Molly Mogren Katt

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#126. Eat Capers On Purpose.

Come to momma. Come to momma.I know people are obsessed with salty, pickled things. Me, not so much. "Learn to like olives" was my New Year's resolution in 2009, and only after eating them 15+ times (I'm talking from good restaurants & olive bars, NOT those O-shaped grody black olives that are ubiquitous at taco bars across the country... those things are disgusting!), I finally got on board with most olives. I'm a salty-sweet person, not a salty-salty-vinegary person (exception: salt & vinegar chips).So, capers. People love them. I tolerate them mixed in things. Much like anchovies and soy sauce, they add a nice punch of flavor. However, as a solo ingredient or player on a mostly blank canvass, capers can suck it. What are capers anyhow?!Yesterday I found myself at a bagel establishment, looking for lunch. I went for the smoked salmon sandwich, which came with salmon (obviously. Yum!), cream cheese (yes please!), red onions (yuck!), tomatoes (blech!)  and capers (ew!). I simply do not trust the freshness of onions in a chain restaurant, plus they give me heartburn. Skip! Tomatoes are only worth eating raw in the summertime, and even then, I am very picky about them. Bye-bye, tomatoes. But the capers... I had no good excuse for skipping those, other than that I never had ordered them on something on purpose, and thus, skipping those was simply a habit. So, I left the capers and added cucumber and lettuce. Now that's a smoked salmon sandwich!I returned to my office, caper-salmon bagel in hand. I unwrapped it and examined the sandwich. Then, I took a big bite. You know what? I still don't really like capers. But at least I tried.