on eight years of blogging (happy happy blogiversary) + 100 things about mary

Another year has come and gone… has it really been eight years since I started this thing? My very first post was nothing exciting and looking back at those photos I cringe at the lack of lighting and how I used my phone’s camera to take all of the photos. I can’t even remember what kind of phone I even had back then but it wasn’t fancy like the smart phones we have now. Crazy.

For my blogiversary post I thought I’d share with you a few tidbits about me. There was some chatter recently from Miss Kim and her “100 Things About Me” post and Faye did a “20 Things” post. Miss Kim said she was inspired by my old, dusty list that’s probably from 2003 so I think it’s about time I updated it for 2014.

Here goes nothing.

100 Things About Mary
(mostly food related, if possible)

1. I love popcorn. I eat it often. I prefer to make it myself on the stovetop with coconut oil.

2. I love hazelnut flavored things, like coffee, tea, ice cream, chocolate with hazelnuts, nutella, etc.

3. I can’t drink hot coffee, it upsets my stomach.

4. I CAN drink iced coffee though and I loves me some Vietnamese iced coffee.

5. I only eat the sushi that’s cooked – like tempura, or it’s been fried or baked. Raw sushi still gives me the willies.

6. I haven’t tried brussel sprouts in about 10 years. I had it once and hated it and haven’t been able to make myself try it again.

7. I used to think I did not like mushrooms and now I love them so, so much.

8. I have five scars from baking/cooking related incidents on my hands and forearm.

9. I prefer white wine over red always, any day of the week.

10. I can’t stand when the window wipers are on in my car and it’s not raining. Jake does this when he’s driving my car and I have to politely ask him to turn the wipers off.

11. When I’m really hungry I get really cranky and snappy. Jake says that I “turn into a Snickers Bar commercial”.

12. The first drive-in movie I remember seeing is Back to the Future. We sat in the back of my dad’s truck and I ate too many Cheese Balls and got sick.

13. Growing up our house had an avocado tree in the backyard. We never ate the avocados. I didn’t know what they were. To me that tree was just the tree that had my tree swing in it.

14. When I was younger I liked to only eat the inside of Oreo cookies.

15. I dislike grape flavored anything.

16. I dislike raisins and consider raisins to be evil.

17. But I like grapes. Seedless, please.

18. My mom once kicked me off lumpia rolling duty because she didn’t like how I was wrapping the lumpia.

19. I started baking on my own when I was probably about 9 or 10. I believe the first thing I ever made was cookies.

20. When I was young and would be cooking to make myself a sandwich, I would talk to myself and pretend I was demonstrating how to make food for a TV show.

21. I only like plain cheesecake. I don’t like any “stuff” inside or on top (unless it’s whipped cream).

22. Movie theater popcorn always makes me feel sick.

23. I like to order ginger ale as my beverage on airplane flights.

24. I once made a whole apple pie that turned out so bad that I threw the whole pie away. I think my shortening had gone bad.

25. The first thing I ever made for Jake was some weird pasta salad that I just winged. I thought it was terrible but Jake insisted that he liked it. I still, to this day, think that he was just being nice.

26. Jake cooked for me first! He made chicken and potatoes.

27. Jake and I had our first date at L&L Hawaiian BBQ off College Ave.

28. I used to not ever eat spicy things but since I have been with Jake I have incorporated a little bit of spiciness into my food. Just a little!

29. My first job was as a dishwasher for the Mira Mesa Moose Lodge.

30. My second job was working at the dining hall at Boston University.

31. I didn’t really start drinking until I was 22 or 23.

32. And now I barely drink.

33. I used to not like lobster but I’ve grown fonder of it now that I am older.

34. My favorite drunken story about myself is the time I was walking around Pacific Beach with my friends. It was in the winter and it was cold enough that you could see your breath. I was walking slowly and breathing carefully. Someone asked me what I was doing and I said, “I’m pretending to be a dragon.”

35. I remember helping my dad make something called a “Fudge Pie” and I remember it being really, really good. We lost the cookbook that it was in though so I sadly don’t have the recipe. I wish I could find it again.

36. Things I Usually Want To Order From Menus: cornbread, pork belly, and macaroni and cheese.

37. My current favorite beverage is unsweetened brewed iced tea.

38. I had a phase where I did not eat tomatoes. I thought I didn’t like tomatoes, but really I just don’t like soggy, tasteless tomatoes. Fresh, crispy, flavorful tomatoes are excellent.

39. My hair used to be a lighter brown when I was young. I think I’ve finally admitted defeat and now say my hair is black.

40. I want to cut my hair really bad right now but I’ve decided I should grow it out a little more and then donate it to a charity that makes wigs for cancer kids.

(Me with short hair in 2005. Looking at this photo really, really makes me want to cut my hair.)

41. Green is still my favorite color.

42. When I was a kid my mom and I used to watch “Escape from Witch Mountain” together a lot.

43. I was also obsessed with “Adventures in Babysitting” and the “Journey of Natty Gann”.

44. My favorite thing that we did in elementary school was “Mini City”. You would have a job for one week and had to learn how to write checks, had to buy a house and a car, go to your “job” and go shopping for things you needed. I thought this was the coolest thing ever.

45. Chocolate Milk day was Thursday when I was a kid.

46. I love eating carne asada chips but hate that they put everything on top since it makes the chips soggy. I prefer to order plain chips + some tacos to keep everything separate.

