Particularly Picky

We all know that one person, the one that drives us completely nuts when we go out to eat because they take half the meal scouting the menu for something they will willingly eat, and they have a hard time simply selecting a drink.

When their salad arrives, they pick it apart ever so carefully, and they throw half of it aside, giving croutons, carrots, purple cabbage, and anything else they might not like to others at the table, and end up with a minimalist salad, by which time the meal has already arrived. They inspect the food and pull out anything that looks suspiciously undesirable (again) and put it on the plate of someone else, and slowly eat, hoping not to find something dreadful on their plate. By the time they've gotten halfway through, everyone else is finished.

These are also the type of people you know that you want to avoid taking to certain restaurants because they moan the whole time about how they don't want to be there. Chinese, seafood, mexican, you can pretty much opt them out. Of course, ask first, because they might eat something at Red Lobster or Taco Bell.

I'm that picky person.

How badly do you want to slap me now?

I make meals difficult for everyone, but not intentionally. I've always had this sort of trend toward pickiness. I've heard stories. When I was very young, my parents ordered a pizza, but it came square, instead of round, and I flat out refused to eat it because it was not a pizza. Clearly, I misunderstood the concept that food could come in different shapes at the time, but the point is, I was picky enough to completely dismiss the option of even trying it.

I've also heard that I used to scream bloody murder when foods on my plate touched each other. I can see that happening, because I still have this urge to scream when foods touch. I don't like it very much. I avoid it at all costs. Divided plates are my friends. In some cases, it's ok, if the foods go together well, but in most cases, each food has its place on my place and is not to stray from that place, even if it has liquid/sauce (ie green beans or something).

I dissect my salads at every restaurant I go to like a biologist would dissect an animal. Other family members get whatever pieces of salad they want. I usually end up with food left over. I do usually take longer than everyone else to eat because of my eating habits.

Even I find my eating habits particularly annoying. I find myself so hard to shop for! I'll eat rice, but other Asian foods are out of the question. I'll eat very, very, very mild Mexican food, but that's rare. Mexicans like their spicy stuff. I also don't like their desserts. I don't like seafood except shrimp. I don't like buffets. I mean....the food sits out in the open, and many people, most of whom don't know each other, dig into the same pile of food. I don't like a lot of things. I'm difficult.

As far as drinking habits go, I only like mixed drinks and girly drinks, so far as I've found. Smirnoff and Bacardi are okay. For regular, non-alcoholic drinks, I have a limited variety that I will choose from. No Coke, Pepsi, Root Beer, Dr. Pepper, Big Red, or many of the popular sodas. I don't like energy drinks. Not a big fan of Life Water or Sobe. You can probably see where this is going.

I'm just to darn picky.

So when did you want to go out for dinner?