Rosemary

I have long had a good friend called Rosemary and years later I met one other person with the same name (thankfully only once) and that in a nutshell is my proper noun based experience. The herb however is quite another story and although mine is not the popular opinion, for me, rosemary is verboten. It may not be present as part of a herb mish mash that makes for an encrusted layer of grilled meat or fish, it may not lie across any veg as a fallen mini branch supposedly trying to decorate my dinner plate, it may not be mixed into my olive oil dipper sauce and it may not show up uninvited by me in any chef's 'secret surprise' sauce because his/her secret would definitely be revealed if I were to be the taster; this would not be a good surprise. It took me awhile to narrow down the taste that made me instantly push my plate aside, but once rosemary was proven to be the cause for my taste buds shutting down, I became one of those fussy orderers. Every visit to what was touted as a great eating establishment had me quizzing the server; " What's in the sauce? Is there rosemary in the 'special mashed potatoes?" etc. etc. This is where I discovered that servers may not be the most honest of people. Many times after being assured that rosemary was not used, I found it, sometimes pre first bite as it is after all so damned aromatic. On one such occasion the chef felt the need to leave his lofty perch in the kitchen and come directly to our table to inquire how I had discerned the taste as he felt certain he had couched it in his cuisine. The bottom line is that I HATE rosemary and the good news is that there are others like me. Perhaps our numbers pale when compared to rosemary lovers, but in the meantime eaters anonymous has engaged me to do freelance work as a rosemary detector. Not that lucrative but great as a source of extra income.