"preferences" news and stories

When I went to Indonesia in the summer of 2001, my mom's best friend Maria requested that I bring her back some white peppercorns. Towards the end of my five weeks there, I hit a grocery store in order to do a little gift-buying (because who doesn't like to receive gifts of random foodstuffs from other countries? It's always my favorite thing to receive). I got several bags of white peppercorns, some for Maria and then some so that I could play around with them as well.

When I returned, I discovered that I didn't really like the taste of white peppercorns. They had a woodiness that I didn't enjoy and since I've never minded sullying light colored sauces and soups with flecks of black pepper, I've just sort ignored the existence of white peppercorns and gone on my merry way. However, I discovered last week, as I trawled the vast expanse of food writing available to me on the internet that white peppercorns are just black ones that have been soaked and had their outer hull removed. They do get a bit fermented in the process of being stripped of their black outsides, which may lend the taste that I found so unappealing.

Do you have a pepper-color preference? And while we're at it, what's your favorite grind? I tend to go for a coarser grind, but I keep several pepper mills around at all times, set to different grinds, so that I always have plenty of options.

[via Chicago Sun-Times]
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This Saturday, a friend of mine celebrated her small summer wedding with a large fall party for all their friends and family. They borrowed a house on the New Jersey shore, pitched a very large tent and brought in tons of food from a local Trinidadian restaurant. Being the eco-friendly couple that they are, they chose to serve mostly vegan food, knowing that mass-produced meat and poultry are environmentally irresponsible.

I had never really experienced much in the way of imitation meat before, when I found myself confronted with an array of faux chicken legs (in mango or tamari sauces) and seitan spare ribs. I tried it all. The faux chicken legs were unnerving at first, because as I cut into mine, my knife hit something hard in the center. Inside was a thin wooden skewer, representing the bone. The texture was so similar to shredded chicken that my brain and taste buds kept checking in with each other, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The seitan spare ribs were tasty, but I tend to be sensitive to too much wheat and so after a few bites, my stomach started to protest.

I'm impressed with the creativity that people possess that leads them to conjure up workable meat substitutes. However, I think that I'd prefer to have a meat-free meal than one where the main dish was one built on fake meat. How do the rest of you feel? Fake meat or no meat at all?

With only a few days left until Valentine's, we thought that it would be fun to take a look at the role that food can play in our relationships with a little mini series leading into February 14th.

Yesterday, we talked about what it was like to date someone with really restrictive diet, or conversely, what it was like to date someone with a very broad palate when you were the one with a restricted eating habits. Some shared that the felt it gave them new perspective and forced them to become more creative in the kitchen, while others were of the mindset that "if you are a picky eater, that is remarkably unsexy and you are gone." This all leads us into today's question, which is whether or not you would change your eating habits to impress?

Small things are easy to change and it isn't uncommon for us to be more aware of our eating quirks when we're out on a first date and want to make a good impression. For example, even if you don't particularly care for broccoli, you might find yourself taking a few bites if it is served with your dinner on a first date with a girl you really like. Or perhaps you are a chicken-and-fish kind of girl, but decide to share in an order of beef chili fries at a big football game, since you know your date loves them. The more restrictive the diet, however, the more difficult the change, but there are some dedicated meat-lovers who are willing to go vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian, to try and impress a vegan or vegetarian significant other.

The interesting thing about these types of dietary changes is that they are not permanent. Meat-lovers go back to eating meat and broccoli-haters continue to avoid broccoli, which makes you wonder whether the change is worthwhile in the first place, since there is minimal intention of changing your overall inclinations.

I'll start by saying that I'm not at all sure of how well astrology works. At the moment, I don't think I'd base any major life decisions-marriage, job choice, travel plans-on it. Choice of ice cream? Probably not that either. Simone Butler of Tarot.com thinks otherwise. She has outlined ice cream preferences based on astrological signs. While the gemini profile did make note of my "charming, competent nature," I'm not a triple-decker cone kind of guy, nor do I like B&J's Half Baked. After a while, I started doing what I usually do with astrology columns: applying the other signs to myself. Still, I couldn't find any that sounded quite right. I think, for me at least, this will just remain a matter of intuition.