Salt vs. Sugar

People tend to be either salt or sugar freaks, with the occasional exception of craving both equally. I am partial to salt, probably due to my upbringing. In Romania and Austria, we do love pickled and salted things. Olives, pickled vegetables such as cauliflower, green tomatoes, cucumbers, horseradish and carrots, bacon on its own and fermented items such as cabbage are just a few. I constantly hear that children have delicate palates and cannot tolerate strong tastes. If you had told my family that back in the day, they would have looked at you as though you had sprouted two heads. I ate pickles before I had a real sandwich. Same with the aforementioned items. Salt and vinegar are in my blood and I’m planning on passing that tradition on.
My husband on the other hand cannot for the life of him say no to anything sweet. Which is of course why he married me. Just kidding. He does have a serious sweet tooth though, which is great for me because I get to bake to my heart’s content. I can guarantee you that no crumb of cake is thrown away at our house. It compliments his afternoon cup of coffee, as well as my breakfast, our lunch dessert and of course the obligatory midnight snack. Because we are those kind of people. We snack at midnight. No matter what zip code or country we are in, we found out.
I am bringing him around to the salty side though. Slowly, very slowly. It took me 10 years to convince him that pickles with certain sandwiches are the bomb. I think Katz’s Deli in NYC really had more convincing power than my constant pushing however. So maybe I should thank them for making my husband see the light. First it was pickles, now it’s mustard. Lordy lord, it’s madness, I tell you. Next we might even move on to olives. The really salty kind. You know which ones I mean.
Until that time comes, I will indulge him and bake another cake. Actually I’m just indulging my own need to bake more than his need to munch on something while enjoying a cup of Joe.