Brussel Sprouts: we meet again.

Yesterday I traveled with my mom through the picturesque woods of Chardon, Ohio to go to my aunt Donna's house/alpaca farm for T-Day dinner, and it really was grand. I told her on the way back how much more I enjoy family get-togethers as I get older, and how I really wasn't a big fan of them as a kid because my cousins are either five years+ older or five years+ younger. I was stranded in no-man's conversation land.

But now I can relate to everyone on some level or another. And now there is an adorable BABY SYDNEY (courtesy of my cousin Jen) whom I love in all her squirmy poopy goodness. First baby in the family since I was barely a not-baby myself. It is glorious. And she is too.

But on to the food. Pretty basic yet delicious: turkey, smashed taters, baked yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing (which I didn't eat), zucchini and yellow squash, Waldorf salad (which is just a fruit salad with apples, grapes, walnuts, and celery all mixed up in mayonnaise or yogurt), pumpkin bread, and brussel sprouts.

And mid-dinner I realized something very important: Despite every forked attempt, despite the valiant efforts of butter, I cannot like brussel sprouts. My aunt has a vegetable garden in her backyard so she went out and picked fresh brussel sprouts immediately before cooking them (she either boiled or steamed them I believe? I was in the living room at the time so I'd have to check my sources on that one), so I was like Okay, I have to give it a shot (again.) I mean they're so fresh! And my mom and aunts were talking them up, so despite the pleas of my fellow b sprout-hating cousins not to sell out, I tried one. It was sort of how I always remembered it: like a stronger, almost nuttier tasting broccoli, but bitterer. My mom said she always thought they were sweeter, so I tried a few more for good measure. Regardless of what they really taste like, my gag reflexes were acting up by the end. That was the clincher. Had to will myself not to yak all over the table.

So, childhood vegetables hated:
Asparagus. Now lovelovelove.
Brussel Sprouts. ...Sorry dude. Maybe if presented in the tastiest package ever, to the extent that they barely resembled their former selves. But I think that might be cheating.