Kale Chips

I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to food. Other than cod tongue - there isn't much I don't enjoy and there's even less that I just plain won't eat.

And, for the record, cod tongue is pretty freakin' disgusting. Trust me, you don't want to eat it either.

I spent the entire day on Saturday in Toronto with my little sis. We did our usual thing which means we walked all over the place, we ate out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we laughed and talked and we checked out all sorts of cool stores.

Stores that sold only Hello Kitty stuff. Stores that had paid male models standing outside looking unrealistically beautiful. Pen stores, makeup stores, hand cream stores and stores where we went in simply because we knew they had the nicest bathrooms.

Our favourite moment was when we were in Sephora and a cute little blonde girl had obviously been trying out the makeup samples. And her parents were obviously not watching her while she did it. She ran by us with lipstick that rivalled the Joker's and eye shadow that went up over her eyebrows. She was looking very proud of her artistry skills. We doubled over in laughter and figured her parents should be grateful she didn't paint her face with waterproof mascara or nail polish.

Then there was our spontaneous purchase in the health food store. We found a great place that had a pretty good price on Vega as well as blueberry-flavoured Larabars so I was stocking up. On the way out, we noticed bags of kale chips. Kale chips, if you read blogs written by the health-conscious folks out there, are all the rage. They are apparently so tasty that people actually go to the trouble of buying dehydrators, mixing chopped kale with various toppings (cheese etc) and dehydrating them overnight. One blogger I read last week said it was impossible to keep them in the house for more than a day because her vegetable-hating husband kept eating them.

Bags of kale chips sat by the counter and we decided to join the growing number of kale chip fans. We discussed flavour options and settled on salted kale with pumpkin seeds. We forked over $6.99 for the bag but we knew it would be totally worth it. Everyone is talking about them AND we would get 400% of our daily vitamin C just by nibbling on them as we walked down Bloor Street. We had barely walked out of the store before I had the bag ripped open.

Pay attention folks because this next part is really important.

Kale chips. Are. Disgusting.

Like cod tongue disgusting.

We ate one and it tasted like seaweed. We both like kale and we both like nori and other seaweed-tasting stuff so we decided that the first one was gross simply because we weren't expecting the taste. I shook up the bag to disperse the salt and pumpkin seeds a bit and we tried another one. Nope, still really gross. A few more just to make sure and then we closed the bag as the nausea set in. "Omigod they are SO gross" complained my little sis. "Omigod your teeth are completely green" I replied. Green bits of dried kale stuck between every tooth. She looked like something in a horror movie.

Mine were no better.

Seriously, who are the crazy people out there who think eating dehydrated kale and then spending the next 20 minutes flossing is worth it?

We parked ourselves on a bench in downtown Toronto and took turns sharing the one tiny mirror we had between us, picking green stuff out of our teeth. We must have been quite a sight to behold as we used the hard plastic edge of the kale chip bag to remove particularly stubborn pieces. Every time we thought we were done, more would appear. Even an hour later. Bah!

We made our way to Fresh for dinner, a great place that serves super healthy food. I ordered a delicious-sounding Healthy Bowl with soba noodles, grilled veggies, sprouts, avocado and goat cheese. I also ordered a bowl of steamed green on the side because I was craving spinach and broccoli so I figured my iron must be on the low side again.

Dinner appeared and I was handed a fabulous looking bowl of noodles...

...with a side of steamed kale.