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From Recipes

Cakespy: Cherry Almond Osgood Pie

I printed it out with the TBL directions but as I was grating my nutmeg it occurred to me that I had never in my life put a TBL of spice in anything, much less 3 of them. I came back to find the revised recipe and I still cut the spice to 1/2 tsp of each and it was delicious.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

This thread is fascinating! As my sons married and additional people were added to the mix, I found I had to add things to the menus for holidays because the new people had dislikes and I didn't want to not cook the old favorites so we just have a Lot of Food now. For every day though I thank my lucky stars that my beloved husband of 40 years eats everything except liver, a food without which I can certainly survive. He also cheerfully cleans the kitchen every night no matter how many dishes I have used. The more things you have in common to start with the better the chances of longevity of the relationship.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

The short answer is that no behavior that bothers you before marriage gets cuter after marriage.

From Talk

Eating quirks

Are any of you folks in therapy because it sounds as if you have some serious control issues! For years I had to eat my last bite off my husband's plate. We moved and got a bigger table and now I can't reach his plate. Hmm, maybe i need that therapist's name.

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From Recipes

Cakespy: Cherry Almond Osgood Pie

I printed it out with the TBL directions but as I was grating my nutmeg it occurred to me that I had never in my life put a TBL of spice in anything, much less 3 of them. I came back to find the revised recipe and I still cut the spice to 1/2 tsp of each and it was delicious.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

This thread is fascinating! As my sons married and additional people were added to the mix, I found I had to add things to the menus for holidays because the new people had dislikes and I didn't want to not cook the old favorites so we just have a Lot of Food now. For every day though I thank my lucky stars that my beloved husband of 40 years eats everything except liver, a food without which I can certainly survive. He also cheerfully cleans the kitchen every night no matter how many dishes I have used. The more things you have in common to start with the better the chances of longevity of the relationship.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

The short answer is that no behavior that bothers you before marriage gets cuter after marriage.

From Talk

Eating quirks

Are any of you folks in therapy because it sounds as if you have some serious control issues! For years I had to eat my last bite off my husband's plate. We moved and got a bigger table and now I can't reach his plate. Hmm, maybe i need that therapist's name.

From Talk

What desserts do you crave?

apple pie with cheddar cheese and vanilla ice cream

From Talk

The Most Unhealthy Thing You've Ever Made

Regulars around here are chili with fritos and cheese, eggs scrambled in peppered bacon grease and served with the eggs with a side of cinnamon toast. I won't mention Martha Stewart's mac and cheese. I live in Texas and we eat Tex Mex and barbeque. Everything is incredibly bad for us but we eat small amounts and work out like fiends.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: Pumpkin Baking

pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce

From Talk

Buttermilk

I make buttermilk gingerbread and use buttermilk to marinate chicken for frying. Buttermilk biscuits go with the chicken.

From Talk

What's hot in the pot? Dinner Tuesday Oct. 6th?

Pooch, I am so envious of both you having your Mom and aunt still with you, and that they can still fry a great chicken!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'The Craft of Baking'

Bread Pudding Souffle from Commander's Palace in New Orleans

From Serious Eats

What Was Your Favorite School Cafeteria Food?

I loved the beef stew and the sugar cookies. This was when there were lunch ladies who cooked the food and served it lovingly to you. I was a picky eater (I would be skinnier if I still was) and I remember eating many things that I would not have eaten at home. In high school I ate a lot of salads and saltine crackers with butter.

From Talk

Honeycrisps Are Here!

I use them for everything while they are around. We dont have them yet, but I am watching.

From Talk

Your Fast Food Urge.....just had mine...tasty.

Gosh I hate to admit this: my gym is across the street from a Wingstop and I swear I can smell it when I walk out the door. About once a month I am overwhelmed and dragged in the door by my lack of self control to order the original hot wings and their phenomenal fries. I am so ashamed.

From Talk

Making ketchup

Williams Sonoma has the one I make. If it isnt on their website, I will post it.

