Curds and Whey

You might not think it, but cottage cheese is actually delicious. For the longest time I had this unnatural phobia for cottage cheese. When passing in salad bars, I would eye the mysterious, white chunky goop and get the willies. But for the first time the other day, when I went to the cafeteria to snag lunch, the cottage cheese in the salad bar looked appealing. There it was nestled snuggly between the cut-up broccoli and sliced olives. It was untouched — a clear indicator that a score of others also shared in my rash, ex-phobia. I heaped a healthy portion of the squishy, mozzarella-like substance onto my salad plate; today was a good day.

I overcame my cottage cheese phobia towards the end of this last summer. I was visiting a friend in Sacramento, and I happened to have dinner with her family. I remember seeing a carton of cottage cheese on the table and thinking, “Oh great, a cottage cheese family.” Noticing how everyone was eating cottage cheese with their stroganoff, I decided to be gutsy and at least try it. I gulped as I brought the spoon up to my mouth and, trying not to think about it, quickly shoved the white mess in. But to my surprise, it didn’t taste at all like I thought cottage cheese was supposed to. I quickly breathed a sigh of relief. The rest is history.

So basically, I guess I’m trying to find a creative way of saying don’t judge a book by its cover. I mean, I did, and look what it got me: years and years of cottage cheese deprivation. Excuse me now while I go eat some curds and whey…