An Adventure of New Foods and a Medley of Mushrooms

Last Saturday morning was an adventure of new foods. I'm almost always open to trying new things and I usually like just about everything I try. However, this day was a little different.

The day started at the farmers' market. We arrived early to avoid the crowds. It worked! By the time it was crowded, we were finished and ready to go. One of the stands had "Jujube" fruits. They sounded great! They're high in antioxidants and very nutritious. They can even be used to make tea. How exciting! I like fruit and tea. This was going to be great! But...it wasn't! I was able to eat it and even swallow but the flavor was not nice and neither was the after taste.

Next, I tried goat cheese. My parents raised goats for a few years when I was a kid and we loved drinking the milk and making yogurt. However, I had some goat cheese on a Salad at Cheesecake Factory years ago and it was so horrible that I said I'd never eat it again. The flavor was strong and it over powered everything else. I kept eating other things to cover up that horrible taste and nothing worked. Yuck! But, it had been years and I had an open mind. This one was a creamy cheese flavored with apricots and something else...I don't remember. At first, it was creamy, sweet and good. BUT...it quickly changed...YUCK! The after taste was like goat fur! No, I've never tasted goat fur but I know how boy goats smell and that's how it tasted. NEVER AGAIN!

Our next stop was Trader Joe's where they were giving out samples of a seaweed snack. I didn't hesitate. I figured it would be good and I'd heard it was nutritious. BLECK! I couldn't even finish chewing it! A lady laughed and almost choked on her coffee from my reaction. What a great idea she had...the sample coffee! I quickly poured a cup to get rid of the seaweed taste and found out that I was about to try another new thing...chicory coffee. Even though everything I'd tried that day was bad, I was desperate and willing. Luckily, it wasn't too bad and it quickly got rid of the seaweed flavor.

I had the rest of the day to ready myself for more new foods...a medley of mushrooms we bought at the farmers' market...


They were organic and interesting. We love mushrooms and recently heard that they are super nutritious. Especially, the Asian varieties. So, we've been trying new kinds besides our usual Button, Crimini, and Portabella varieties. We tried "Wood Ear" mushrooms last week. Never again! They were rubbery and did not taste good. The ones we bought at the farmers' market looked a little more promising.

These were tiny but looked similar to Button and Portabellas...


So cute!...


This one looked a little less promising but it's swirly shapes were pretty...


It had an interesting texture on the bottom...


We broke the tiny ones apart and sliced the others into smaller pieces. Next, we sauteed them in olive oil and added some minced garlic. After they had cooked down a bit, we added the marinated artichoke hearts that my daughter had prepared the night before. They're super delicious! She posted them on her blog and you can read about it HERE. We continued cooking until everything was heated through. It was looking pretty tasty!...


In the meantime, we cooked up some spaghetti to serve with it and sliced up some prosciutto to garnish the top. We served it up with some roasted baby asparagus. What a delicious dinner!


My adventure in new foods didn't start out very well but it sure sure ended on a good note!