Making Friends With Cucumbers
Jeannette Ordas
I've always been a fussy eater. As a kid I'd turn my nose up at almost everything that grew in my parent's suburban backyard garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and rhubarb grew with great abandon and I couldn't understand how my parents and even my brother (traitor!) could chomp down on a tomato like they were eating an apple. It just didn't make much sense to me at the time.
Times changes and so do taste buds. I love the tart goodness of rhubarb and I can now slip a slice of tomato into a burger with relative ease (though you'll never catch me eating a whole tomato – ewww!). However, the cucumber was just something that I couldn't seem to stomach. Until recently, that is.
My first adult taste of that darn cuke was in a sandwich. The sandwich itself was a complicated affair packed with sprouts, cream cheese, smoked almonds and cucumbers. I took a bite and not only didn't I die right there on the spot, I welcomed it. The cucumber was the one true refreshing element amidst all of that heavy cheese. Cucumber! I was beginning to take note.
Last summer I was on holiday and my mind and stomach were open to adventure. We were outside a small fishing village in Prince Edward Island and inside a cafe that used to be a church. I ordered a hummus plate that came with mainly cucumber slices for dipping. It was a match made in heaven and I was crushing hard.
A couple weeks later, I found myself at the Penny Cluse Cafe in Burlington, VT and emboldened with my new-found experiences, ordered the cucumber salad. Chock full of feta, olives and red onions, not to mention cucumbers, it was a revelatory experience in cucumber bliss. I was won over completely.
Now that winter seems to be slipping away, it's time to welcome spring. And what better way than reuniting with the cucumber? Want a try at making your own cucumber salad? Try these mind-altering cucumber salads by these adventurous food bloggers:
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Classic Cumber Salad at the Hungry Mouse
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Living in the Kitchen with Puppies recreates an Ina Garten recipe with her Creamy Cucumber Salad
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Closet Cooking adds a Greek twist with his Cumber and Feta Salad
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White on Rice Couple feast on Cucumbers with Creamy Ginger-Soy Dressing Recipe
[Images: Cucumber & Feta Salad photo by Closet Cooking, Cucumbers from White on Rice Couple]
