This week's tip | Increase your taste palate

My very first friend in Austin works in a restaurant and loves food!  She's already taken me to some amazing restaurants in town and makes spot-on meal recommendations (the pork sliders at Elizabeth's Cafe are seriously to die for).  In her spare time she likes to get creative in her kitchen - together with her boyfriend often collaborating and inventing meals from scratch.  She's so talented that her 'simple, no fuss' Thanksgiving dinner was taken out of the French Laundry cookbook and casually consisted of (Oh, I don't know... what's low fuss?...) duck and figs!

I admire her greatly - she's inspired me to step up my own game in the kitchen and while I know cooking isn't for everyone: most people out there love good food! That's why I had to share the tip she gave me as this weeks blog tip: once a week try something you've never tasted before to improve your taste palate.  (This also increases your comparison and description palette :) which is very important to any writers out there).

Over a fig-Manhattan and goat cheese beignets (neither of which I had tried before: both of which were suburb!), my friend and I discussed the fact that some of our favourite foods are non-conventional.  Lychees, starfruit and custard apples are some of my favourite fruits; while pickled herring, raw oysters and octopus are some of my fave seafoods.  And unlike people that say "ew" and won't give any of these a try, I feel lucky to have these incredible tastes and textures in my experience!

PS: My husband Will has now become a super sophisticated guy who also gives things a go.  Four years ago when we met he would say 'ewwww' and make me embarrassed about things I ate without trying them for himself.  Now he's added so many different things to his palate, some he's liked (Russian food) and some he hasn't (eel sushi) but at least now he knows how to describe the things he doesn't like and simply thinks the 'ewww' when I open up a jar of pumpkin butter and eat it with a spoon :)

Octopus salad