What's wrong with this picture?

This is the current time and I am at work.

Normally our group doesn't meet at anything like this early, but today we kinda had to. So I'm here. And awake. And at my desk. At this time.

That's just wrong.

Just to balance things out

Now I have all the normal things people keep on their desk shelves.

Not that it's necessary, but maybe a side-by-side taste comparison later on.

More food bravery

There's a great farmer's market every Wednesday about a block from where I work. It makes for a nice break in the workday, to get outside and come back with (for example) fresh corn, tomatoes, basil, raspberries, cucumbers ... and blueberries.

Why the hesitation over blueberries? Well ... for some reason, I've never liked them. I'm usually very fruit-agreeable, so it's kind of surprising that there's this berry that like the whole world loves that to me tastes just bad.

But I came back with a carton of these.


These are the small, low-bush blueberries which I had been told are much sweeter than the usual kind we see in the supermarkets. I was suspicious, but I thought I'd give them a shot.

The results? Well, eating them out of the box, my response was mostly puzzlement. They didn't taste terrible. But mainly I was still going, "People like these? Really?"

But then the next morning, Tom made a batch of blueberry pancakes, which released their sweetness much more. And I went, oooh, okay, this is better. Not as nice as raspberries or strawberries, but I can sort of "get" blueberries if they've been at least slightly cooked.

It's progress!

A few brave coworkers ...

... were actually willing to try some Marmite on a cracker.

One woman got this very puzzled look on her face as she ate it. Even after she swallowed, she frowned all the way back to her desk, as if it were the kind of experience that would require further pondering.

The other person who braved it was a Vegemite person, like me, but he was sure he would hate Marmite. But he actually didn't at all, he was like, "Hey, that was good!"

The coworker who bought the jar in the first place is unconvinced and won't even let me into his office when I have those Marmite crackers.

I'm basically used to the taste now. I still wouldn't eat it by the spoonful, though.

It's nice to be remembered .... I guess ...

One of my coworkers came back from a three-week vacation in Africa this week. On his first morning back, he came into my cube, and, rather than saying hi or how's it going or anything normal, he said -- with a slightly appalled look on his face -- "I brought you something."

With that, he plunked this onto my desk.


I said, "Oh wow."

This particular coworker knows I love Vegemite, which he finds hideous, for some reason. To him -- and many others apparently -- Marmite and Vegemite taste the same! But let me just tell you, they do not!

Vegemite is really good! I wouldn't eat it by the spoonful the way I do Nutella (a habit this same coworker finds horrifying for reasons that remain obscure), but it's still very tasty!

But Marmite ... well ...

It's different, okay?

But now that I've been presented with the largest commercially available jar of the stuff, I'm trying to get a taste for it.


After a few days of having a snack of Marmite on cheese crackers ... I'm getting used to it.

I keep offering other coworkers a sample of my snack but no takers so far.

I can't believe that in the middle of this dude's vacation, he actually was in a store, saw a jar of Marmite, and thought, "Oh I know exactly who to get THAT for!" My eating habits must have made a lasting impression on him.

It's gonna take awhile to get through this jar, though, believe me.