From Talk

What Should I Make to Accompany Mac and Cheese

We always had bacon and peas with mac and cheese when I was a kid. Honestly, that Martha recipe is so rich and wonderful and filling that I could make a meal of just it (and it costs $30 to make) but last time I had it with frozen fruit salad and a honeybaked ham.

From Talk

Saving Bacon Fat

I keep it in a bowl on the stove but am careful to use it within a few days. My mother and grandmothers did the same. Anyone remember when everyone received a bacon fat keeper as a wedding gift? Mine said Bacon Grease right on the front.

From Talk

...Makes me think I've died and gone to heaven

Any food someone else is cooking for me! Roasted anything, garlic, apple pie, chili, cookies.

From Talk

Meatloaf!

My very favorite is one by Tyler Florence called Country Meatloaf with Tomato Relish. The meatloaf is very subtle and the relish is tomatoes and red peppers cooked down into a yummy fresh relish.

From Serious Eats

Who Likes Grape Soda?

There was a rock service station on the road from Wichita Falls to Greenville, Texas when we were kids. They had one of those big boxes full of almost frozen water in which were suspended glass bottles of Grape and Orange Nehi sodas and Coca Colas. These were the best things ever when you were driving the 1955 Chevy with no AC in the summer to see Grandmother. They also had a nifty cage with squirrels in it and of course.

From Talk

Favorite foodie iphone apps?

Locavore tells you where to find locally grown food.

From Talk

Compiling recipes for a family cookbook - advice?

This may not be what you are looking for, but I put our family cookbook together using all the recipes I already had written down. It became a patchwork of my mother's and grandmother's handwritten recipes, mine, those from other family and friends, some cut from magazines as far back as the 30's, printed ones from newspapers, etc. I didn't redo all of them to be formatted the same way because I wanted the memories of the people who gave me the recipes. I just organized them into sections of food types, copied them using both sides of the paper on 3 ring paper and put them in binders with an original watercolor on the cover. Then I handwrote the index. I have printed a dozen of them so far and each time someone marries they get a copy of "The Cookbook".

From Talk

Heirloom Tomatoes Help

We just planted the fall garden and this one has one grape tomato, two Romas, and 4 Celebrities. I have picked off two of those nasty ugly tomato hornworms but we will be vigilant. I am so sorry about the blight ...would just break my heart to see that!

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I canNOT stand a picky eater. His attitude will have a negative effect on your love of food and cooking, and might (ohGod) produce picky offspring as well. Life is to be enjoyed in full - to me, especially if you love cooking and eating and have an adventurous outlook on it. Damn right you need someone to fight with over the last piece of cheesecake. Keep looking - somewhere out there is your soulmate who will give you joy in your life.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

it sounds as if the problem is as much how his pickiness presents itself Vs the actual fact of the pickiness.
you need to negotiate how he goes about tasting and reacting. instead of filling his plate hiding the uneaten, he should take a bite only, then only take more of what he will actually eat. He also must accept that if he rejects what's for dinner, he makes his own substitute.

You, OTOH, have to deal with adjusting your daily cooking to reflect some of his opinions. Cooking can be fun, but the day in day out feeding of your partner & family isn't so much about the fun for you as about the fact that people need to eat. Plus, if he rejects your food in favor or cornflakes or PBJ for days on end, you can't be hurt.

if you someday are having kids, he needs to have learned to reject in a low-key fashion so as not to 'teach' his pickiness to them. I won't go so far as to expect him to sometimes noticeable eat something he is known to dislike, to model polite behaviour. But it would be handy.

PS I was in a relationship in which we had very different food cultures. our inability to appreciate each others standards was but one of many problems. But 3 times a day one or both of of us being annoyed or mad or disappointed sure didn't help. If you cant fine some way to enjoy meals together, some compromises, then hang it up now.

From Talk

"dinner" vs "supper"

I think it depends on what's served. We have "chicken dinner," "lasagna dinner," "steak dinner," "breakfast for dinner," "chili supper," spaghetti supper," "soup and salad supper." "Lasagna supper" just doesn't sound right.

