43-New-to-Me... #6 Galangal

I discovered my 6th new-to-me food at an amazing Asian grocery store nearby. I strolled amongst the produce hoping to find something I'd never tried. I found two items, including galangal, which looked a lot like ginger. When I got home, I looked up galangal and learned that, while it is nicknamed Thai ginger and it is related to ginger, it's harder than ginger and has a different taste. 

I've eaten a lot of Thai food over the years, in both restaurants and in Thai friends' homes, so chances are good that I've actually had galangal in things. But I certainly had never had it on its own, nor as the main component of a dish. I read that it is great in stir fry and can even be sliced into matchsticks and added raw to salads. My mom was in town visiting while Steve was on a business trip, so I decided I'd make a simple stir fry for dinner using the galangal. I never got that far. Mom and I each tasted a tiny sliver of it raw before I added it to the pan. Oh. My. Gosh. The best way to describe it is: nothing, nothing, nothing, FIRE! And not good-tasting fire. Trevor had the same reaction.

I had a lot of fun making this layout. I knew I wanted to use the color red (as in, STOP!) and toyed with the idea of using a no symbol somewhere on the page. Then I noticed a pack of love-themed die-cuts. I dug out a heart with plans to add a no symbol over it, but then I discovered the "do you like me?" die-cut piece. Perfect. Sorry galangal. I do not like you at all.

My mom asked what the bottom of my rating scale was. I told her that it was 0-10. Her answer? "OK, on a scale of 0-10, I give it a -2." Trevor and I both opted for the 0.