Let me set the record straight

My sister's eating habits are a thing of legend in my family. She doesn't mind talking about her neurosis but if someone criticizes, she flips. She's always been picky so I think it really surprises her when people who have known her a long time are surprised by what she doesn't like to eat. She NEVER makes a big deal about it if she doesn't like something so it really irritates her when someone else makes it a big deal.

On the other hand, I'm known for my lack of pickiness. I mentioned to friends that I was going to blog about our eating habits and someone commented that we were opposite ends of the spectrum. I would like to take this forum to let everyone know that my non-pickiness is a huge misconception. I'm actually quite picky and though I'm going to catch hell for saying this, I'm far more creative about it than my sister.

If you want the full story regarding my sister's eating habits, you can find a very thorough explanation here. Kate is a very talented writer and I could never do it justice, but if you are short on time, I'll sum it up for you. Don't mix things and don't mess with texture. Pretty straightforward, if you ask me. Where people get surprised is when they forget that these rules apply to common foods. Sandwiches, for example. Pretty significant mixing goes on in a sandwich and the textures don't match.

Whether you agree with her or not, Kate is very consistent. With only a couple of exceptions, her rules are very clear. Everything about my pickiness is about exceptions. That is why I am more creative.

I love crackers. I love cereal. I love ice cream. But I refuse to eat these things under certain circumstances. I will not eat broken crackers. I will not eat cereal if it is from the bottom quarter of the box. I will not eat the last serving of ice cream. (Unless someone serves it for me and I don't know that it is the last serving.)

I don't like dried fruit. Particularly raisins. Ugh. Everyone who knows me knows I can't stand raisins. But I love broccoli salad. You know, the one with bacon, cashews, sweet dressing, and raisins. I could eat bowls of that.

Fruit should not be baked into muffins, cakes, cookies or scones. But cranberry scones are my favorite.

Hot tea is delicious, iced tea is yucky.

Yogurt is not tasty. Yogurt on top of hot oatmeal is heavenly.

Chocolate chips? Good. Ice cream? Good. Chocolate chip ice cream? Yuck.

I don't eat potato chips unless they are barbeque flavor or dipped in ketchup. I would still put ketchup in a baked potato if it didn't gross out everyone around me.

I pick croutons off my salad. Croutons are too crunchy. Croutons are only okay if they've been soaking in the salad dressing long enough to get soggy.

It is okay to mix cottage cheese and pudding. It makes the pudding less sweet and sweetens the cottage cheese. (My parents used to put sugar on cottage cheese. I bet my sister still eats it this way.)

Cauliflower and honeydew melon are always left on their respective trays. There is a reason for that.

I could probably think of some more but I think you get the idea. As you can clearly see, my sister does not have the monopoly on pickiness. Oh, and goofiness is apparently a shared family trait.

(By the way now that you've read all this, I'm sure you're SUPER excited to go out to dinner with my sister and me.)