Thursday, December 04, 2014

Marrow bones and picky eaters

By next Monday, I figure most of my Christmas celebrations will be over, but boy have I enjoyed this week. Lunch yesterday with a friend at Swiss Pastry Shop, where I love the tuna salad. And we splurged in honor of the holidays and had slices of Black Forest Cake. Dinner last night at Piola, a small Italian restaurant in a refurbished older house--I had what I always have: lasagna. So good. But I mentioned my dinner plans for tonight which were the Clay Pigeon and marrow bones. One of my companions said she'd never eat marrow bones, and that led to a discussion of other things she wouldn't eat. I can't remember what they were now, but it set me to thinking about picky eater who won't try anything new.
Just as an aside: at Clay Pigeon I had a terrific roasted beet salad with goat cheese, watercress, and a balsamic vinaigrette, along with roasted marrow bones. Not sure when I've had a better dinner. Marrow bones are trendy right now, and if you haven't tried them I advise you to do so. When my brother and I were young, we used to have round steak with just a dab of marrow in the middle of the bone, and I remember we fought over it. (He may deny this). I was delighted a couple of years ago to find marrow on the menu at an Austin restaurant, but it was just a dab and hard to get at. Tonight I had a four-inch bone, split in the middle--a generous helping.
But back to picky eaters. I love to experiment and eat odd things--the only things I can think of I haven't tried are brains and sweetbreads--a bit hesitant about those. But I love pickled herring, foie de gras, liver pate, tongue sandwiches. Used to eat kidneys as a child but tried to order some at the market and was told I'd have to get a case. Not quite ready for that.
On the other hand, we have picky eaters in the family. Start with Jacob. He doesn't eat meat, and his taste repertoire behind that is limited. Once he asked for spinach, so I served it to him and he said, "I'm not eating that." Any variation from what he is used to is met with skepticism. His dad is the same way in spades--even picks the celery out of chicken salad (how offensive can celery be?)
What I dislike most is that some people sport their picky eating habits, from my dinner companion last night to my beloved son-in-law. They seem to think it's cute to be picky or firm about what you won't eat, whereas I want to say "Try it. You might like it.." I got my son-in-law to eat cabbage one night and the comment was, "It didn't do much for me." Folks, there's a wonderful world of food out there. Try things, find new adventures.
One of my dinner companions tonight said she'd never thought of eating marrow but was glad to see how it was served. "I think I'll have to try that," she said. Yay for her...and yay for adventuresome eating.

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