Quirks Are Good, Right?

Yesterday, I went to lunch with a good friend of mine.

We used to work together until he took a job in Dallas three years ago. He's since quit that job and is currently consulting at a company up in my neck of the woods. This was his last week, and he's been here for three months. It figures that yesterday was the first time our schedules meshed to catch up. Granted, he did blow me off a week ago Thursday when he had a meeting come up, but still... it's sort of sad!

We went to one of my favorite little restaurants, Bapi, which serves great Italian food. I'm a sucker for gnocchi, so that was a no brainer for me (especially in vodka sauce, yum!). My friend got a chicken breast that was stuffed with spinach and peppers and cheese and a bunch of other stuff. He was quite impressed and offered me a bite.

Me: No thanks!
Him: Are you sure? It's really good.
Me: Uhh, yeah. I can't mix my meats and cheeses.
Him: Why does this not surprise me? So you can't eat any meet and cheese together?
Me: Well, as long as it isn't melted cheese, I'm ok.
Him: But if it's melted, you can't do it.
Me: Actually, I can do cheeseburgers. And bacon and cheese omelettes. But nothing else.
Him: Is it a texture thing?
Me: Pretty much. I also have a really hard time with things like rice pudding.
Him: Wait, don't you eat cottage cheese though? (see -- good friends remember these weird things)
Me: Yeah, why?
Him: They have the same texture.
Me: Oh, not at all! Cream cheese is a solid with a tiny bit of juice. Rice pudding is pudding with these things in them. Totally gross.
Him: Anything else I should know?
Me: I think I've scared you enough for today. But I'm at least trying to not pass them along to the wee ones.
Him: And the world can breathe once more.

As I was driving home after lunch, I started to think about that conversation. And I realized that I really do have some weird eating habits. Many of them I can blame on my mom, but why on earth can I not eat cheese and meat together (I can't even do meat on pizzas)?

I also have issues with:
Mushrooms
Nuts (except the pine nuts I put in my granola. And peanuts in Snickers.)
Peanut butter
Green olives
Tofu (ok, this isn't that unusual -- most people are with me on this one)
Overcooked pasta
Green peppers
Salad dressing (I have to have minimal salad dressing or it's too cloying for me; usually I make my own)
American cheese
Mayonaise (I use less than a half teaspoon when making tuna salad but that's about the only place I can eat it)
Chocolate ice cream
Cheesecake
Potato chips that aren't plain
Anything ranch flavored
Fritos, Doritos and all of those yucky snack chip things
Cooked broccoli and carrots (but I love them raw)
Lunchmeat
Corn tortillas
White bread
Coke -- actually, all brown pops, including root beer
Milk
Turkey

Can you imagine being my mom and having to pack my lunch? No PB&J or ham sandwiches for me. I'm trying to remember what I actually did eat for lunch, and the one thing that springs to mind is cheddar cheese slices with mustard on bread (that was part of third grade). I can only pray that my wee ones will have some more "normal" habits. Fortunately, Mister Man currently loves PB&J. And I'm sure Little Miss will, too, once I let her have nuts.

They're Off The List!

Add another quirk to my list. I got home tonight after my girls’ night out and sort of wanted something to eat but didn’t want anything too savory or sweet. I went with my one of my standbys: peas.

Usually when I am in this situation, I’ll go for an orange or apple or corn or peas. Tonight, I’m tired enough that peeling an orange was too much work for me. Pathetic really, but it is what it is. And the corn actually seemed like it was going to be too sweet for me. What that’s about, I’m not sure. (Anyone sensing a theme with me just being off lately?)

So I plopped some peas into a little bowl and added a touch of water, then stuck them in the microwave to heat. Unlike the wee ones, I don’t have an appreciation for frozen peas. While I’m fine with eating food cold out of the fridge, the freezer is a bit much (ice cream, of course, being an exception). Then again, the wee ones don’t like leftovers straight from the fridge and insist I heat them up. Now that I think about that, the paradox of this intrigues me.

Anyway, back to my peas that have now come to an eatable temperature in the microwave. I came back to the couch to put up my feet for a moment (no surprise, another long day today – including 3 hours of work when I was supposed to be off). I took a spoonful of peas and put them into my mouth.

I took a bite, and they sort of squeegeed against my teeth – or at least that’s what it felt like. It made my mouth and my skin crawl – a pretty good trick, if you think about it. I quickly swallowed and thought about it. It vaguely reminded me of eating shrimp that’s been cooked and has that (in my mind) weird texture that I can’t even come up with a good description of. It doesn’t “bite” like most foods, but you can tell that you’re tearing it. I think that’s my issue. Or at least one of my issues!

I tried a much smaller bite of only two or three peas and had the same issue. I thought maybe it was because I was chewing them in the back of my mouth. Nope, same issue when I tried the front.

How have I been fine eating peas for well over thirty years and now one day suddenly been unable to deal with the texture? Even now, thinking about eating the peas gives my mouth the heebie jeebies.

Apparently, peas are to be removed from my standby list. Fortunately, I don’t have the same issue when peas are an ingredient, but I used to love just having a bowl of veggies that required no preparation when I was tired. Do I get to call this an eccentricity at least?

And you thought you were in for a normal post tonight… Tomorrow, I promise!