Jan 27, 2017
Week 46: Odd Pairings
Go exploring today…
Each Sunday, my wife and I prepare, cook and eat a meal together — intentionally. Every Friday, I’ll be sharing our experience here in this space. I want to see the growth that will come in our marriage because of this. I hope you enjoy our story. You can find last week’s post here.
I like the movie Zootopia. I saw it in theaters with Sarah and our friend, Kristen. And I’ve seen it a few times since then. I’ve especially come to enjoy the main song from the movie, called “Try Everything.” It has the following lyrics:
I won’t give up, no I won’t give in
’Til I reach the end and then I’ll start again
No, I won’t leave, I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
I love that insatiable curiosity. Even though we don’t know what will happen, and there’s a chance we could fail, we should always be trying new things and exploring novel ideas.
With that in mind, Sarah and I tried something new this week — cheeseburger quesadillas.
I’ll be quite honest — cheeseburgers and quesadillas seem a weird pairing to me. It’s a mashup of two very different styles of cuisine. But they certainly both have one very tasty thing going for them — cheese!
We always say “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I get what that means, but I think we need to be honest with ourselves — everyone judges a book by its cover. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to be an aspect of the human condition that we take notice of something’s appearance before we choose to interact with it. Oh, also, that very aspect of the human condition is referred to in the Bible (1 Samuel 16:7).
Instead, I think we should say this — after you’re done inevitably judging a book by its cover…read it anyway.
After you’re done inevitably judging a book by its cover…read it anyway.
Had I stopped at my initial thought about cheeseburger quesadillas, I might have decided to just forego cooking them altogether. Thankfully, I decided to try something new alongside my adventurous wife.
As I took my first bite, I realized something — cheese pairs well with just about anything. The meat and the cheese and the tortilla exploded upon my taste buds in a burst of flavor. Curly fries are another nearly ubiquitous pairing, and I quickly reached for one that was just waiting to be eaten.
All that to say — the cheeseburger quesadillas were really good!
I’m so thankful that I have a wife who encourages me to try new things. Explore new horizons. Meet new people.
This world has so much to offer. I’m 24 years old. There’s much of it that I have never experienced. That is thrilling to me.
But if I only stick to things I know, I’ll never expand my worldview. I’ll never know what else is out there. I’d never have known the taste of a cheeseburger quesadilla.
I simply want to encourage you this week — try new things. Go somewhere you’ve never been before. Listen to a new podcast from a point of view with which you’re unfamiliar. Or…ahem…try a new recipe.
We all judge books by the cover. But that doesn’t mean we have to stop at the cover.
