Love It/Shove It Challenge - Coldsteem

I was recently nominated by @apanamamama to participate in the Love it or Shove it Challenge. I don't do many challenges, but why not? I will be traveling for two weeks (starting Tuesday) and will have limited access to Steemit. So I may as well take a stab at this challenge.

This challenge was created by @snowpea and here are the rules:

• List five things that you love
• List five things that you really dislike&
• Use the tag #loveitshoveit
• Tag five people to participate, but anyone can join in.

Love It

The rules are pretty simple, so I guess everything is on the table. With that in mind, I have to follow my heart on this. In no particular order, I will begin with family. My family is spread out. Both my siblings as well as my own children. Yet we are a very tight knit family. We talk or text often. Family is important. We offer each other support, encouragement and love. We try to be there for each other during the important events in our lives and the lives of our children. That's me, second from the left. I think that is meant to be a smile.

Okay, that's not my church. That is Saint Anne's Church in Jerusalem. But my church family is very important to me. It is like extended family. People in my congregation take care of each other. We visit each other when someone is ill. We pray together over concerns. We engage the community together. We grow together spiritually. Church family is important on many levels.

Okay, I'm a dog lover. If you can't tell from my recent review of Isle of Dogs. Above are my current fur-family members. They are Pomeranians that were rescued from a puppy mill. They had to be hand fed until they were old enough to feed themselves. They are the grouchiest, meanest, unfriendly dogs you will ever meet. Except for when it comes to family. Then they are the most affectionate, peaceful, loving, attentive dogs ever. I think that is the nature of this breed. This was a baby photo. They are thirteen now.

I don't know if everyone has a go to treat, but I do. My sweet tooth kryptonite is Haagen Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream. Haagen Dazs is Danish for Haagen Dazs. Okay, truth be told, Haagen Dazs is a made up word. It's made in the United States. The brand was created by Polish-Jewish immigrants from Bronx, New York. Founder Rueben Mattus chose the name, complete with an umlaut a to "sound" Danish. It was a tribute to Denmark for their exceptional treatment of Jews during World War II. The backstory is interesting, but the ice cream speaks for itself.

My final love is coffee. While ice coffee has become vogue in recent years, it was a common treat during my childhood in New England. My granddad would always cook an extra pot of coffee in the morning, which would go into the fridge. In the afternoon, we would have ice coffee. Or we would have coffee-milk, which was made with a Nestle Quik-like coffee-flavored syrup. So my love affair with coffee dates back to childhood. When we moved to the midwest, folks thought we were crazy for drinking ice coffee. I am sure some of those people have realized what they were missing with the widespread popularity in recent years.

Shove It

Source

There are plenty of things I don't like, but it is hard to pin them down. I don't have a lot of things I detest. Most are more dislikes than hates. However, I have grown to hate Facebook. That social media platform has devolved to a cesspool of partisanship politics and vile exchanges masked as discourse. I shy away from politics here on Steemit. I do feel obligated to vote and comment on those who vote and comment on my posts. When I visit someone who posts a lot of politics here at Steemit, I will leave my vote and comment cordially on my perspective. When there is disagreement, it has been discourse. I appreciate that about Steemit. I have made friends like @clumsysilverdad who share a lot of interests, but disagree with politically across the board. Our exchanges have always been professional. It is a shame that Facebook almost promotes antagonistic interaction.

Source

Cilantro. Where do I begin. I guess it goes back to childhood, when punishment for backtalk was the famous bar of soap in the mouth. Cilantro is like that to me. It tastes like soap. I happen to love Mexican food as well as Vietnamese. Both use cilantro in their dishes. I always have to remember to say hold the cilantro. Because it is hard to pick out of your food. And even a little bit can ruin a dish for me. Who wants pastor tacos with soap? Ick.

Source

Mushrooms are a touchy subject for me. If I don't know they are in a dish, and I don't "experience" them, which has happened in the past...no harm, no foul. But I can't stand mushrooms. This is another food that goes back to childhood. I had an evil babysitter who would tell us stories about children dying from eating mushrooms. Then she would force us to eat mushrooms picked from her garden. Even though we had our own fluff-n-nutter sandwiches mom packed for lunch. She would give those to her own children. She was a witch. And I was insolent. I spent an eternity in "pre-timeout" time-out. To this day, I can't stand a mushroom.

Source

This one breaks my heart. Seafood looks delicious to me. And I am a foodie. But I have tried all kinds of seafood, even the kind that "tastes like chicken." Pro-tip: No, it tastes like fish. Seafood triggers my gag reflex. I can't count the number of times fish looked so good, I had to give it another go. Only to have the gag reflex nearly embarrass me. I would love to love seafood. This closes so many foodie doors to me. One caveat, I have eaten some foods prepared with a bit of seafood and survived the experience. But it is rare. I can usually taste it. And if I taste it, the reflex kicks in. This includes the fish oil I take for my health. I know I am missing out on a lot of good nutrition, so I supplement my diet with fish oil. But the fish oil burps usually trigger the reflex. Thank goodness they are infrequent.

Source

I can't stand a traffic jam. And in the same vein, those passive-aggressive left-lane huggers. Pro-tip: Get off the phone and out of the passing lane. I am a mild-mannered guy. But a traffic jam brings out the worst. My fitbit gives me a pretty good indication. My resting heart-rate is generally under 60. The quickest way to get it over 100 is exercise. The second fastest way to get it over 100 is to be stuck in traffic. I can usually vent the frustration with a well-placed use of salty language. Preferably with no one in the car to hear me. Otherwise, I may have to vent silently. Or not. Depending on how bad the traffic is.

Nominations

I'd love to hear what things you guys love and don't like: @artibeus @florio @readingdanvers @clumsysilverdad @raybrockman. If you haven't been nominated and want to post, feel free to do that!