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I was one of seven kids born to Depression-era parents who were very frugal and didn't waste money on things like pizza or Chinese food. They also were not in touch with any sort of pop culture or knowing about things that other people did. Pizza was one of those things that everyone else around me seemed to know about that I learned early to pretend I knew about, too, like most TV shows and who Elvis Presley was.
So when I was around nine and it was announced that there would be a visit to a pizza place for all the Girl Scout troops at the end of the year, I pretended to be excited and said I liked pizza when someone asked me because I was too embarrassed to admit I'd never eaten it.
I fell IN LOVE with pizza that day, and fifty years later, I still am.
Wow, you must be my sister.
First time I heard about pizza was the Dean Martin song "That's Amore" circa 1953. Lyrics: When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie ...." But my parents weren't hip with 50s pop culture either, and I didn't have a clue what pizza was until the first tasting in '56 or '57.
Sushi - I only started eating it within the last 2 years since I moved to Washington State and I love it. I had some today for lunch as a matter of fact.
I guess I was a senior in high school when I had my first bite of foie gras. I had tried pate (which I like and still like) but never foie gras. I was at my high school friend's house (who I am still friends with many decades later) and her family received a Christmas gift from 2 students from the same family that they hosted from Belgium. They popped open the tin and were raving about it. I told them that I liked pate alright but it looked like such a small tin that I didn't want to take any if I was going to absolutely love it. They urged me to partake and partake I did! Luckily they had another tin that I didn't see
And the more I think of that story, I think of another experience I had as a teenager at another friend's house (who I also still friend's with). His mother used to make pans of this horrible and soggy sheet pan cheese pizza. We ate it like there was nothing left to eat on this planet. It wasn't the pizza that I remember but of the cheese souffle that she used to make. She had a large copper bowl that she would beat her egg whites in and then turn the bowl upside down above our heads. We all thought that was the coolest culinary trick ever and thus began my love of souffles
It's a combination. We were eating at Fleming's Steak House in West Des Moines, IA
CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE
Rich chocolate cake with a molten center of Callebaut belgian chocolate, served with premium vanilla ice cream and chopped pistachios
We asked the waiter for a good wine to accompany it. What is was I do not remember.
The combination of taking a bite and then a sip was so good we were apparently reacting more than we thought. After a while a waiter came over to check the wine and said another couple saw how much we were enjoying it that they wanted the same thing.
"I'll have what she's having."
Edit: An earlier memory. I moved when I was eleven from an area of mostly east European families to an area called Little Italy. Made friends with one of the other kids and got invited to dinner. There was a big sausage or something just sitting there. New to me. So I decided to bide my time to make sure how they ate it. Well they just cut off a slice and ate.
So I did, too.
HOT!!! HOT!!! HOT!!!
My eyes were watering and I was drinking water like no tomorrow. Their mother was very embarrassed and kept apologizing. When I finally caught my breath I told her to not apologize. I loved it! Sure it was hot as dickens, but oh the flavor. Every time I ate at their house she fixed that sausage for me.
That was wonderful family. Both the older boys joined the service (Vietnam) and became police officers after. Talk about service to your country.
Last edited by Tek_Freek; 02-23-2018 at 05:31 PM..
More of a "not in a long while" than a "first time" story, but mine involved duck breast. I had a great recipe for seared duck breast that I prepared once, about 15 years ago. I loved it, and although I kept the recipe all this time, I never made it again...until last month. It was even more delicious than I remembered, and I couldn't believe that I had waited so long to have it again. I've prepared it once more since then, using a different recipe, and plan to eat duck once a month, at least.
I don't eat dessert. Firstly I'm allergic to dairy so that rules out most dessert items but really I only have room for an entree. If I share an appetizer and then get an entree I risk that whole thing where servers worry I did not like my meal because I barely made a dent- even if I feel like I've eaten and eaten and eaten and the food is just regenerating on the plate in front of my eyes.
But the last thing I had that was gloriously good was cuttlefish at a Chinese restaurant. I'd never had it before but a friend ordered it and I "tasted" it. I kept tasting it over and over! It's so nice to have friends who share food
My first Hong Kong business trip back in the mid-1990s, I was taken to a white tablecloth Dim Sum restaurant with the carts for a business lunch. I’m sure it was all pretty middle of the road items but each thing I tried was better than the last. The last thing off the cart was cha siu bao. BBQ pork buns. They jokingly called them Chinese hamburgers. Wow! The grand finale taste fireworks.
I grew up in Jersey, so pizza was always a "thing." That said, the first time my mother took me into Trenton for tomato pie, I fell irretrievably in love with the concept of pizza and its variations.
Guacamole. When it has a lot of lime and cilantro, it just makes me so happy.
Green Papaya Salad at a real Thai restaurant, not a dumbed down westernized one. The very first bite my eyes widened & my taste buds went overtime, these were fresh strong tastes that to my mind shouldn't work together but were a revelation:
Unripe/green papaya strips - julienned carrots - onion - garlic - hot chili peppers - raw string beans - small tomatoes - crushed peanuts - tiny dried shrimp - lime juice - fish sauce (fermented anchovy) - sugar - cilantro
mix well & pound with a mortar pestle for a bit.
OMG!
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