Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks.

If you have eaten in my house, you know that we have kind of a limited repetoir. I mean, we can cook well-- don't get me wrong-- but we stay mostly within a comfortable range of French-Italian-and-American. Oh, and the occasional traditional English delicacy like "Toad In The Hole." I love whipping up a spicy moules-frites or a delicious tomato-y meat sauce, we grill up a juicy burger or a truffle-drizzled pizza almost every weekend-- but when it comes to exploring new cuisines... Well. To be honest, I kind of wimp out. I'm just skeptical. Skeptical of my ability to make it well. Doubtful that it's going to quench my hunger and my palette... That's f#4k-ed up, right? 

Who am I to doubt the deliciousness, the satisfaction, of other cuisines??? 

But I guess I do. 

But I've been shaking things up around here lately. I made a salmon sashimi with avocado and a poached egg two nights ago, and it was off the hook. And looked exactly what it was supposed to look like! And a few nights earlier, I broke into my mom's copy of "Jerusalem" and really got cracking. And I've got to say, "Color me totally freaking mistaken." The spicy carrot salad I made was stupendous. Exceptional. I ate it again for breakfast. I would eat it again, right now, if it was in front of me. 

The Lamb and Beef Meatballs with Fava Beans & Lemon were terrific. Totally excellent. Ate them twice. Two nights in a row. Yep. That good. In fact, the second time I ate them with the aforementioned Spicy Carrot Salad, a Peppadew Hummus my mom had recommended, and then, the coup de grâs, I rolled out a leftover pizza dough that I had, drizzled that in olive oil, and grilled it to eat as a flat bread with everything. 

Which was awesome. 

So I guess what I'm trying to say is: Even if you get really good at one thing, it doesn't mean you should stop trying to get good at other things. Maybe this is going to be my manta for Spring 2015. I'm going to work on venturing outside the safety of the known and familiar, and give something unchartered more of a shot. 

Because, you know, why not?