10 questions about food

saw this on a couple different blogs... how appropriate for my current cooking obsession!

1. What is a food that you never thought you would try, but then tried and liked?
sushi! i've been afraid of it my whole life, but then when we were on our cruise last year they had a free sushi bar, and it just looked so pretty and i thought what the hell? it's free. now i love it, and i crave it. it's weird because when i'm eating it i still get an ick factor feeling, but i still want to keep eating it.

2. Do you subscribe to any foodie publications? If so, which ones?
not yet. i read lots of blogs, and i watch a lot of food network and download recipes from foodnetwork.com. i'd like to subscribe to food network magazine and a few others but i don't yet. (why?)

3. What ingredient do you find yourself reaching for the most when you cook?
sea salt. i heart it. also garlic, and onions. i've started trying to incorporate herbs more too. they're so expensive (most of the time) that it's hard, but my favorites are italian parsley and rosemary. basil too, but i don't buy it often because it goes bad so quickly.

4. Are there any foods that you hated as a child, but then learned to like as an adult?
seafood. my mom hates it and conditioned us to hate it too, but i actually love it now. i'm still a little leery of fish, but i LOVE crab and lobster. i like the way fish looks so i'd like to try it a little more.

5. What do you like to eat that others may consider weird?
louie says it's weird that i like peanut butter sandwiches without jelly. my mom thinks it's weird that i like sushi. aside from that i think i'm pretty normal.

6. What is the weirdest ingredient you’ve ever cooked with?
i don't know if this is "weird", but i have recently fallen in love with blue potatoes.

7. Do you have any major food allergies?
not to food, no. well i don't know. maybe i do, maybe that's why my skin is so weird. i've contemplated trying gluten-free for awhile to see how that goes but i'm not sure i could make it last. i like cookies too much.

8. Is there an ingredient that you would like to cook with, but are intimidated to try?
several things. i'd like to try fish, but living in a land-locked state makes me nervous about the freshness. i'd really like to learn how to cook more asian food but there are so many spices that i don't think i'd use again and it'd be cheaper to just go out for chinese than buy all the ingredients. i've always been intimidated by bread, but from recent experimentation i'm finding it's not as hard as it looks.

9. Do you bake?
i'm starting to. my cake stand was the best purchase ever. i'd really like a stand mixer, i think that would make a lot of things way easier.

10. If you could go on any “foodie” show to compete, which one would it be, and why?
i don't want to compete, ever, and i'm kind of self conscious about my cooking still. if i could go and just WATCH a show, i'd like to see chopped. i'd also like to hang out with rachael ray and kelsey nixon. and i want to live in ina garten's house.