Liver for the win of the worst

Last week, Bert took a long weekend holiday, flying south to spend time with our daughter, Sarah. They took in a couple of days of the world-famous Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, a bucket list check-off for Bert.

Meanwhile, I kept the home fires burning, staying up late enjoying solitude and writing time with a few Netflix documentaries thrown in. I also made Southern fried cabbage. That doesn’t sound exciting but my husband cannot abide the aroma of cabbage cooking so through the years I’ve forgone making cabbage rolls and the like.

I had to chuckle as I stirred the cabbage in a cast iron skillet, so this is what rebellion looks like?

When I mentioned this to my Facebook village I asked what food aromas were a big turn-off. While vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower were common, the undisputed winner of the stinky foods survey was liver, cooked with or without onions. (Note: Bert loves liver and onions but I don’t so he enjoys it when he sees it on a restaurant menu.) Coming in a close second was fish, with lutefisk and sardines mentioned specifically by many. Six people mentioned venison and any wild game or lamb.

A few surprising ones mention each for eggs, Spam, beef stew, meatballs, canned peas and head cheese.

Shelly Peterson said her husband, Scott, can’t stand the smell when she cooks Brussels sprouts so she doesn’t make them when he’s home. Marion Richardson said that one time her caregiver brought kimchi (a Korean fermented cabbage and fish sauce condiment) and it took several days to get the smell out of her apartment. Connie Glass loves cooked cabbage but cautions not to leave the cabbage water in your steamer for 24 hours. Daniella Cross loves to eat Brussels sprouts but agrees that they smell horrible while being cooked.

Lynette Miller said when she was a child, her grandmother used to make head cheese and to this day it’s the grossest smell ever for her. (Google head cheese at your peril!)

Kathy Hlebichuk even used an exclamation point after her answer of lutefisk. My issue with lutefisk is not just the aroma of ammonia from being soaked in lye, but the gross gelatinous texture. Kenna Lamas shudders thinking of the smell of eggs cooking. Wendy Wenger does not like the aroma of venison and most wild meats, but moose is fine.

Liver, just the thought of it, brings on a gag reflex for Suzanna Spencer while Marc Kroetch has the same reaction to cauliflower being cooked.

Theresa Williams said her husband only cooks Spam when she’s gone, for which she’s grateful. Sheri Archer takes one for the team when she makes meatballs for her husband, Jeryl; she finds the smell unpleasantly pungent. Willi Buerge says that, to her, canned peas smell like you’re cooking dirty gym socks.

Brian Buckle is easy to please ... he doesn’t like the aroma of an empty plate!

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Don’t be fooled by Mother Nature pranking us with mild temperatures of late. Winter is not over by a long shot. February and March are waiting in the wings saying, “Hold my beer!”

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Happy Birthday today to Jennifer Alexander, Robert Brown, Cassidy Peacock, Sandy Scarlett, Erik Salvador, Linda Wolff, Mary Bell and Bernadette Myers who take another trip around the sun on the last day of January. On the first day of February, my firstborn, Alyssa Perry Stromberg, shares the date with Laura Little, Colleen Provost, Leslie Tibbs, Tonya Myers, Kristi Rietze, Susan Cook, Deedie Beard, James Ownbey, Jesse Anglen and Jamie Benner. On Friday, Ron Koontz, Donna Wemple, Randy Medlock, Chad VanBrunt and Seth Yost will light up the candles. On Saturday, Jackie Jameson, Leslie Damiano, Cindy Spence, Denise Lundy, Dawn Magness, Kay Burke and Donna Armbruster celebrate. Cindy Mead, Connie Johnson, Chariesse Gross and Nancy Wilson do the birthday dance Sunday. Susan Jacobson, Sophie Medlock, Leslie Deubner, Sharon Anderson, Vicki Johnson and Jeanette Dunn mark their birthdays on the first day of the week. Marie Widmyer, Quinn Widmyer, Jimmy McAndrew, Samuel Nolting, Randy Oaks, Rich Morrow, Carole Fredekind, Cris Burnham, Rick Altman, Pat Clevenger, Stephen Scott, Lisa Hunt, Duane Justus, Matt Ormeshed and Mike Grabenstein celebrate Feb. 6.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.