Mmmmmmm.... meat.

I do love meat... and I hate it. It's a bizarre relationship, I have. Growing up on a farm where cattle was raised made ground beef a staple and steaks a frequent choice. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy was a meal I ate once a week. That is probably why I loved chicken so much.

I recall when I was younger my grandma urging me to eat the breaded skin on my fried chicken breast--I prefer white meat--"It's the best part," she'd say. Then later, after a couple quadruple by-pass surgeries, urging me to skip the tasty skin. How things change.

One thing that is developing in me is a squeamishness with raw meat. Steaks cooked rare used to be "juicy" to me... something I looked forward to and now all I see is blood. I can't deal with any organ meat either. Ugh.

I love bacon and ham. Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato sandwiches are a favorite of mine. When I am at a restaurant that serves sausage links or bacon with the meal and the server asks my choice, I always want to say... BOTH.

Eggs aren't "meat" but they are protein and an animal product so let's talk about them here. I have never cared for eggs. I can really only eat them scrambled or in some kind of cheesy omelet or egg bake. Fried eggs, sunny side up, hard boiled--they all just disgust me. I don't like them deviled or poached. I do not like them Sam I Am. I recall eating a soft boiled egg out of a coffee cup as a child. My dad standing there expectantly. Me trying to blink away the images of a baby bird... It's just too much for me, even as irrational as it seems.

I doubt I could ever function as a vegetarian or vegan but I am leaning that way more and more in my old age, though not for the reasons most people make that choice. Fast Food Nation did a number on me and it was months before I could stomach any fast food options. Now I have to block the gag factor if I let myself think about it, the same way I do when I try not to think of baby birds...

The meat category ranked in order of favorites:
Chicken
Pork roast
Bacon
Ham
Turkey
Roast beef
Steaks
Ground beef
Bratwurst
Spare Ribs
Pork Chops (don't like these much... tough)

I love seafood and fish immensely. I also realize that it's a very regional thing and that there are many kinds of fish I've never tasted. I love crab, tuna, salmon, walleye, trout, cod, lobster, tilapia, clams, and more. Seafood paella is one of my all-time, mouth-watering faves. I'm not much of a shrimp person. A lot of people love shrimp scampi, not me. I don't mind shrimp in things but I would never order it at a restaurant. I don't mind squid.... it's a bit salty, from what I remember. Seafood is best when it's NOT the breaded variety. And tartar sauce disgusts me. (Though I didn't mind the "Fishwish" sandwich I had in the cafeteria at my elementary school--the sauce was orange...)

Any kind of fish that can be improved by melted butter or drizzled lemon juice, is my kind of fish, with the exception of lutefisk. That is one kind of cod I can live without. In my childhood it was served every Christmas Eve and no amount of melted butter could make that taste good to me. Instead, I looked forward to something my dad called Torsk... or poor man's lobster. That was something I loved. I've never been good at cooking fish but recently I tried some herbed salmon recipes. Very yummy. Wonderful in a salad.

--Kate