Mixed Marriages

[Stinky The Clown]

Sparkly is a sorta vegetarian. She doesn't eat meat simply because she dislikes it. She eats fish, however. But she **loves** vegetables. Beans. Carrots. Greens. Broccoli. And fruit. 'nanas and apples. Peaches and plums.

I'm an omnivore with a tendency to pure carnivorism. I tolerate veggies.

So you see. We're a mixed marriage.

But there's lots of common ground. Seafood. Much as I love meat, I love seafood even more. We both love Asian food. Lots of opportunities here for us to share. We both love Italian food. Again, lots of opportunity to share. The Italians, while they eat a fair amount of meat, are more often in the mangia maccheroni (macaroni eater) or mangia foglia (<literally> leaf eater) schools. So I don't miss much by not cooking meat very often.

I always have salumi of one sort or another on hand. And bacon. And sausages. I get 90% of my meat cravings satisfied that way. I'm perfectly happy with a grilled tuna steak instead of a NY strip. I do occasionally crave good red meat. On those occasions, I'll have a steak and Sparkly will have swordfish (which is one fish I simply don't like).

The differences and commonalities go on and on.

Are you in a mixed marriage? How do you cope?

[bearfan454]

1. I am.

I cook, Mrs bearfan doesn't. I love lots of garlic, she doesn't. I love seafood, she doesn't. I love deer meat, she doesn't. Oh well, what can I say. I cook, do the dishes, do laundry, sweep, mop, scrub tubs, cut the grass, etc, etc, etc, and rub her feet, so I don't think a mixed marriage is too bad of a thing.

[NMDemDist2]

2. sorta, I am very adventurous in my culinary choices

i will try most anything and try to come up with different ways to try stuff i already like

H2AzDD6 is very traditional. He, with manly courage, tries my tangents and even likes some of them. You should have seen his face the first time I was buying ingredients for meatloaf. "What's the sausage for? Where's the tomato juice? You're going to put CARROTS!!!! in it?"

or when I was doing swiss chard with Parmesan "Isn't that the part you're supposed to throw away?" LOL

now the meatloaf recipe is one of his all time favs, but......

I can tell he'd much rather have steak and potatoes most nights

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Sounds like our next door neighbors

She's fearless and does all the cooking. She never met a recipe that she didn't like .... and didn't thinks he could change. I suspect it impossible to eat there every night and ever get the same thing again ... even if you loved it!

He eats whatever is there, mostly enjoys it. And does the dishes. But give him his real love and it would be steak, spuds and a brew. Or any meat off the grill.

Hollandaise ..... meet Ketchup.

[NMDemDist2]

4. that's my man! Mr. Ketchup, and you're right, they never taste the same

twice


prolly a good thing though.... he keeps me from going TOO nuts with my "experiments" LOL

[eleny]

5. swiss chard! I love it

mostly, i'm hung up on preparing meals with variety. swiss/c is one of those veggies with both red and green coloration. i figure that it's a double whammy in the nutrition department.

as for "us". he's more traditional but he's still somewhat adventurous if i prepare it. the one thing that puts him off is what he cals "potted meats". he'll eat it but doesn't like the texture as much as a dry roast. he likes to find crispies. on the other hand, i like to do stuff like brown some floured chicken, then layer the pieces with sauteed onion in the waterless silverseal pot and let it finish up. what he calls "potted", i consider "finger licking" good.

[WritersBlock]

6. Chicken enchiladas are a problem.

My better half swore off meat when the BSE scare happened, but he still eats fish & seafood "to be sociable." (I know it's really because he loves my fried shrimp.)

When I'm cooking for the family, I cook most things veggie style because it's easier. I'm alright with the veggie mince instead of ground beef (and almost prefer it now) in dishes like chili. If I'm doing comfort foods like hamburgers, chicken fried steak, or biscuits & gravy, he understands and has beans on toast or veggie sausages instead.

But chicken enchiladas just can't be substituted. And I lurve chicken enchiladas. I have, in the past, made two separate batches: one with chicken, using chicken broth in the sauce, and the other with Quorn, using veggie broth in the sauce. But that's a two-day process, and he isn't all that thrilled by them, anyway. So now when I have a craving for enchiladas, I try to make it up to him by fixing a pot of chili, too.