Food...

Most of my friends hate to go out to eat with me. I am one of those people. You know the ones… they ask the waiter five million questions, change their order two or three times, and are so picky the order they finally stick with must come on separate plates minus something or other and with extra something else. Yep, that’s me. I’m just picky. I can’t help it. There are foods I like, and probably just as many that I despise.

Ok, I may be over exaggerating just a little bit. I don’t think my friends truly loathe going out to eat with me, they just pick on me the whole time. My really good friends have developed coping mechanisms for dealing with my craziness. They always let me order last so I have ample time to look over the already familiar menu of our favorite local restaurants. The last time I met Bridgett at El Toreo for dinner, she already had my mild salsa waiting on me. Nicole knows where I’ll drink Diet Coke and where I’d rather have water or tea. (She’s just as picky as I am about her Diet Coke. We can’t drink the ones that are over (or under) carbonated or sickly sweet! And we NEVER drink Diet Pepsi! Ughhh!) She will normally order my drink for me if she’s the first one there. Sonya always warns the waiter – “She’s gonna ask you questions, get ready for it.” These questions can range from the opinion-getting “What’s your favorite thing to eat here?” to the oh-so-inquisitive “What exactly comes on the Chicken Francisco?” to anywhere in between.

My strange methods and modes of ordering:

• If I ever get a salad for a side, I have to ask if there are boiled eggs in it. If so, I ask for no eggs. Or onions. Or tomatoes. I also get honey mustard and ranch dressing for my salad. Sometimes I go for simplicity and order a Caesar salad.
• I only order a Pina Colada or Miami Vice from El Toreo if the female bartender is working. She makes the best ones... none of the others compare.
• At Texas Roadhouse, I like to order loaded mashed potatoes. (If you haven’t had them, they are awesome!) However, they are piled so high in the bowl that I can’t stir all of the “loaded” into them. So, I ask for a small saucer, and I dump them out on it and stir.
• Also at Texas Roadhouse, if I want to order ribs, I ask if the server has had anyone order them on their shift. I then ask if they raved about how good they were or if there were any complaints. (You see, while I love their ribs, sometimes they tend to overcook them and they’re dry. Yuck.) (YAY Jenn for remembering this!!! I knew I loved you for some reason!)
• At Sonny’s I ask for my fried okra extra crispy. I don’t like smushy fried okra.

Ok, so I feel like I’ve painted a really crazy picture of myself. But that’s ok. I’m really not that bad. I don’t think. : )

Foods I hate:

• Ground beef. I’m just not a fan. It’s a texture thing.
• I don’t like any kind of hamburger steak or country fried steak. (texture)
• I only eat hamburgers if they are kind of thin. I hate big burgers.
• Eggs. Ick. (I only eat them if I can’t tell they are there… like when you use them to hold together a casserole. If they are scrambled in something, forget it.) I’m so bad that I ask the Japanese restaurant to make me fried rice without the eggs.
• Sausage like Bratwurst, Kielbasa, or regular big-link sausage. (I can sometimes eat small breakfast link sausage, and I’ve just embraced sausage patties and ground sausage like in Nikki’s awesome sausage/cheese/croissant yummy goodness.)
• A few vegetables – artichokes, brussel sprouts, lima beans, black-eye peas, collard greens, turnips…
• Super spicy anything.
  

So, foods I love:

• SQUASH! Yum!!!
• Bacon! (Yay, Rebecca!)
• Chicken ANYTHING
• Most vegetables… even weird ones that some find offensive like mustard greens, asparagus, broccoli, rutabagas…
• Steak… well done.
• Shrimp, crab legs, fish. (I don’t eat any other kind of seafood.)
• Pretty much any carb. I like carbs. I need to not like them. They’re totally not good for your waist. : )
• Cane syrup on my pancakes! No maple, please.
• Coconut… and nuts in general. Those are two things that many people don’t like and I can’t get enough of. (P.S. – I make the best coconut cake known to man… it is amazing if I do say so myself. I was famous for it at my school. It was my Granny’s recipe… and boy did she know how to cook!)