Sweet on Sauerkraut

Actively keeping track of what foods I don't think I like has opened up Pandora's Lunchbox! I keep coming up with more and more things that I actively avoid eating. So, in addition to the 20 or so foods I initially set out to conquer, I have some new additions:

* Bloody Marys (not normally vegetarian, but vegan Worcestershire sauce makes them an option)

* Brazilian food

* Herbal tea, aside from Peppermint or Rooibos

* Lemongrass

* Sauerkraut

* Sea vegetables

* Kombucha

* Chocolate with spicy stuff in it (such as chocolate bars with chilis in them)

* Taro chips (Which I already defeated, with that bag of Root Vegetable Chips that I powered down!)

* Raw foods (Meaning, the vegan meals they serve in those stupid raw restaurants, as well as the raw snacks they market to weirdos and sell at health food stores)

* Root beer

* Floral flavored foods

* Onion rings

Boy, do I have my work cut out for me, or what?!?

One of the guidelines that my buddy Jeffrey "The Man Who Ate Everything" Steingarten set for himself was that to teach himself to like certain foods, he should start with the highest quality and most expertly prepared version of it. So, if you didn't like pizza, ideally, you would start off with one prepared at a 150 year old pizzeria in Naples and NOT with a frozen DiGiorno! I'd been thinking about sauerkraut for the past week, and I felt ready to conquer that Kraut. I knew just where to find my perfectly prepared sauerkraut, without having to actually board a plane to Munich.... or even Phelps, NY, which I have just learned is the Sauerkraut Capitol of the World. Who knew?

Chili Addition is a local gem, for vegans and carnivores alike. The guys there aren't kidding around! Not only do they make over 75 varieties of their own chili, but they make almost everything they serve, from scratch.... sausages (vegan and meat versions), hot sauce, ketchup, mustard, pickles, BBQ sauce, ice cream (dairy and vegan), you name it! As I have already fallen madly in love with their pickles, I figured if anyone could make a pleasing sauerkraut, it would be these guys!

And because I really want you guys to know I'm serious about this, I decided to go the extra mile. Not only did I order my vegan sausage topped with sauerkraut, but I opted to have mustard on it as well! Now, I've gotten better with mustard over the past few years. I put it in salad dressing all the time. And I know a bit has been occasionally sneaked onto a few burgers I've had at restaurants, and I didn't mind it too much. But I've never deliberately and generously applied it to anything I have ever eaten. Still, remember, this is homemade, special mustard, so I figured I needed to start at the top.

So, I get this sausage, topped with about a pound of sauerkraut, and a ladle full of mustard. And I can now say with certainty that I like sauerkraut! In fact, I kind of loved it! I would actively pursue eating it over and over. Once again, I was shocked at myself for refusing to try it before. I'm sure I wouldn't have liked it 20 years ago, back when I wouldn't eat anything with a vinegary taste or anything with cabbage, but damn! I surely could have embraced it at any point during the past 10 years. But I didn't even try. Out of sheer, stupid stubbornness!

However, the mustard..... that was a little bit tough. I ate the whole dog and every last drip of the mustard, but I could have done without it. I didn't hate it, but I didn't quite like it either. However, it has potential. I'm probably just a few more tries away from truly acquiring a taste for mustard.

We don't normally do something as unhealthy as go out and eat Hotdogs and French Fries for dinner on a week night, but I was able to justify it a little, as right after dinner, my husband and I both went and danced our dogs off with Richard Simmons. :-)

Finally, I want to thank all of you who are reading this blog! I have no idea who is actually looking it at, but I have had well over 200 views in my first week, which is much more than I was expecting! So, thanks!