Day 19- Finding Enjoyment in Taste

Two years ago my husband and I took a trip to Monterey.  He had never been, I had been as a child.  Some sweet and generous friends gave us loan of their car, another loaned Dave (the actual photographer in our family) a nice camera so he wouldn't be bored during my picture taking and we were off. 

The first day we went up the coast, stopping in Carpinteria for gas and lunch.  It was then I had the bright idea to use Yelp to find a place to eat.  That decision changed everything.

I found a little deli in a strip mall with really good reviews, all of them well deserved.  After a sumptuous repast of a fresh roasted turkey sandwich with the best coleslaw I ever had in my life, we made a pact.  This trip, we said, we will eat at no chains, only local places we find on Yelp. 

The crepe place just off Cannery Row in Monterey and Salinas City BBQ in the tiny house on the outskirts of town were unforgettable.  We hit a couple of forgettable places to be sure, but ever since that trip, every time we go to a new place, we pull out the phone or ask someone for a local place to eat.  It has totally changed the way we eat, and not just when we eat out.

For one, when you have something in a restaurant 300 miles away, you want to figure out how they made that because you won’t be swinging by for lunch anytime soon.  It challenged me to be a more creative cook, to try to replicate things we found unique in the taste of the food. We also pay a lot more attention to what we eat, not just where we eat.  You can get food anywhere, but local flavor is, well, local.  For us, that’s part of the fun of eating local, we can eat at a Red Robin or a Famous Dave’s anywhere, but you can’t eat a date burger at Shields Date Garden everyday.  Well, you can if you live in Indio, but you get the point.  Is there a food that an area is known for?  Eat it!  It’s part of the enjoyment of being somewhere different. 

This week I ate wasabi for the first time.  I have seen a hundred recipes that call for wasabi paste, and I was hesitant to try them because I had no frame of reference for what something with wasabi should taste like.  This was delicious….

Yum... wasabi and ginger.  I’m totally buying some wasabi.

It doesn't have to be expensive; we split entrees all the time, especially in a new place or trying a new dish.  I’m no foodie, but it’s been a fun way to experience something new with my husband, who will eat anything except peas. 

When was the last time you found enjoyment in a new taste? 

Ask a friend, use an app, but try something new, and soon.  By the way, you know that phrase "Try it, how do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it?"  I am why that phrase was invented.  If I can eat red onion relish on a bison burger and like it, so can you. 
  

So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him?  Eccl 2:24-26

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