May 29th, 2026

I made oatmeal cookies yesterday.  They look pretty good I think.  (what do you think?)  I know that raisins in Oatmeal cookies is traditional, but I do not do that unless I want to make absolutely certain that I can resist  eating them.  Tim likes raisins, I do not.  Wait a minute. It's not mere dislike for me with raisins. No, no, it's much bigger than that. I despise raisins.  I loathe them. I cannot even bear the smell of them.

Joy shares my dislike of Raisins.  I vividly remember once when we were both very young, someone offering her raisins and Joy politely declined.  When pushed a little bit, Joy said no again and that she didn't care for raisins.  The hostess, looking shocked said, "Why do you not like raisins?"  and Joy famously (well famous in our family) answered, "they taste like dead people".   The woman was shocked. Open mouthed and wide eyed,  just frozen in place as this little tow headed angel of a child (I'd say roughly  3 or 4 years old at the time) said such a thing.

Now personally that's not my reasoning. In fact, I have no reason. I just don't like 'em.  I feel about raisins much the same way that I feel about licorice with is to say disgust is too mild a word.  And I have always felt this way about poor raisins (and licorice for that matter) Oddly, Tim enjoys both of those things. I certainly never stop him from enjoying either one. In fact, when I grocery shopped yesterday, I bought him some raisins. But I have rules. (of course I do)   When he eats any of those things which turns my stomach, 1: do not ask me to taste it, try it, smell it, cook with it.... and 2:  do not breathe on me immediately after eating it coz I can still smell it.  And to me it is gross.

I suppose it's the "Cilantro Effect".  Apparently for some people Cilantro tastes wonderful but for other people it tastes like soap.  Oh dear!  I'm in the 'loves cilantro' group but I appreciate the 'tastes like soap' group and if someone were coming to our house that I knew felt that way I certainly wouldn't cook anything requiring cilantro!

I am, what some people call, a picky eater.  I don't think I'm picky. I think I just know myself.  By this point in my life, I know what I like and what I don't.  I also know the foods that do not especially like me!  For instance, I actually quite enjoy sauteed onions and peppers on, for example, a hot sandwich.  In fact, if I were making that sort of sandwich for myself it would mostly be onions and peppers with a little cheese.  I would eat it with delight, I would relish every single bite and then later I'd be curled up in abject misery.  Peppers and onions do not like me.

Sometimes my likes and dislikes make no sense even to me.  For instance, oatmeal since I brought it up.  I love oatmeal cookies, they are kind of old fashioned, I know but they are also both crispy and chewy, kind of earthy and brown-sugar sweet - not too over the top.  They are terrific on their own but also wonderful as a side to an apple or a peach.  I am also a huge fan of oat bread which is basically oatmeal with honey and leavening.  BUT I do not like oatmeal, the hot cereal.  Really really REALLY do not like oatmeal the cereal.  If it were forced into my mouth, I would be incapable of swallowing it. Maybe it's a mouth-feel thing?

Another truly inexplicable like/dislike food for me is tomatoes. I actually love tomatoes. I even love the smell of the plants!  I like seeing slightly green tomatoes sitting in the windowsill as they finish ripening. I love them on a sandwich, in a salad and sometimes just eaten straight from the garden like an apple.  I love tomato sauce on spaghetti and pizza and a good tomato based vat of chili. I have been known to enjoy some ketchup with my fries (also tomato based)   BUT I do not like tomato soup.

I know, I know, it makes no sense. And yet it's true.  And I no longer fight it.  There was a time when I could be swayed by other people.  "here, just try a bite, I promise that you will love it"  I did not.  I never have. Any time someone coerces me into trying a food I'd rather not try, I regret it.   So nowadays I simply decline. "No thank you" with a smile and no explanation.  As they say nowadays, "no" is a complete sentence. So true, so true.

And even if someone demanded an explanation, I don't really have one. At least not one that makes any sense. Just "I don't particularly care for it, but thank you", which is polite-speak for  I hate it, if you force me to eat it I will gag".  And nobody wants that.

I'm happy to report that at this august age, very few people try to push me to eat things I do not want to eat and that is lovely.  One of the very few benefits of being old.  But every once in awhile it still comes up. I get the very disappointed face, the look that says I'm being a picky pain in the arse (and while I certainly am capable of being a picky PIA,  at that moment I am going out of my way to not be).  I don't make a big deal out of being a picky eater.  I usually don't say anything about it at all in fact, unless someone questions me or pushes me (verbally) Normally I say nothing about food at all. And I have no problem whatsoever eating nothing at a gathering if nothing appeals to me. (and still have a Great time!)  I'll eat when I get home in those circumstances.  But I will not be forced to eat foods that I do not like (or that do not like me)

I know that many of us grew up in an age where we were forced to eat everything on our plates regardless of our preferences or hunger levels.  We got that "children in Africa or China or Tibet  are starving"  guilt trip (tho I never once understood how my eating food I did not like helped them in any way)  I honestly believe that those food and eating rules led to some pretty awful food-related issues later in life.  

Meanwhile, this picky pain in the arse just made some excellent oatmeal cookies and will enjoy every single one :)

Have a Great Weekend!