From Talk

"dinner" vs "supper"

I have lived in Missouri (St. Louis) all my life. We always called the second meal of the day "Lunch", and the last meal of the day, "Supper". Although Dinner and Supper could be used interchangeably My husband's family did the same thing.. I notice my older siblings are now calling it "dinner" when they invite us over. I have always used the word Supper unless we are going out to a formal meal, then I will call it Dinner.

We have always used the word soda. My uncle used to call it sodie.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

We all have our food preferences. I don't like fruit mixed with foods that are supposed to be savory, savory stuff with raisins, or chocolate mixed with fruit (though separately, I love them both). Other than that, I'll eat anything at least once, maybe twice (I believe it second chances for everyone and everything). I think the thing that bothers you the most is that he doesn't share your passion for food and he doesn't want to even try. The point is: can you live with this? or will it be a thorn in your side that digs deeper with time? If you can't make peace with yourself on this, then walk away. If you can deal with it and have it not affect your dignity and self-worth, then I don't see that it's a real problem.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

My first wife hated eggs, bananas, mustard, my watermelon fruit salad, my top secret recipe 6 grain pancakes, didn't like breakfast in general. Of course, I'm more of a breakfast cook, but her idea of cooking is heating up canned soup (mac and cheese was a highlight of her cooking skills). In fact, when we first got together, the only thing she ate was McDonald's cheeseburgers and fries. (I did get her to eat fresh cut up strawberries.) So when we split, I vowed that I would avoid dating picky eaters.

So of course, my last (I'm planning it that way, anyhow) wife is a great cook - an amateur chef IMHO, but she's vegan (and I'm allergic to the entire legume family). We have great fun trying to create dishes that we can both eat (the entree is always veggies, the protein ends up a side dish for each of us), and she has decided that fried rice with eggs is ok (she is having trouble getting enough protein in her diet). And as a bonus, she loves my pancakes (which I modify by substituting coconut or almond milk for sour milk and/or yogurt), and never complains about my potatoes.

So, as to your problem, drag the bum into the kitchen now and again and make cooking a shared activity - fun-shared, not chore-shared. If he is a good kitchen companion (maybe not entirely his cup-o-tea, but as a special activity), then it will lessen the anti-everything you seem to interpret from him right now, and some of his ideas might end up being useful in figuring out how to feed him when you are cooking without him. If you two can't get along in the kitchen, I'd have to vote for a quick exit strategy.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

Every person you meet and get along with very well isn't necessarily your mate. Food is something you will be sharing with this person for life, 3 times a day plus snacks. Not to mention favorite holiday treats... that adds up to a lot of things you won't be sharing, possibly even arguing about. You love to cook, and may see food as love. His constant rejection of your offerings and likes may over time wear like water dripping on stone and erode love and respect. A very long list of verboten foods is a whole different thing than not caring for a few things. Stay friends if possible but think long and hard about developing more intimacy.
BUT- utimately it's your life, your choice.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I think if you were really crazy about this person, his food habits wouldn't bother you as much.

It would eventually chip away at her patience, no matter how much she cares for him. You can only overlook something for so long before it ends up being part of an argument that goes, "Yeah, and another thing..."

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I think if you were really crazy about this person, his food habits wouldn't bother you as much. And, vice-versa, he would make an attempt to be more adventurous.

My husband was a picky eater when we first started dating. Over time, he's broadened his horizons food-wise, and I save the things he really won't eat to savor when I'm having a meal without him. A good compromise, I think.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I married a picky eater-- not quite as picky as yours, but some of my faves are the things he hates. Over the last 4 years, it's been easy to "cook around him": to use ingredients he likes, or just make sure the stuff he hates is in large chunks so he can pick it out and give it to me. I kind of like have double the mushrooms in my coq au vin! The thing is, for me, there was no consideration of not getting married to him because of his pickiness-- because it was SO obvious that we were meant to be together in every other way. So now I have artichokes when I go out, not at home, and I make a side of kale for just myself, and it's no big deal.

