Love expands your taste buds

[shootingstar]

Ok, no time for dirty thoughts --before any of you guys say anything inappropriate. 

To illustrate the topic subject line  :

1. I'm pleased my eldest niece has helped expand her hubby's tastebuds. For instance, last night for their dinner date they had:

Plantain gnocchi with shiitake mushrooms + gorgonzola at Arepa Cafe, Chocolate ginger sorbet + Vietnamese coffee gelato at Kekou in Toronto.

When we first met him over a decade ago as a BF, he was a Anglo meat style and potatoes guy. He didn't like anything "different". He was raised in small Ontario town of 10,000.

 

2. In being with dearie for last 27 yrs., yes I have developed a palate for gourmet cakes, tasted far greater range of German cuisine than just schnitzel, sausages.  I also eat way more plain yogurt than ever did before meeting him.  He has been pretty open about eating/having any Asian dish put before him from the start of knowing each other.  Except his spice tolerance has not increased.✌️?

 

[ChrisL]

Oh man that was my wife and I.  She had a really limited palette of basic "American" dishes that a single mom could make in short order.  She then met me with a really diverse background of Indonesian and Dutch foods which it all was really foreign to her, especially the Indo food.  

It took her a couple of years to warm up to it and then after a while she really started to love it.   The same with Sushi.  She'd get tempura or teriyaki chicken and then would gradually pick items from from my plate to now she eats everything I eat.  My family never had baked goods or desserts and her family opened my eyes to to desserts.  

My food influences definately broadened her food horizon much more than hers to mine.  I also had a mom who was an excellent cook and her mom basically fed them. 

[shootingstar]

39 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Oh man that was my wife and I.  She had a really limited palette of basic "American" dishes that a single mom could make in short order.  She then met me with a really diverse background of Indonesian and Dutch foods which it all was really foreign to her, especially the Indo food.  

It took her a couple of years to warm up to it and then after a while she really started to love it.   The same with Sushi.  She'd get tempura or teriyaki chicken and then would gradually pick items from from my plate to now she eats everything I eat.  My family never had baked goods or desserts and her family opened my eyes to to desserts.  

My food influences definately broadened her food horizon much more than hers to mine.  I also had a mom who was an excellent cook and her mom basically fed them. 

He can eat far sharper, sour flavours than I.  Really sour tastes. He'll suck on half a lemon after it's been juiced for lemon juice.

[Prophet Zacharia]

My wife is a foodie, so there is little we won’t try. Although she didn’t dig the fish for breakfast offerings in Japan. I loved the octopus rice cakes.

[shootingstar]

57 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

My wife is a foodie, so there is little we won’t try. Although she didn’t dig the fish for breakfast offerings in Japan. I loved the octopus rice cakes.

Dearie's birthday was celebrated in Seoul.  This is my birthday Korean dinner from him.  I wish it was a little higher grade in terms of quality.  We were in a touristy area...  Yes, this is him. One of the dishes was kimchee pancake.  

We both enjoyed octopus and kimchee pancake at another establishment run by a mother-daughter team.  We went there twice because we both knew the food was cooked "from the heart", more home style. I can't explain this...but usually it's food that is presented in a non-flashy, but clean neat manner and the spicing is moderate.  I had bimbap but it wasn't in a hot sizzling stone bowl.  It was in a steel bowl. I actually believe at home, a lot of Koreans wouldn't be doing the hot sizzling hot stone bowl for a regular home meal for a non special occasion....it requires more effort/time and care to deal with that sizzling heat bowl vessel.  https://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/food-art-tofu-doughnuts-and-octopus-kimchee-pancake-japan-and-seoul-south-korea/  (lst photo gives the more home style bimbap whjich close to a warm salad with hot meat..etc.)

the fiery wok Chinese style cooking ...which believe me can be a cheffy art ...that you see in restaurants, it's not entirely possible at home because such high hot flames at home don't exist.  Dearie had a reasonably broad palate before he met me 'cause some home German dishes..use offal, liver, etc.  His Chinese cuisine palate was abit more limited to Cantonese cooking (which I was raised on because that's the region of my parents' origin), which is tamer than other regional fiery/heavier Chinese cuisine --ie. Szechuan, Hunan (where Mao was born), of central and northern China, etc.

[Prophet Zacharia]

I like spicy food, but I don’t want my order to be a personal challenge to the chef to burn out my tastebuds. So I ask for it to be prepared was they would for their family. Seems like a better description than a “1-10” scale.