Day Thirty-One: Little Accomplishments

Today, I'm 1/12th done with my resolution. Woo hoo! 1/4 done with the foods-I-don't-like portion. Thirty-one little accomplishments. And if I had to eat a new food every day, I would be doomed. But it's practically impossible to adequately judge a food with only one taste of it, and even harder to convince yourself to like it without revisiting it. Over and over, if need be.

I also think it's important that these experiences with formerly disliked foods be pleasant ones. So tonight, eating dinner at the table with my husband, listening to Old Blue Eyes on Pandora, I created a positive memory to associate with kimchi. (Yes, it's 5:40 pm and I've eaten dinner. Yes, it was on the table when my hubby got home from work. Yes, I know it's not 1950. We eat early, especially when we're trying to whittle our waistlines. And we love our big band.)

So tonight, I revisited kimchi, and I liked it a little better this time, I think, than I did last time. And I think it's one of those foods that really works on a fork with several other items. I used to think my dad was insane when he'd fork a little meatloaf, a little vegetable, a litte potato, and eat the whole thing. I was, as a child, a bit of a food separater. I loved the plastic camp trays my mom had that separated elements of a meal like a TV dinner. I'm not that way anymore, but in eating my kimchi tonight, I remembered those days. Because I've become a food combiner. And kimchi, while it has its merits on its own, really adds to and benefits from combination with other elements of a meal (in this case, white rice and chicken with a little sweet chili sauce).

So that was good. And now "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight" is playing on Pandora and my husband looks like he'd like to dance. So goodnight, sweethearts, goodnight.