I HAVE MOVED!

My blog has moved to here, please visit! :D

Sausage & bacon pasta... with brie?!

A week ago, my friend Phoebe and I decided we would make food for three of our friends. But with this blog in mind, we decided to do it with a bit of a twist. 

We used sausages (YAY) bacon, cheese, pasta and bolognese sauce, but also tried BRIE. 

Sidenote: I LOVE CHEESE

It is tasty and the texture is... wait for it... 

BOSS.

I was so excited to try it, and it was unbelievably tasty! I will definitely be having that bad boy again. And the boys we cooked it for seemed to enjoy it aswell! 
I have included a slideshow (it nearly killed me, I've never embedded a video before so it took the good part of an hour and a half) so you can see exactly how we did it.

I am hungover in all of these pictures, so please excuse the state.

So yay! We have finally found a new thing I like! 

Also, my very good friend Christopher Parvin (@ghostlandia if you're a Tweeter) has raised some really good points. This is in reference to my previous post "Lamb chops". Have a shufty.

" I like (steak) well done because I was brought up thinking if meat is still pink it's not cooked and if I eat it I'll die a painful death.... or something along those lines. That's the product of all meat as a child being sausages and burgers with the occasional roast chicken white as chalk. Then there's the blood that oozes. Even though I understand it's myoglobin not blood it puts me off. As for lamp chops I can't stand them, or any meat that comes with a ring of fat no matter how much people tell me it's flavoursome. I only want that texture on a gummy bear thank you. It's strange because I've never thought of myself as a picky eater, and I suppose it is only when it comes to meat and in comparison to my brother and mother I'm practically a world gourmand. I've even experimented on my Mum. If you offer her a something new without telling her what it is, or downplaying the new flavour she'll try it and nine times out of ten like it, but if you tell her what it is before hand she'll pull a face before it's touched her tongue. It's a question of how much our preconceptions effect our taste buds I suppose. The perfect example would be the fat on lamp chops. I like the texture in gummy bears, and occasionally with a savoury pie the pastry can approach the same chewy density so is it the taste putting me off or the connotations of fat, unhealthy, cigarette packet pickets of blocked hearts, concealed grease in the bottom of bins, that is predetermining what I'll experience? "

The points raised by Chris are so important. Does the way in which we are raised really affect our tastes in food THAT much? I think so. I know that the way I was raised definitely has a detrimental effect on the kinds of foods I eat now. When I was younger I was always made to eat chicken, gammon etc. all the foods that I tend to avoid now. Is the whole reason that I am a Picky Eater due to my upbringing? 

Bleh. Enough seriousness. Although I definitely will continue to explore the reasons behind my food habits for the duration of this blog. 

Special thanks to Chris :) 

Roast Beef?!

So I haven't been putting any blogs up recently due to lack of a laptop... but now I'm back! And I've tried lots of new things whilst I've been away. 

So first up is:

ROAST. BEEF.

Ahhhh! I know. It's terrifying. But I thought, hey. I like beef BURGERS... what's so different? 

Well the answer is quite a bit.

Maybe it's due to all the processing and salt and sugar. Or maybe it's something wrong with me. But I just didn't like the texture... AGAIN. 

Why oh why can't I just get over it and eat normally?! I'm praying for the day that I try something new and

genuinely like it. Otherwise this blog's going to get pretty boring pretty quickly. So I need to get a wiggle on. 

Everyone I live with loves all the food I dislike. I really hope this blog will open the doors for me to enjoy normal food.

So at this present moment in time... I've tried lamb chops and roast beef, and both have failed miserably. 

Let's keep going!

Lamb Chops.

When I had the idea for this blog, I thought through all the different kinds of things I don't like and have tried, and things I don't like but I haven't tried.

Yes, I know it's pathetic. Some things I just know I'm not going to like! For example, steak.

I bet you're looking at this picture going "mmmm.... oooh steak.... I'm hungry." But I see this picture and I go "Bleurgh! Urgh!!! Eeee!".

Everyone says how fantastic it is and how tasty etc. But I see a bit of blood oozing out and I feel queasy. But then if I had it "well done", it would be tough and chewy (from what I can gather) and I can't stand that kind of texture! So I'm in a catch-22 situation.

When I've worked up the courage... I will be trying steak. But for the time being, let's get started.

So today I decided to just jump straight in and try a meat that I have always avoided... LAMB CHOPS (Insert dramatic music here). I honestly have never tried lamb, even the minted lamb burgers they do in my work that smell oh so inviting.

Here's a picture.

I'm not going to lie, my housemate cooked it. If I attempted to cook anything like this, either:

a) I would burn the house down. And my landlord would probably take away our deposits.

OR 

b) I'd give myself food poisoning - as I don't cook meat unless it's been processed. Very processed.

I know what you're all thinking. Did I eat it? Well..... kind of. I tried, honestly I really tried but I could feel the fat in my mouth and it really put me off. I think the whole reason that I'm not a fan of meat is due to the fattiness of it, like when I have bacon (no, really. I like bacon) It has to be black. Like, I burn it so it's as crispy as possible. When I bite into a bacon butty, you can pretty much hear my teeth cracking.

But back to the lamb. The taste itself is really nice! It's just the texture. It felt like I was chewing an old boot. But, I swallowed a bit and I think that counts.

In conclusion, the first day of trying new things was a kind of success.

I think I'm going to regret this.... but if anyone has any realistic suggestions for what I could try over the next few weeks, you can comment below and I genuinely will try to get through them.

...what have I got myself into?

Day One... changing habits.

I suppose first of all I should introduce myself. My name's Mel, I'm 21, a student... and I am a VERY picky eater.

For example, I don't like chicken. Whenever I say that I always get a chorus of "Noooo!" "What?!" "How the HELL do you not like chicken?!". Well... what can I say? I don't like most meats! Pork, lamb, beef, even duck, I just can't stand the taste (or the texture). To give you an idea of my eating habits: here's a graph.

I am heading to an early grave with my unhealthy, fatty and frankly boring diet. It's time for a change! So this blog will document all the new foods I am going to try, and hopefully encourage you to do the same. So bring on the steaks, the rabbit pies and the frogs legs. Eep!

I have found that there are several "groups" of eaters.
1) The "I know what I likers" - These people know what foods they enjoy. They refuse to try new things and often refer to anything green as 'rabbit food'. I am one of these people.
2) The "Anything goesers" - You will often find these people in obscure restaurants ordering the 'shark burger' or 'snails on toast'. One of my housemates is an 'anything goeser' and he actually has actually listed of all the different disgusting meats he wants to try. Bleurgh.
3) The "I am what I eaties" - Ahh these people are my favourites. They are RIDICULOUSLY healthy. Like... they'll go to Pizza hut and get a salad. And then eat half of it. I wish I was one of these people! They are often in great shape (or they're just starting a diet that they haven't given up yet).
4) "Veggies and vegans" - Self explanatory, and very restricting! Respect to the veggies :D
5) The "Norms" - People who are a perfect mix between number 1 and number 2.

My mission in this blog is to convert as many people to "Norms" as possible! (Apart from all the number 4's). If I can do it, you can do it! So... let's get started.