach, and never, ever peas.

I can’t really put my finger on when this began to change, except that I’m pretty sure that it had something to do with reading.    I have always been a big reader, even at my pickiest and brattiest, the sort of kid that you had to work hard to convince to STOP reading.  At some point in my late teens I started reading restaurant reviews, among the other fluffy bits of the newspaper that I enjoyed.  The descriptions of food were captivating. Descriptions not just of taste, but of look and texture.  I started to become curious about food I’d never tried.  Around the same time, I began dating someone who had, at the time, much more sophisticated tastes than I did.  Little by little my resistance to most foods began to fall away.
Fast forward to 2009.   The picky child has grown up to be an omnivore of the most complete proportions.  Vegetables?  Love ’em.  Every single blessed one, even my long-time nemesis, the pea (provided it’s not of the frozen variety.  Gross.)  Offal?  Let me at it.  Heck, I’m even willing to try bugs!  I feel like this openness, the willingness to try new things, has been reflected in the rest of my life as well.  It’s about trying things instead of prejudging them.  It’s about being willing to take risk.  It’s about variety and all the world has to offer, and it tastes pretty sweet.