I have another friend who passionately loves her hubbie of 20 years, but they eat separate meals-- hers are gourmet feasts, and his are pizza, hot dogs, and pancakes (he has a severe food issues).

So it can be done! But it sounds like there are many other things that make you unsure... trust your instinct on this!

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I'm sorta torn. To some extent I do agree with tapioca. If food is your passion then there is no real way it's going to work out (and you kinda knew that). I am sorta dealing with the same thing, but the exception is that it's only a couple of things and of those things the problem is that he has eaten canned versions and not fresh versions. So I am slowly converting him. I'm still working on cucumbers and pickles - he's German can you imagine him not liking pickles, isn't there some rule about pickled food and Germans. Anyway - if it were a few things then I'd work around it but he seems pickey like a child and for me that's a big red flag.
Years ago someone told me that you can tell everything about a person by what they eat...she was so right

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

Wow, what a thread! And what a smorgasbord of advice! This guy must have really swept you off your feet in every other way for you to have endured his food fetishes for a year. Or, you are selling yourself short that there isn't someone out there who is perfect for you. And someone else perfect for him.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

At this stage of a relationship, I dump this guy faster than a hot potato. For anyone who is a subscriber to Serious Eats, food is important (along with wine and other stuff). So connect with someone that shares this passion not someone who is going to disparage or pick at everything you love about food. Get to the core of the issue and stop fretting about symptoms.

Chef Wannabee

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

Being with someone who starts out a picky eater but eventually decides to expand his horizons is not the same as being with someone unwilling to budge. One is a victory that opens up a whole new world of flavors - the other is a huge pain in the ass.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

@WannabeTVchef - Food allergies are hardly rare. According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, approximately 12 million people (or about 1 in 25) have food allergies. And that's allergies alone, not sensitivities or intolerances (like lactose intolerance). While a list of 8 foods cause about 90% of food allergies, who are you to judge what is a 'real' allergy. Obviously not a medical professional with the training to diagnose someone's immune disorder.

I've seen someone swell up like a balloon when a server didn't know the correct answer to if there was garlic in a dish. And personally, I'd love to eat raw tomatoes, but paying for that fantastic salsa with a blistered tongue is not a price I'm ok with.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

Canadian Sunshine could end up with a chronically frustrating life with this picky eater. In considering a long-term or even a lifetime relationship, you need to identify the features and characteristics in the other person and in your interactions which will eventually drive you nuts. In several areas of our life together that could describe my 45 years of marriage but he loves my cooking, most of which involves a big bowl or plate of homemade glop du jour. He is enthusiastic about every vegetable except brussels sprouts and turnips, both of which hit his "too-bitter button." I love to shop for food, cook food, share food with others, and eat it myself. Without a welcoming audience at home for my cooking, my life, which is rich in so many ways, would be much poorer. Canadian Sunshine should not settle for this picky eater. They are not compatible.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

It depends of course on just how picky someone is but for the most part, yes it is a deal breaker. I mean someone with acid reflux is one thing or extreme lactose intolerence but when they are the type to special order everything every time they eat out I have no patience. Also I have no patience with "food alergy" person who seems to have an alergy to everything an adult should eat like mushrooms or spinach. Food alergies are very, VERY rare and some of the ones I've heard (garlic allergy, onion allergy) just do not exist. Nut allergies, shellfish allergies, these are real and they are dangerous but please don't tell me that you are allergic to tomatoes and then soak your fries in ketchup.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I have been in a 10 year relationship with a picky eater. When we first started dating, he said he ate everything and enjoyed going to restaurants. He wined and dined me until I moved in, then I found out the truth... It affected my cooking and dining until last year when I said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I cook what I want when I want and if I want to go to a restaurant that doesn't appeal to him, I go with friends or alone. So if you can tolerate this type of lifestyle then continue dating him, if not DUMP him! But trust me, it is hard to live with someone like this when your a foodie and some days you just want to scream...

