A Christmas Miracle

Meet Blake - my favorite brother and chef extraordinaire!!

(Don't let the beard and scary evil tat fool you,
he's a softie ... 
AND,
I've NEVER eaten anything he's made that I didn't like)

Blake came home for a short Christmas visit

and wowed us all with his cooking skills for Christmas Dinner!!

For the fam, he made these ribs! 

They looked AMAZING, smelled AMAZING, 

and according to everyone eating them, tasted AMAZING!!

For me (because he loves me, and I'm his FAVORITE sister, 

and I happen to be partial to chicken and turkey,

and I haven't eaten anything other than one of those proteins since the age of 14),

he made this Chicken Madeira.

I have to post two pictures because it was just THAT good! 

The chicken was absolutely AMAZING 

(and it was fun to learn how to cook - the flames over the pan were quite impressive), 

and paired with the AMAZING mashed potatoes and the AMAZING asparagus, 

it was quite a perfect Christmas Dinner.

So there we were, enjoying our dinner, eating like kings on Christmas day ...

Then ...

This happened ...

Blake - my 'favorite' little brother, put a piece of ribs on my plate. 

Right there, next to my AMAZING chicken, my AMAZING potatoes, my AMAZING asparagus.

Of all the ways to ruin my meal ...

For 15 minutes I was told by my brother, 

my parents, 

and my HUSBAND 
(who should support my crazy eating habits NO MATTER WHAT), 

that if I were EVER to try a piece of meat for the REST of my life, 

THIS should be it.

The pleaded, and begged, and promised, 
and cut that tiny piece into an even tinier piece ...

I'm pretty sure that when I picked up the fork, my dad went into some kind of shock.

I handed Nate the camera and told him that if it happened, there had to be proof ...

And I DID it!!

I tasted the ribs!! 
I put them in my mouth, chewed them up, 
savored the AMAZING sauce that Blake covered up the meaty taste with ...

And then I spit it out into that bowl that you see sitting in front of me!!

It was Christmas, after all, and I didn't want to have a sick stomach for the rest of the night!!

But I did it!!

I tried them!!

I enjoyed the way they tasted!!

I tried a piece of the best tasting ribs that Nate had ever tasted,
then I confirmed with myself that I am content eating chicken and turkey!!

And even though my eating habits will remain the same, 
I took a step towards bravery that Christmas Dinner,
I tried a piece of ribs!


It was a Christmas miracle!!