sorry but your posture just isn't up to par...

yesterday, at a birthday dinner with some friends, one of the people at the table mentioned that his initial 'sizing' up of a potential partner included a quick assessment of their posture and diet. and he wasn't joking.

we all laughed, examined our food choices and sat up a bit straighter, and then later on that night i started thinking about what he had said and the sometimes odd and banal things that might go into differentiating someone from a mere 'date' to a 'i want to spend my future with this one person'.

and then i realized that posture and diet were not that superficial or meaningless at all. i don't think either one are on my personal 'deal breaker' list but i do think they are important. especially the diet thing since we do spend a large portion of our lives eating and when you enjoy pretty much the same sorts of foods this really saves time that might otherwise be spent having (futile, trust me) conversations like this:

'how about the olive garden?'
'ugh, i really dislike chain restaurants'
'why?'
'the lack of ambiance, the mass produced dead tasteless food, the tacky menus'
'well, i hate independent restaurants'
'you don't really'
'yes i do'
'ok, why?'
'the menu changes all the time, the food is unpredictable and the portions are too small'
'so what shall we have?'
'hot dogs?'
'um. no thanks.'

i definitely don't have flawless eating habits and on occasion i have relished an ice-cold glass of diet coke with buttery popcorn, or eating an entire tin of jennies macaroons (scandal) but i have realized that i have little patience for adults who insist on only eating foods you'd find on offer at a seven year old's birthday party. but i guess it's also a lesson in detachment for me.

list of foods that i hold on a pedestal (whether warranted or not):

1. all berries, but blue berries and raspberries are slightly superior
2. all fruit, but top contenders are mangoes, nectarines, persimmons, watermelon, pomegranate, granny smith apples, kiwi, pineapple, feijoas, LIMES
3. olive oil
4. feta cheese
5. fresh seafood
6. eggplant
7. sweet potato
8. avocado (yes, i know this is technically a fruit, but i love it so much it gets its own line item)
9. havarti cheese
10. brown rice bread
11. almond butter
12. blue corn chips
13. anything at cafe rakka
14. yogurt
15. all nuts, except macadamias
16. dark chocolate
17. honey

list of foods that i would only eat if nothing else was available and so my choice was 'eat this' or 'eat this live insect instead':

1. anything at applebees
2. captain crunch cereal/fruit loops/any cereal that has more colors than the rainbow
3. hot dogs
4. frozen pizza
5. pop tarts
6. any of those creepy little debbie things in vending machines
7. spam
8. chinese from a buffet
9. kfc
10. microwave popcorn
11. marmalade
12. orange gummy bears
13. fake orange flavored anything

list of things dg makes better than any one else i know

1. aioli
2. guacamole
3. blueberry and pecan pancakes
4. shrimp nachos
5. cashew, honey, sesame seed clusters
6. tropical drink creations that should come with little colorful umbrellas

now i'm just hungry.