Number One - changing taste buds

This first new thing is a little lame. But back in January we at work all went out for a birthday lunch at the Plaza. For those of you not familiar the Plaza is a great family owned and run Greek restaurant. It's really good. I got lemon soup, gyros and half order fries and half order of Greek salad. All of it was fabulous! As I got to the end of my meal. I looked down at the green olive I had been pushing around my plate and contemplated what to do with it.

I have never liked olives. While I have eaten the black ones chopped up, disguised and hidden under a load of cheese, they aren't something I seek out. Certainly not something I would eat straight up all on it's own, like a pickle or something. But I never want to be that kind of person who turns their nose up at food. And passed down to me through the generations I have a practical, frugal and non-wasting mindset, likely inherited from my grandmothers who struggled through the Great Depression with very young families. So not wanting to be a food snob or be wasteful, what to do with the lone green olive on my plate?

Every few years I have given them a second shot, thinking it's only fair and maybe my taste buds have changed? So, I looked at this olive and thought, "Well, this would be a new thing. But I'm not just going to eat it, I'm going to savor it!" And you know what, I did! And at first I'll be honest, it tasted beyond sour, but after a few minutes it was actually tasty! So a chewed, savored and sucked the pit, thinking that it wasn't that bad. A first, actually eating a whole olive all on it's own.

(Incidentally, just last week I was at Boston Pizza and was again confronted with an olive on my plate. I decided to give that one a go and it was promptly and discretely rejected into my napkin. I guess my taste buds haven't changed. Or maybe all the Greek food, had prepped my palate for the olive I liked. Or maybe Plaza's olives are just better. And since then I have browsed Safeway's bulk olives wondering if I could take a sample of each kind and figure out once and for all which olives I like, if any at all. But I think I need an olive sherpa to guide me on that journey.)

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