Picky Picky Picky!

I am a foodie. I love food. I love cooking, baking, shopping for food (although I hate spending money on food), entertaining, potlucks, reading cookbooks…I love all things food. I eat when I am bored. I eat late at night. I have to have a snack with my favourite TV shows. I am an emotional eater and I am an emotional baker, but not the emotional baker But I am a picky eater. I like what I like, but there’s a lot I don’t like. The other night over dinner, friends and I got into a discussion about that.


So, Let’s discuss.

I love chips. And chocolate. Especially together. But not all kinds of chips. I am picky. I like plain chips, sour cream and onion and sour cream and bacon chips. That’s it. Oh, wait. there is a new kind – sour cream and cheddar – it's pretty good too.


I do not like anything peppermint. No candy canes, no mint smoothies (even though they have chocolate), no mints the restaurants give you…no mint anything. Gross.

I also do not like gum of any kind.

I looooooove macaroni and cheese – homemade or store bought, but I cannot stand Kraft Dinner. When I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house growing up, she made homemade macaroni and cheese frequently, but would never buy Kraft Dinner, saying it tasted “like glue”. Now, I agree about the Kraft Dinner, and thankfully, so does Makenna. Although she will eat it at Jodi’s. Jeff and Jack on the other hand, love Kraft Dinner, and consider it a treat, since it is so rarely in this house. When I was getting married, Jeff’s sister had a Pampered Chef bridal shower for me, and everyone attending was to give me a copy of their favourite recipe. Jeff’s brother Kevin gave me the recipe for how to make Kraft Dinner – from the box it came in. On another note – I cannot, no matter how hard I try, and I have tried for many years, make my grandma’s macaroni and cheese.

I have mentioned before that I prefer my burgers and hotdogs plain – no condiments. Hotdogs must be BBQ'd. The smell of boiled or microwaved hotdogs makes me nauseous. I am also not a big fan of ketchup on my fries, although I am getting better about that. I do not like gravy on fries, but like it on mashed potatoes. I do not like poutine, but do like loaded fries from places like Crabby Joes and Outback Steakhouse. I do not like BBQ sauce on my steak. I do not like mayo on my sandwiches, not even on BLTs on Clubhouses...I love those sandwiches...provided there is no mayo.

One of the reasons I hate going to funerals, aside from the obvious, is the food. I hate funeral food. Egg salad, tuna and salmon sandwiches – yuck. And if there are meat sandwiches, they usually have mayo or mustard on them. Gross.

I don’t like salmon sandwiches, but I do like salmon steaks or fillets. I do not like tuna, shrimp, mussels, escargot (all of which I have tried) but I do like salmon, trout, crab legs and lobster.

I could eat chicken 7 days a week. Roast chicken, Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Divan, Chicken Quesadillas, Chicken chili, Chicken fingers, Chicken wings…mmmm…love it all.

I love sweet potatoes. Sweet potato fries and casseroles. Sadly, I am alone in my house on this. The kids both liked sweet potatoes as babies, which is when I discovered it, but then they both grew out of it. And Jeff firmly believes a potato should not be sweet.

I have a complicated relationship with eggs. Overeasy – yes – but only to dip my toast in the yolk – I love love love that, but then leave the whites on my plate. I love the sausage and egg breakfast sandwich at Tim Hortons, and I love making my own egg mcmuffin type sandwiches on a bun or bagel with cheese. I do not like them scrambled, over medium or hard, poached, hard or soft boiled, pickled or devilled. I don’t really like omellettes or westerns, and cannot stand egg salad. I also love egg shells, that is, what they do for my composter…I go through a lot of them when making cakes and cheesecakes.

I do not drink coffee. Or tea. At all. Period. I have tried both, many ways, and do.not.like.it. I do have a coca cola addiction though.

I believe iceberg lettuce is a completely useless food. There is absolutely no taste to it. I grew up thinking this was the only kind of salad there was. That was the kind of lettuce served on sandwiches too. Then while working in restaurants in highschool I discovered leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, mesclun mix, spinach…the world became a much bigger place. I do not like potato or macaroni salad, coleslaw or bean salad. I do like all kinds of spinach salad, broccoli salad, garden salad (provided it’s not made with iceberg lettuce) and of course, ceaser salad. I am also very picky about salad dressings.

I feel as strongly about McDonald’s cheeseburgers, Arby’s and Dairy Queen as I do about A&W. But: plain cheeseburger from McDonalds, plain roast beef sandwich from Arby’s, any ice cream from Dairy Queen, and plain Teenburger from A&W.

I do not like beans. Baked Beans, Kidney Beans, green or yellow beans fresh from the garden, bean salad…no thank you.

I love searching for and trying out new recipes and would rather make suppers from scratch then buy them ready made – to a point. I do not make my own hamburger patties, but will make a lasagna, not buy it. I will make chicken pot pie, but will buy it ready made if it’s a good deal. And M&Ms has a great one.

I find cooking and baking therapeutic and satisfying. I think it's important to involve my kids in cooking and baking as much as possible, and they love it. And, most of the time, I am the one in charge of the meal planning around here, another thing I believe is worth doing. I like to be organized, and it saves money.

And, after all, no one else could keep any of the above, straight, but me.
:)