Like most couples, we spent the early part of our relationship exploring the landscape of a shared life. Two people from disparate backgrounds come together to live as one, often in small quarters with limited resources, but big dreams.  At least, that was our experience.

One Saturday morning early in our new life, my husband and I headed out for groceries. Wandering up and down the aisles, we carefully chose the makings for our nightly dinners for the week.  Our culinary experiences were moving beyond special dinner dates to exploring the nitty-gritty of everyday meals.

We worked our way through the fresh produce and the meat department was easy. Then we got to the vegetables, which we both like.  “I like beets, do you?” I asked.  “Yeah, I like beets; you like beets?” my new husband replied.  Great; the beets went into the cart.  Likewise, we continued through the store.

Image credit: tycoon751 / 123RF Stock Photo

Later at home, he approached me, clearly perplexed. The conversation went like this:

He said, “The beets are in the refrigerator?” more of a question than a statement.

I was proud of myself for thinking of it.  “Yes, that way they’ll be ready when we want to eat them.”

“But they’ll just take longer to heat,” he pointed out.

“Why would we heat them?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

In my whole life, I’d never had hot beets, only cold pickled beets.  Turns out his beets were always hot and buttered. That night was his first time for cold, pickled beets, because the beets we bought were, in fact, pickled.  He liked them and I learned later that I really love hot, buttered beets.  Both have been staples on our menu since.