Lamb and Hummos

I've always thought of older people as getting more and more set in their routines. As it were, Grandma does have her favorite brand of paper towels (Viva), and her favorite brand of napkins (Zee). She prefers the Kamuela tomatoes to the Hamakua ones and there is a particular vendor at the farmer's market who has the best papaya.

But that being said, I've been surprised at her excitement to try some new things. Or, new foods anyway. It was always the case that when my family would come to visit Hilo, we'd take out my Grandparents to their favorite Japanese restaurants. And now that they are 93 and 96 years old, and have been in this town for over 50 years, they just can't take it anymore. They've preferred the Thai food I've brought them on occasion, and relish the "American-style" foods I've cooked. Even when I've attempted Japanese food - fish with ponzu sauce and miso-glazed eggplant - they say, "It's not like any Japanese food I've had before, but it sure is tasty."

And that brings me to my first point. I am not surprised when people tell me that they've never had hummos before. For one, it's not that imbedded in the American culinary landscape. Also I guess, because I was once afraid to try it, I expect to see that in others. Grandma loves hummos. Incidentally, I introduced it to her as an accompaniment to another eggplant dish. She liked "the dressing," so I presented her the package and she started spooning it over everything - the sweet potato greens, the artichokes, the lamb... Which brings me to my second point.

While I'm not surprised when someone hasn't had hummos before, I'm shocked to hear that someone hasn't had lamb. I recognize that not everyone likes lamb, but for some reason, I at least expect everyone to have tried it. In Grandma's nearly 93.83 years, she's never had lamb. I nearly wet myself. I just couldn't believe it when she told me.

Boy, was she excited to try it for the first time. "Something in the kithcen smells real good! David's preparing another treat for us."

Boy, was it disappointing. Actually, it wasn't so bad, but she couldn't stop talking about the hummos. "How's your first lamb Grandma?" "Oh... Good... This hummos is really great. Where'd you hear about it?" Anyhow, what I was really impressed with was how proud she was that she had finally had lamb. "I've had plenty of opportunities but I've always passed it up. I'm glad I finally got to try it."

That was pretty cool.

(This is what lamb looks like before it is cooked.)