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

My husband and I have been married for almost 26 years. When we started dating, almost 30 years ago, he came from a "Hamburger Helper" household and I came from a gourmet / European household. He was never quite sure what he was going to be served at my parents, but he was always game. While my side of the family introduced him to strange things like broccoli (WITHOUT cheese sauce) and asparagus, I will have to admit that he introduced me to kool-aid slushies and toasted pb & js.

His job has taken him all over the world and he is more than happy to try anything that is put in front of him. Our kids are the same way - they will try anything.

It's a tough call. Is he willing to be educated? If not, your meals are going to be pretty sucky.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I married the world's pickiest eater. His family does not own a single condiment. Pickles, please, mustard, ugh, ketchup, ok maybe. But I married him anyway. Me with my 37 pie and cake pans. 53 pieces of cookware, 5 food processors and every gadget on the market. Of course I needed that ebleskiver pan! I could open a restaurant. Getting the pic. We solved the problem but two ways. Rule #1 - I would cook and not tell him what was in it. By the way he didn't know about rule #1. So - rule #2 - he would try one new item per month. Surprise, surprise, he has found many things he actually enjoys. And sometimes he actually tries 2 or 3 things per month. He still can't abide mushrooms and it's been a long process but he has been worth the time and effort. Make sure this is the only thing bothering you. It should be somewhere down toward the bottom of the list.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I dated a guy who would dump copious amounts of ketchup or bbq sauce on anything I'd cook for him. Before tasting the food! It was totally disrespectful and showed a complete lack of flexibility (or taste).

You need to be able to communicate about this. Is he really just that picky, or does he have food allergies/diet restrictions that he is too embarrassed to bring up? If there is a specific health restriction involved here, then that is not his fault, but it is his job to communicate this to you. If this is just pickiness, and YOU are a foodie, then as my mother would say NEXT. Move along honey.

Good luck my dear.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!


From your post, it seems clear that you care about food. If you think the BF is a keeper, you need to explain to him how important it is for him to try the foods you like. Marriages have lots of tough spots and if you're not in the same place food-wise (which you care about), it's tough to see how this relationship will work long-term. If he's willing to try things, but still doesn't like it, that's one thing. But it sounds like you're a long way away from that place.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

Just cut out the middleman and look for someone whose eating habits are not so astronomically different than yours. "Compromising" every so often and having pizza when you want ribs is one thing. Having food habits that are polar opposites is a big thing to overcome. The person who cooks is never afforded the pleasure of watching a significant other enjoy a meal without dissecting it. (I hate this and anyone who does it is not likely to be invited to my home again for food.) The picky eater wants a house full of ramen or some other food over which they obsess, and this will drive the cook crazy. A visit to a "favorite" restaurant turns into a war. It's a big world with lots of people and there is no need to hammer a square peg into a round hole.

From Talk

Is dating a picky eater a dealbreaker for anyone?!

I think the OP needs to stop with some passive agressive food behavior. If you are continuing to make dishes with ingredients he doesn't like, and expecting him to love it just because you want him to, it's never going to work!

So, BF doesn't like mushrooms, but OP loves mushroom risotto, so she's going to make it for dinner. BF's got 3 choices:

1) Refuse to eat it - OP gets angry because she put the work into dinner and he won't give it a chance, gets offended when/if he makes something else
2) Eat it, but pick out the mushrooms - OP gets angry because this is a pet peeve of hers
3) Take a serving, not like it, and not finish it - OP gets angry over wasting food.

There's no way he can win.


I can understand that OP's annoyed because she has to change her cooking behavior due to the relationship. but LOTS of things change for relationships. I don't like America's Next Top Model, my girlfriend loves it. I can deal with watching it because i love her. I like Filk music, my girlfried doesn't... she puts up with it in the car because she loves me.

I hate mayo and ketchup. My GF likes mayo and buys ketchup in those big pump-containers. She likes meatloaf, i think it's a conspiracy. I love mushrooms and could eat them by the pound while she can't even put her revulsion into words. If you love a person, you deal with their preferences, be it entertainment or Food.

Relationships are a give and take

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