Edible complex

I like to keep things simple. Michael likes things with details. This goes even more so for the realm of food. One of our classic exchanges goes along the lines of, 'What's for supper?' 'Oh, you will like this so much! It's so complex!' As far as I am concerned, casseroles and soups are simple and efficient (not to mention cheap). Meals that involve two or more piles on the plate are complex. The more serving dishes I get dirty, the better Michael likes it. It's just one way I show my love to him.

Recently I became inspired by the notion of Olive Garden elegance, and resolved to bake my own crusty artisan bread and set it out with a bowl of olive oil and freshly ground spices at the first opportunity. Last night was the opportune moment, and we dipped our freshly baked artisan bread into the delicately spiced olive oil, only to pause, wrinkle our noses, and say, 'Hmmm, was that the olive oil or the spices?' It had a strong bitter taste, yet the bottle was a new one, expensive-looking, extra virgin, cold pressed, etc. etc. etc. What had gone wrong? Was the bottle old? Had it gone rancid?

Michael hied him ho to the computer to look up information on olive oil, and lo and behold, it was discovered that the bitter taste is the hallmark of pure, quality olive oil. We Americans aren't used to the strong taste, so most of the olive oil served for fresh eating/dipping is lite, watered down with corn or soy oil, to give it a more palatable flavour. What a rip-off! So all that elegant oil at Olive Garden, with freshly cracked black peppercorns, is merely watered down cheap stuff to deceive our ignorant senses! I tried dipping a few more bites of bread, contemplating the high quality and esoteric refinement, and it gradually started to taste a bit better. Now we are in a conundrum. Do we go on buying the cheap stuff, knowing that it's watered down and artificially engineered to pander to the common demand, or do we strive to develop a taste for the good stuff, deliberately cultivating a palate for expensive flavours? Is this merely a reversion to the whole maple syrup dichotomy? Bother. And I was going for the complicated meal, after all.