"Mom, this food is wierd!"

Over the past few years I have come to the realization that my mother is "out of the box"! My mother has always been super creative, always interested in the latest cooking gadgets, recipes, magazines. Nothing is past her limits to what she will do to cook something she saw on tv. Instead of meat and potatoes like my dad likes she would serve couscous rice and some wierd lemon fish. So you can imagine what dishes my mother takes to church functions. Yes she is the lady that brings the food that everyone looks at and goes, "what is that?" Its not bad tasting food its just different than meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Don't get me wrong she occasionally does cook regular comfort food but when she finds a new recipe she goes all out. For instance, she decided to make paella so she drives all over town to find the exact spices that she will need. If she doesn't have the proper bowl/dish to serve up this paella she will go and buy it just so the table looks authentic. At times when I was in elementary school I would get sad when she would cook not because it wouldn't be good but because it wasn't "normal" food to my friends. If I told them about the amazing greek salad my mother made with olives and feta cheese they would squint up their faces and think that my family eats gross food!

But I was really the winner looking back. I cannot think of one month where my mother fixed the same meal twice. And she opened my eyes and taste buds up to all sorts of neat foods that no one else could say that they had tasted. Plus she introduced me to cool kitchen gadgets that are really nifty and come in hand. Its sad to admit that it has taken me this long to realize just how cool my mother really is.