Tastebud Transplant?

One thing I've noticed about myself over the last 10 months is how my tastes have changed.  Dramatically.  I don't know if it's a result of how my body has changed since the surgery or if it's just part of getting older, but I don't crave the things I used to and in fact crave things I never dreamed I would.  If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I had a tastebud transplant when I had my bypass. (By the way, spell check tells me "tastebud" is two words, but it just looks weird that way.  Bite it, spell check!)

This one-time chocoholic couldn't care less about chocolate.  If it's there, fine.  If not, that's fine too.  I rarely crave it.  At Easter time, I had a severe jelly bean habit.  Never in my life have I cared a bit about jelly beans.  My absolute favorite candy is the Cadbury creme egg.  Not this year.

I crave salad.  Isn't that bizarre?  Who, besides my mother, craves salad?  Or any vegetable, for that matter.  Me, that's who.  Weird. 

Cheese used to be a non-issue with me.  I liked it, but it wasn't all that exciting.  Throw in a cracker and some pepperoni and it was a fine little treat.  If we didn't have any in the house, I really didn't care.  Now?  I can't get enough.  I inhale string cheese sticks like it's the last bag on the planet and someone might steal it from me.  If the husband dare has one, I have to bite my tongue not to say "that's mine!".  If the kids ask for one, then don't eat it all?  A little bit of me dies inside.  What, too dramatic?

Perhaps you will recall about oh, 9 1/2 months or so ago I was standing in my kitchen sucking on a piece of steak that I wasn't allowed to eat yet, but needed that meat fix.  Today I can take it or leave it.  The only reason I make some kind of meat every night is basically for my husband.  My 6-year-old daughter has decided most meat is too fatty for her (a nightly battle, as she won't let any fat pass her lips and dissects her dinner with the precision of a surgeon).  My 2-year-old son is going through a phase where he eats two or three bites of whatever is on his plate that is not a vegetable, then proclaims he's "all done, get down!"  The only meatless meal I can think of that I make is some kind of pasta and sauce.

Last night Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard (or more accurately, freezer) was fairly empty, and I had no idea what meat to make.  It's grilling season, but it was a cold, cloudy day here.  So I begrudgingly took out a package of hot dogs, which I hate feeding my family and think are only acceptable on occasion, in the summer only.  Before they were all the way thawed I decided, "no, we're not having those", and put them in the refrigerator.  We had a meatless dinner.  Granted, none of it particularly went together (homemade home fries, roasted carrots and garlic, a frozen veg medley, and leftover mac salad) but the point was it was meat free.  And no one died.  Imagine that.  I've decided we're going to go meatless at least once a week, but I'll plan better for it next time so it's not just a mish-mash of whatever I throw onto a plate.  I'm thinking a quinoa dish or risotto primavera for next time.  I'll have to let you know how it goes.

We're getting ready to plant our garden.  Well, actually, the husband is presently doing the prep work as I sit here on the sunny deck and glance over there from time to time.  But when The Girl gets home from school--she wants to help--we're gonna plant that baby like it's 1999.  (That song doesn't really work anymore, but you get my point.  I think Prince should have chosen a more realistic date to party, like December 21, 2012?  Hmm?)  I'm so excited to get my veggies in the ground.  I can't wait for them to start to produce.  Having just gotten back from the grocery store and seeing the prices rise again, walking out to my backyard for my veggies is going to be such a treat to our wallet. We didn't have a garden last year, and I missed it, not just for the money saving aspect of it, but because of the satisfaction of watching it grow and saying "hey, I did that!"  This year we got the usual tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli and whatnot, but I also grabbed a few different things that we've never grown before, like sweet potatoes, cabbage and watermelon.  Nothing exotic, but new to us anyway.  And of course we'll do pumpkins.  The kids love that.  And it's nice not to have to spend upwards of $10 on a scrawny little pumpkin for them to carve come Halloween time.

So I guess that's it for now.  I'm going to sit here for the next hour, finish my iced coffee and read my book, and watch the pool boy gardener get things set up for the big gardening extravaganza.

Then I'll go take some pork out of the freezer for dinner.  I do so love the grill this time of year.