25 Culinary Things About Me

There's been a list floating around Facebook lately that's been a riot to participate in and to read. It's called "25 things about me" and the basic premise is that you tell folks 25 random things about yourself and then tag 25 other friends to participate. So I thought I'd riff on it a little bit and tell you all a bit about me in the cooking world. I don't have 25 blogging buddies to tag with, but if anyone wants to participate - just leave it in the comments!

1. I love cooked carrots, but I cannot stand them raw.
2. The first time I ever ate avocado I was in 5th grade, visiting relatives in California. My cousin Sharon and I split a crepe and she insisted that we get the one with guacamole in it. I love you cousin Sharon!
3. That trip was also the first time I ever tried feta cheese.
4. I would love to author a cookbook someday
5. I would love to blow an inordinate amount of money on a proper chef's knife - but I probably won't. The set from Ikea has done me good.
6. I wish that my grandma Sophie would have lived longer so I could have learned recipes from her. I also wish that I would have paid more attention when my great-grandma Florence was alive. I could have learned a lot from so many of my relatives.
7. I like cake, but I hate wedding cake. I think wedding cake is overrated, which is why Ryan and I are having a dessert table at our reception.
8. My favorite candy is Bit O Honey.
9. I love trying new beers and find that any amber is a friend of mine.
10. I hope that when Ryan and I decide to have kids that we will have a little girl so I can teach her how to cook. But if we have all boys, one of them is going to learn how to cook and I'm going to raise a miniature Mario Batali. :)
11. I don't know what I think about the organic craze, but I think I will care when we have kids.
12. The best meal I ever ate was a several course affair that I ate 10 years ago. The restaurant was in Rome - I think the name was Papa Re's, but I could be wrong. We had several different courses, chased down with many, many pitchers of wine (that came from a tap in the wall.) The meal lasted about two or three hours and I've never experienced anything that good since then.
13. When I tell Ryan I want to visit places, it's usually because it's been featured on some show on Food Network and I want to try their barbeque, or their custard, or whatever regional speciality they have on hand.
14. I love sauerkraut.
15. Holy shit ... I still have 10 more?
16. I have a vast collection of cookbooks and I haven't cracked open over half of them.
17. I like collecting antique cookbooks - my grandma Boots and I once had a random discussion where we talked about how different cookbooks are nowadays as opposed to cookbooks from the 1950s-1970s.
18. I didn't eat spinach until I was in college.
19. My favorite food at the Luther College cafeteria was from the vegetarian line. The vegetarian chili and lasagna were both to die for.
20. I was a vegetarian for a whole year when I was in junior high. It was right after River Phoenix died ... I was so bummed that he had OD'd that I announced to my parents (the pork farmer father, incidentally) that I would no longer eat meat. It lasted a year. Maybe less. After that I didn't eat a lot of red meat and went through a chicken phase.
21. I didn't appreciate how awesome the food was when I was growing up. We were farmers so the pork we ate came from our own farm and when I was a kid, my mom canned tomatoes and froze corn. I don't think I ever had it as good as I did when I was growing up.
22. I really love a good steak.
23. I got food poisoning at a newspaper conference in September 2000. The chicken wasn't cooked properly and I was convinced that I was going to die. But after I emptied my stomach of all things terrible, I went to my friend Tony's house and proceeded to drink lots of beer.
24. I don't know what my favorite dessert is.
25. I have never made peanut butter cookies - I don't know if I ever will.