His sandwich was great - they held the mayo and added cocktail sauce. JT doesn't do mayo. My salad was a mound of terrific steamed shrimp and lump crabmeat in a better than average Greek dressing, with tomatoes, green peppers, and spring onions. So far, what's not to love?
The damned salad was served over iceberg lettuce.
Really? None of your suppliers offer anything other than this passe green that pretends to be lettuce? No leaf lettuce, or romaine, or curly endive - all they have is something that could be mistaken for a head of cabbage?
Growing up I ate the monstrosity of epicurean hell with abandon - it's the only kind we ever had at home. Quartered and served with Roquefort - my dad's favorite dressing. Topped with bacon for everyone else - my hatred of pig flesh extends to my early years.
I loved Sunday lunch that included this rarity - it was a fine break from the pot roast we usually had because the salad was always served with baked chicken - I think there was a rule about it. Along with the cluck and salad was my favorite - mashed potatoes. And dessert was usually a trip to the local ice cream store.
My mother is not a cook. A wonderful woman, but her abilities and imagination in the kitchen are both limited. So when she stepped out of the meatloaf/pork chop box her last resort was always the above described meal.
I prayed for these Sundays.
Fast forward twenty years, with varied lettuce selections in the grocery stores, and I reached salad heaven. Never did I purchase iceberg again. My life has been richer because of it.
I am a food snob. I do not eat pigs in the blanket, nor do I partake of cocktail weiners in grape jelly/barbeque sauce. My palate is particular - food of this ilk would not get past my molars. There is nothing wrong with the people who do enjoy these staples, but it's not for me. Too many good things to eat to waste time on Grovian horribleness.
And iceberg lettuce? I wish I could send every head to those starving Chinese children I heard about at every meal I refused to eat growing up. Along with the milk I refused to drink.
Please, by all that is good and holy, boycott the iceberg. Your taste buds will thank you.
And don't get me started on boxed mac and cheese.
Iceberg lettuce, to me, tastes like dirt. Its existence is the reason I refused to eat any type of salad growing up.
ReplyDeleteWhen I discovered romaine, my dream of 'healthy' eating was born.
I NEVER eat salads at school unless I bring my own. Romaine is the only lettuce I eat. And I'll be lynched by the townfolk if they find out my choice of dressing.
Contrary to virtually everyone in the Grove, hell, the South, ranch dressing is NOT a food staple and does NOT make everything, pizza especially, taste better.
I haven't eaten pork since I was 8 or so and my brother explained where the grilled hot dogs we were eating came from. I am certain that I am a better person for not having eaten it - as well as all of the milk I gave away in grade school. Mac and cheese comes in a box?
ReplyDeleteYes, mac and cheese comes in a box and my children, the ones who are oh so haughty about their elevated taste buds, still gravitate to it like bees to flowers. It's orange, and stringy and I have cooked waaaaay too much of it, prompted by the same grandmother who used to force me to drink cow secretions.
ReplyDeleteThey ate it at her house and a love affair was born.