Cheese Can be Scary

My adventure into food has progressed considerably since my husband has almost literally forced

You have to admit this cheese is scary.... then have it shipped to
 you for your birthday, unknowingly from across one of the
largest countries in the world, so it sits on the floor of your living
room for several days before you eat it.  I think we're on the
cheese version of Elm Street people.

new foods down my throat.  When I first met him I didn’t eat anything that came out of the ocean, and I mean anything; it was a definitive rule that I implemented based on frozen fish sticks from my childhood.  This is how my approach to food started out before it had been slowly chipped away at by resilient people in my life who refused to accept my automatic dismissal of entire food groups.

While my indulgence into the vast world of food has been tepid, I have always loved cheese*.  The disclaimer noted is that blue cheese terrified me and the general concept of blue cheese disgusted me – given that I think I was first introduced to blue cheese in my mid-twenties, I possessed the cognitive ability to refute the very idea of blue cheese the way that I felt that people would automatically refuse yogurt given a full description of how yogurt is formed with the combination of bacterial cultures with milk…  I hope I did not just ruin yogurt for anyone because I love it despite all that.

Back to blue cheese – I have a very clear & distinct memory of the first time I positively loved blue cheese (I don’t think I had it prior to this but there’s a chance I could be mistaken).  I was at my friend’s house and she was making dinner for myself and a group of her hometown friends.  She was making a traditional Carbonara pasta, (you know, the legitimate kind where a soft egg makes for the sauce instead of a bucket load of cream) and alongside this delectable dish she also prepared garlic bread baked with gorgonzola on top.  It was phenomenal. 



And from something once terrifying came this delectable
board of awesomeness - did you just invite me over
 to make you a cheese plate?

For one, I don’t believe I had ever had garlic bread before (garlic = delicious) and the blue cheese was the crown upon this triumphant toasted garlic bread.  I had no idea that it would be this simple to love something so conceptually disgusting as molded cheese… but it was – to the point that I was willing to indulge in the blue cheese shipped to me from across the country by my father for my birthday.  Can you believe I went from utterly refusing the idea of blue cheese to loving it so much that it gets sent to me from other provinces for my birthday?  Me neither. 



The cheese was Dragon’s Breath Cheese – it comes packaged in this thick blue wax.  When I first opened the parcel I honestly thought it was a plant form… the cardboard was a bit damp, it was covered in plastic; it was a genuine mystery as to what this was until we removed it from the package and eventually uncovered the label.  The label describes the cheese as the little brother to St. Agur – despite the intimidating packaging of this cheese I knew I was safe as I have long indulged & enjoyed St. Agur and all of its deliciousness.  So while this was not my greatest adventure into food – it was nice to rediscover my roots into food adventurism and all the delicious things that it has exposed me to.

The History of me & FOOD

       Food has taken a leading role in North American culture with chef's taking on celebrity, recipes

My first ever pomegranate... how have I not eaten this before?

replacing manuscripts, and ingredients talked about like the latest Hollywood gossip.  While food has always played an integral role in our lives it has evolved into something much more than an essential element of life and this blog itself will add to the mounds of evidence to support that.
      For my own part, my immersion into the vast food culture was more timid and reluctant than most.  Having grown up on a very traditional meat and potatoes diet, though filled with delicious and favourite meals, there was certainly not the element of culinary exploration that features with increasing prominence in the plethora of cuisines and ingredients available to us today.  Having worked in the restaurant industry for over ten years I have marveled at young children ordering venison tenderloins cooked medium rare or starting off a meal with an arugula salad.  I don't think I had a salad until I was in my twenties, I know I didn't have sushi until I was 23, I tried Chinese food for the first time when I was 19, and I was previously so disgusted at the idea of seafood that I once opted to pull an eye from a cooked lobster rather than enjoy the succulent, buttery meat trapped inside. 
        There are a number of factors that have helped me to overcome my shyness for new and intimidating foods; namely my employment in the restaurant industry and my husband Dan's refusal to accept that I "don't like" foods that I have never tried.  Reluctantly, my eyes have been opened to the splendor of previously unknown ingredients and while I have come a long way there is still a lot of ground to cover.  This blog will allow you to follow me through my exploration of something new in food each week as I taste, cook, or order something to challenge my palate. 
        The inspiration for this came through a recent visit to the farmer's market; while searching the vendors for inspiration for dinner, Dan pointed out an opened pomegranate. I had never seen an opened pomegranate before - I've enjoyed pomegranate in other formats but had never seen a pomegranate as this collection of gem-like seeds glistening with delicious juices.  The next hour consisted of me prying each seed from the fruit and individually sucking out the juices with ever stickier fingers.  So I hope you enjoy coming along for the journey as re-enter the world of blogging and set out to discover (and hopefully enjoy) new ingredients and dishes.