Meet the Family
Who are these people you always talk about?
In which I reveal the secret of the Condiment Queen

One of the reasons that I am blogging instead of posting to Chowhound is that I prefer to report the way I report, with ample inclusion of friends and family, nicknames and all. My chowing is frequently going to include others. They will be in the reporting, so you might as well know who some of them are.

More often than not, my chow companions are the three other people in my family. I get to chow with them more because, well they need to eat too, I get a lot more control over where we go, and as explained below, they are generally excellent chowers. People marvel at the fact that the kids, the Chowhounditas, eat at so many kinds of restaurants. The key, though is to zero in on a few things they like. For instance, they'll eat satay and mee krob at any Thai place. Quesadilla's and nacho's satisfy in Mexican places, and noodles and stir fried vegetables help a lot in Asian places. Here's more on them:

THE CONDIMENT QUEEN - It might be believed that my vivacious wife gets her title from the 16 bottles of olive oil in our cabinets, one for each region of Italy/country in the Mediterranean she cooks, or the five kind of mustards in the fridge, her need to buy an extra jar of jelly just in case, and all the other things we have. No. She is the Condiment Queen because of her ability, early in our relationship, to produce endless varieties of pasta from jars of salsa, hot sauces and other condiments. The Condiment Queen will eat all kinds of food in all kinds of restaurants. We only split in the sense that I eat more offal and fatty things and she likes certain yuppier choices like breakfast burrito's.

CHOWHOUNDITA #1 - HANNAH - My older daughter is one of the healthiest eaters in existence. She not only willingly eats high fiber bread, she already expresses concern about her salt intake. Anecdotal evidence shows that her eating habits keep her from being routinely sick. Hannah is much more willing than Sophia to eat things generally, and will try a lot. Still, her favorite dish remains, anything on the adult portion of the menu.

CHOWHOUNDITA #2 - SOPHIA - As naturally un-healthy as Hannah is healthy. Sophia has a hard time enjoying any form of protein not hot dogs, bacon or eggs scrambled with cheese. The other drawback of dining with Sophie, is that she is one of the slowest eaters around. She is so busy being charming, food becomes irrelevant, but then we want to get home. Sophia is a budding oenophile, or at least Dad fantasizes about this. She does have a great nose and can often, although not always, name the aromas listed on the label.

UPDATE/EDIT: Forgot to mention how Hannah's never sick because of her healthy diet.

UPDATE/EDIT 2: Added the extra bit about olive oils from around the world at the direction of CQ who said the earlier understanding of her use of olive oil was dumb.