February

Goal: Eat New Foods

This was by far the tastiest challenge on my resolution list. I was pretty excited to get started on this one.

There are a lot of foods I haven’t had. The original suggestion was to try haggis and I did not end up having haggis but I’d say I’m far more likely to now than I was previous.

Backstory: I grew up a very picky eater. Some of it was due to acid reflux, some of it was due to being a brat. Kudos to my parents for continuing to raise me despite my obvious awfulness. Slowly, I have become a more adventurous eater and I was excited to have reasons to try more new foods.

The goal was to try a new food a week. Some weeks, I had more new foods than other and that’s fine because fluctuation is a normal part of life.

#1: Indian Food

Restaurant: Swagat (NW 21st & Lovejoy)

Order: Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Curry, Rice Kheer, Gulab Jamun,

Thoughts: Wow. Delicious. How could I have been skipping out on this incredible array of flavors?

Eat again? Yeahbsolutely

#2: Lebanese and Mediterranean

Restaurant: Nicholas (NE Broadway & 22nd)

Order: Spanakopita, Pita, Lamb Spiced Pie, Beef Kafta Kabab, Falafels

Thoughts: Fresh, light, airy, flaky. You can almost swim in the Mediterranean while eating all of these. One complaint: too much goat cheese. Just not a cheese gal but I knew that going in. Everything else was delicious.

Eat again? Yes.

#3: Ethiopian

Restaurant: Queen of Sheba (NE MLK Jr & Brazee)

Order: Vegetarian Platter

Thoughts: The menu was a tad confusing so the exact food elements I ate are still a mystery. But know this, it was delicious. The food was served on injera. I wish all food was served on bread. Take note, chefs. Big fan of the flavors.

Note on the experience: I was pre-sick during this meal. You know when you are getting sick but do not want to admit it to yourself because you have tickets to see Justin Timberlake after your Ethiopian dinner? That was my exact situation. Do not recommend this particular meal for contagious people because it is a hands-on shared platter.

Eat again? Yes, when not sick.

#4: Gyros

Restaurant: Portland Gyro (SW 4th & Hall)

Order: Lamb Gyro

Thoughts: Can’t believe I’ve never had a Gyro??? I am a firm believer in wrapping meals in tortillas and yet I have never had a meal wrapped in the Mediterranean tortilla, pita. Greece has gone above and beyond the call of duty with this one.

Eat again? Already have.

#5: Frog Legs

Restaurant: Montage (SE Morrison & 3rd)

Order: Frog Legs with Cajun Gravy, Red Beans and Rice with Seasonal Vegetables

Thoughts: Heck yeah, frog legs. Very nommy on a scale of one to nommy. So, this makes sense but frogs have green veins. I didn’t know that before this meal but now I do. Frog legs are delicious. Some might say they are the chicken wing of the amphibian world. In general, I do feel worse about eating frogs than chickens because frogs seem to be at higher risk of endangerment than chickens. I did not feel bad while eating them because they were delicious.

After the meal was all said and done, my server whisked my leftovers away and returned with my leftovers wrapped in squirrel-shaped tin foil. Loved the experience, hated the waste of tin. That’s Portland for you. People are concerned with waste unless it’s a unique frog-leg experience with a tin foil art finale. Ugh. Portland is the worst. (Frog legs are the best).

Eat again? Yes. Not often a menu option so I don’t see myself encountering frog legs with any sort of frequency. If I am lost out in the woods, I could see myself preparing a small frog leg dish.

Takeaways:

Bread all over the world is delicious. One of my favorite parts of trying food from around the world is the signature bread. Makes me wonder what the official bread of the United States would be. (My vote is cinnamon burst bread from Great Harvest).

The best part of food is the people. I refuse to rewrite that statement despite it sounding cannibalistic. Trying new foods was fun because people were excited to try them with me. There is nothing better than sharing a meal with others (except if one of you is sick and the meal requires you to eat with your hands. Sorry Tori!)

There are so many more foods to try. Since February, I’ve been eating things like horseradish and Peruvian dishes because I am limitless (almost #acidreflux)! There is a whole world of foods out there and I am hungry almost all of the time.

Post-February Eats

Here are some fun things I’ve had since my month of trying new foods.

Horseradish. Like, just horseradish on a cracker.
Alpaca. Opted for this in Peru over guinea pig because I heard guinea pig pales in comparison to alpaca.
Pisco Sour (this one is a drink but it has an egg in it so it felt adventurous).