It's the end of the world as we know it!

I, a self-proclaimed anti-vegetarian (my diet, not against people who are vegetarians!!), have eaten three *salads* in the last few month or so!!!

As a child, I absolutely refused all fruits and vegetables, to the point where I would eat pasta with butter rather than have it tainted by pasta sauce, and would eat only white pizza.

Midway through high school I finally tried pizza, and actually liked it - and that was the beginning of a slippery slope towards omnivoriciousness. I gradually added more and more veggies to my repertoire (another big step was the first time I ate broccoli when my mom cooked some after college). I did try a salad once or twice, but really couldn't stand the way I felt I had to chew the lettuce for about half an hour before I could convince it to go down my gullet.

A few weeks ago at a charity dinner hosted by my sister (the kind where a chef comes into your house to prepare a meal), I declined the salad as per my usual procedure. However, when they arrived, Mark's salad actually looked pretty good, so I asked if I could try it. To my utter astonishment, it was actually fabulous! Baby greens with candied walnuts and pine nuts, some kind of cheese I don't remember, and a champagne vinaigrette. Nothing at all like what I always thought a salad was - the romaine lettuce et al. I was no longer a salad virgin!!!

Then this past weekend at a wedding, I did NOT decline the salad, and once again thoroughly enjoyed it.

The piece de resistance? I went shopping a couple of days ago and bought some baby greens, feta cheese and greek vinaigrette. And today, when we had some people over for dinner, made my very own salad. Which I proceeded to eat with gusto. Yummy!

I'm still not much of a fruit eater, but maybe that's on the way too.

Just goes to show, that sometimes it really is worth trying new things. Yay, me!!