After a few weeks on hiatus, Food Friday is making a return. And it’s a day early! Actually, it’s four days late because I had this particular dish on Sunday night.
When I was grocery shopping this past Sunday morning, I ran into my friends/neighbors/future HOA insiders. They invited me over for dinner - chicken and corn on the cob grilled on their fancy new grill. When I got there, Scruffy put out a cucumber and tomato (and, oh yeah, onions) salad. Have you ever been at somebody’s house and they’ve made something that you’re not really sure you’re gonna like but you don’t wanna hurt their feelings because they invited you over after all and it would be really impolite to not eat what they made? That’s kinda what happened to me on Sunday night.
This is pretty much the internal monologue that was going on in my head as we ate dinner:
Oh great, a cucumber and tomato salad. Cucumbers? Ewww. I can totally handle the tomatoes…it’s kinda like bruschetta. I like bruschetta. I’ll just pretend. How come that cat doesn’t like me? Maybe I can pick out the cucumbers. What kind of dressing? Huh? I really can’t tell those two cats apart…Lucy and, wait, what’s the other one’s name? Is it awful that I can’t remember the other cat’s name? How big was that cucumber? There are so many cucumber slices in my bowl. I can’t believe it’s pouring out. No more tomatoes? Their counters really look nice…I gotta decide what to do with my kitchen counters. Actually, this salad isn’t half bad. It’s kinda tasty. And the cucumbers in Italian dressing…hmm, pretty good. Oh wow, this grilled corn on the cob is out of this world. You know what? This salad wasn’t bad at all! Hopefully, they don’t notice how many cucumber slices are left in my bowl…there were a lot. Gosh, I’m stuffed! Huh?! They have chocolate cake?!
So, despite my initial misgivings, I ended up really liking the cucumber and tomato salad. And it served as a good reminder of my original intent for Food Friday…being open to trying new things, whether it’s something wild and crazy like kangaroo or something as simple as a summer salad made by a friend.
Here’s where the story gets really crazy. I liked that salad so much that tonight I went to the store, bought a cucumber and some tomatoes, and made it myself! It was delicious! But I changed it up a little and made it a tomato and cucumber salad...with no onions.
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| I guess I'll have to add tomatoes and cucumbers to the shopping list now! |
I went to a friend's house for lunch in Japan one afternoon and she served a salad that was just something like raw cucumbers and daikon and lemon juice and salt. The cucumbers were my safety net because I was totally freaked about about the sliced daikon, but then I actually loved the salad and made it at home and embarked on a little radish obsession. Which is to say -- hooray, Food Friday!!
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