Before I get to today’s actual post, I want to share a photo from last Saturday night, when I was awarded a real live (okay, not live, live) Maltese falcon for my role as Toastmaster at Left Coast Crime: San Francisco Schemin’, which took place last weekend. The falcon was cast in the same mold as the one used for the movie, and the Black Bird is now my new favorite possession. And I got to enjoy the moment with several of my beloved Chicks! (Not sure where Ellen was at the time.)

The question is, how do falcons get along with Chicks? No, don’t answer that…

Right. On to the regularly-scheduled blog post.

I love food. I mean, I really, really, adore it. And when I taste something particularly delicious, I get a tingly feeling all over my body. The feeling that I’m in the midst of a truly special moment.

Do any of you Boomers (or younger folks who may have seen TV cartoon shows from the early 1960s) remember the dog Snuffles in Quick Draw McGraw? Well, I feel just like Snuffles a lot of the time when I eat. Here’s a short and delightful clip.

I guess I could be called a “gourmet.” I do, after all, quite enjoy fine French meals with cream sauces, delicious pan-fried sweetbreads, and tiny green beans sautéed in butter and Cognac. And I’m willing to try anything at least once (as long as it’s an actual dish from a local cuisine, and not merely something presented to freak out the tourist). I figure, hey, if the locals truly enjoy it, then it’s probably got something going for it, so why not give the food a try?

enjoying a delicious meal back when I still had some dark hair

That’s how I first discovered sweetbreads, as a matter of fact. I’m not a fan of most organ meats, as they have too strong a flavor for my palate. (Kidneys? No thanks. But I did try them—more than once—before deciding they weren’t for me.) But I’d never had sweetbreads, so when they appeared on the menu at a restaurant in Paris, France, many years back I decided to try them out.

And oh my, were they amazing. Like chicken nuggets, but the most tender, flavorful, delicious chicken nuggets imaginable. So when a few of us mystery authors went out for a nice meal at Arnaud’s in New Orleans last September while at the Bouchercon mystery convention and I saw sweetbreads on the menu, I ordered them.

Chicks Ellen and Marla, along with Libby Klein at Arnaud’s

Turned out I was the only one at the table who’d ever had them, so I encouraged everyone to have a taste. A few were hesitant (and I think one person may have outright refused), but all who did try admitted that they were in fact pretty darn good.

my meal of sweetbreads, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and crab bisque

Knowing of my supreme love of food, a lot of people are nervous about cooking for me, worried that if it’s not something super fancy and elegant that I’ll turn up my nose at the meal.

But nothing could be farther from the truth. I love food. All food. I love a simple meatloaf, a bowl of chili, or even a burger from the local diner just as much as I love moules à la crème Normande, quenelles, or vichyssoise.

making pasta for dinner

So am I a “gourmet”? I guess I prefer the term “foodie,” though that too now, alas, has the air of snobbery. And I may be a lot of things, but a food snob is not one of them. I love all food!

[NOTE: I’m traveling today from California (after being at Left Coast Crime) back to Hawai’i, so please forgive that my responding to comments will be sporadic.]

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Readers: Do you like to try out new dishes at restaurants? Have you ever been surprised at how delicious something was that you’d been hesitant to try?