47. I used to only read “classic” novels or anything I thought I “should” be reading. Now I read whatever makes me happy – YA, contemporary romance, dystopian, sci-fi, paranormal, action – whatever seems interesting! No more stuffy books.

48. I can’t stand having stuff stuck in my teeth. I keep dental floss picks in my car for food removal emergencies.

49. I love caramel but don’t like to eat caramel candies since they just stick to my teeth.

50. The only time I will ever eat marshmallow is when it has been carefully browned and placed in a s’more. Or it’s in another melted format.

51. I don’t like flavored yogurt. I only eat vanilla or plain (with fresh fruit mixed in).

 52. I like to eat Fritos with M&M’s.

53. I’ll dip my french fries into just about anything BUT ketchup, such as tartar sauce, ranch dressing, ice cream, tzatziki sauce, etc.

54. I tried a cigarette once in Laughlin, NV. It was a horrid experience and it gave me a sore throat the next day and I promptly decided to never do that again.

55. I love sparkly shoelaces.

56. I once ordered my own birthday cake in my early 20’s and had them write “Happy Birthday to Me!” on my cake. It had a spaceship on it. Proof:

(From 2002. Before I ever started making cakes.)

(Damn that short hair again!)

57. My friends and I used to have surprise themed birthday parties for each other. We would know there was a party happening but the theme would be a secret. Some of my birthday parties were: Green, Harry Potter, Dexter, 1980’s Prom. Some of the parties we threw were: Communist, CSI, Pirates, Rat Pack, Sweeny Todd, Rocky Horror, and Toga.

58. I once took a print shop class and created my own book. It was about my old dog, Rocky, and how awesome he was. I sent copies to my family back East and my aunt gave a copy to a school teacher who read it to her first grade class. I was told that it helped one little boy not be afraid of dogs anymore and that made my heart smile.

59. I can’t draw.

60. The only time I ever got sick from drinking involved vodka, ginger ale, and carrots.

61. I was able to one time use a bridesmaid dress three times. Once for my college roommate’s wedding, once for a fancy pants black tie Christmas party, and once for my birthday themed “80’s prom”.

62. My friends and I used to ask people to flip us off.

63. I once wrote a full length novel for NaNoWriMo. It was a YA paranormal romance action type novel. The title was “The Guardian’s Daughter”.

64. I graduated college with a degree in magazine journalism. My job now? A front end web developer.

65. I used to do a lot of rubber stamping and paper crafts like making greeting cards, magnets and collages. I once started my own Yahoo! group for rubber stamping. It was called “The Rubber Inker”.

66. My first published article was for a rubber stamp art magazine.

67. I used to have a craft blog before I started the food blog. Yes, those are all glues.

68. My first concert was Tom Jones at the Del Mar Fair. My parents made me go. I hid in the bathroom with my friend for most of the show.

69. When I was about six, my friend tricked me into drinking something out of a cup at one of my parent’s parties. Turned out it was beer and it was the most disgusting thing I had ever had. I don’t think beer is quite as disgusting anymore, unless it’s an IPA.

70. I have thistastylife.com registered but I’m too lazy to move everything over. (Go ahead, try it. I’ll wait).

71. The name of my first website was “The Shower Stall Diaries”. It was an online journal (before “blog” was a word) about the random thoughts I would have in the shower. I created it while I was still in college.

72. I do not eat tuna in any format.

73. When eating dessert out, I prefer cake. When I make dessert for just myself, I prefer to make cookies.

74. Orbit is my preferred gum. I chew gum to help me stay awake sometimes.

75. Bad service at a restaurant usually makes me never want to visit the restaurant again.

76. The first themed cake I ever made was a sushi cake that looked like a platter of sushi.

77. I still enjoy making themed cakes!

78. Strawberry jelly is my favorite jelly flavor. Grape jelly sucks.

79. I prefer crunchy over creamy peanut butter.

80. I really want to learn how to make tamales.

81. I also want to learn how to make good pasta from scratch.

82. I like organizing and planning things. Like my road trips with Jake. And events, like Bacon Crawls, Cheese Crawls and Red Velvet Tastings. I need a new crawl idea…

83. I don’t have a passport. I’ve been too lazy to apply for one.

84. I have been to three countries besides the USA: Canada, Mexico and the Philippines.

85. I used to think I had a fear of heights but I think it’s actually a fear of falling.

86. Roller coasters make me laugh instead of scream.

87. I don’t like cherries on top of my sundaes.

88. I get mad when I accidentally eat a pickle.

89. I still have all of my old diaries. I never read them because they make me cringe. My first diary is from when I was eleven years old.

90. My favorite commercial candy is Reese’s peanut butter cups.

91. I love playing Scrabble/Words with Friends. I first started playing Scrabble with my grandmother when I was young. It was her favorite game.

92. I can’t ever finish a crossword puzzle without “cheating” (researching the answer).

93. My favorite smell is freshly baked bread.

94. I prefer to cook for other people rather than cooking for only myself.

95. Dogs are hands down my favorite animal on earth. Especially Maya!

96. I want to travel more and go on more foodie adventures.

97. Before I ever did restaurant reviews, I reviewed random things like movies, bananas, diet lemon pepsi, and the school bus. Yeah, I had too much time on my hands.

98. I love Civil War stuff. I have been to Civil War battlefields in Kansas and several reenactments. It stems from a really great class I took in college about Civil War history.

99. I prefer romaine lettuce to all other lettuce. Iceberg can suck it.

100. It took me two hours to write this list.