I make a Mexican shrimp cocktail, with added avocado and cilantro, and of course, cocktail sauce that I doctor up a little bit. My husband is a commercial shrimper, and the taste of fresh shrimp has no relationship to shrimp that have spent a week or two on a boat, then another week in a market. Even the supermarkets here have shrimp that look bad to me....like when a white shrimp turns pink, and the shell pulls away from the head. I wouldn't eat that. They usually head them and sell the tails only but still the shells start turning black.....something only a hungry seagull would want to eat.

My cousin came to visit me from North Carolina. I know they have shrimping fleets there but I guess she had never eaten any fresh shrimp. She declined my offer of fixing something with shrimp for her.....she said "I don't eat shrimp...they look like worms."

Even though I like shrimp, we don't eat them that often. I ask my husband to bring some home, but he usually forgets or says he was too tired to fool with it. I remember when I got married, 52 years ago, a smart assed boy I had gone to high school with said, "I bet you get tired of eating shrimp." I said, "We don't have to eat them all........you can sell them," ;))

Whatever shrimp you don't want, just send to me. :D

One thing that will never touch my lips is sushi with raw fish. I would never taste it as the thought of eating raw fish makes me shudder! There is different versions with cooked fish isn't there?

I don't even like the ads on TV for eating lobster or crab legs. so ICK!

I might be the only person who has never had a nacho. I have never eaten any Mexican food, the only ethnic food I don't like. As for shrimp cocktail...haven't had it often but I love shrimp and every seafood there is including sushi.

In Thailand they serve a fresh shrimp salad that consists of raw shrimp, bitter melon, sliced birds eye peppers (hot, hot, hot!!!) and slices of garlic clove. To eat, one piles a shrimp, pepper and slice of garlic on top of a slice of bitter melon and pops the entire thing into their mouth.

The flavors and textures all come together to create an amazing dining experience. We've had it several times and the shrimp have always been firm and plump with absolutely no odor.

Schoolhouse, it was nice of your neighbor to offer the shrimp but her "under a rock" comment was on the rude side. Is it possible that she was kidding and the joke fell flat?

Oh I'm often accused of living under a rock...especially when people find out I have never seen Toy Story or Jurassic Park, have only eaten at a Mexican restaurant maybe twice in my life, and have no idea about pogs, pokemon and never played a sim game. I just tell them it's cozy!

Is it possible that she was kidding and the joke fell flat?

I didn't take it as insult really, it was funny but I could tell she was genuinely surprised by my comments.

I don't like Indian food. I tried it a few times and it's not for me. That said, DD goes frequently to India for her business and is there now. You wouldn't believe the yummy pictures of the food! She is a vegetarian and loves India as there are always tons of options. The McDonald's over there has a separate menu for vegetarians with Indian choices.

Annie, you don't have kids, so perfect excuse for not being involved in the things you mentioned.

"I didn't take it as insult really, it was funny but I could tell she was genuinely surprised by my comments."

Although I think the comment bordered on being rude, I am glad you didn't take it that way. And I would also admit to being surprised to encounter someone that had never had fresh shrimp cocktail or nachos! But I guess where you live and what your life experiences are would influence your exposure to these things.

btw, the nachos one encounters at convenience stores or some fast food places are NOT real nachos!! No canned or goopy fake cheese!! A little grated cheddar or jack if you must but I like them best with queso fresco.

Lily, how do you know you don't like Mexican food if you've never had any? Never had refried beans, salsa, guacamole? What about it don't you like? Just curious - I could live off of Mexican food!

I can't imagine what she would have to say about me! I have a long list of foods that I don't eat - mostly meats. For some reason, lots of people have negative views of vegetarians.

I love shrimp scamp, shrimp etouffee, etc. Shrimp cocktail is okay as well. Nachos made right are great. A taco salad is awesome! That's on the menu for tomorrow nite, now that we've been hit with a massive long-lasting heat wave. Looking forward to shoveling snow again!!!

Love shrimp, but can't eat it due to allergies. We did think my sister in law lived under a rock when she asked for "nakos" at a restaurant. How have you never heard the word nachos?

To answer your question, schoolhouse, no, you can't re-freeze thawed shrimp (or thawed any kind of meat or seafood, for that matter), unless it went from the freezer straight into the refrigerator and still has a few ice crystals. The texture will suffer though and they may well become mushy.

Iris mentioned not "liking" something just because of smell. point well taken. saw something called (I think) Durian fruit (spelling?) on some cooking/travel show. it was described as an "acquired" taste and smelling like rotting meat. OK, that's enough for me to say I do NOT want to try it, but not enough to say I don't like it. you have to at least taste it first.

you have to at least taste it first.

I still recall my father saying that to me when I was very young at a restaurant where he ordered calves brains. He was right in a logical sense, but I hated trying it and did not like it.

If she can be rude, so can I.

You could, but why? Replying in kind just brings you down to her level. And prevents any rescue of the situation in case it was merely a poor attempt at humor.

I'd bet there is a long list of things your neighbor has never eaten -- living down there under *her* rock. I know there are things I've never tried. There must be many I've never even heard of!

Don't ever tell anyone you've never been bowling, the outrage!!!!! Ask me how I know. lol.

Love shrimp, but don't care for cocktail sauce. I'd rather remoulade.

Now I'm hungry for boiled shrimp. I'll think that'll be on tap this weekend. Also want to pick up some jumbos to use in a new recipe I saw on the Cooking forum.

Chi...Since I love avocados, I have had guacamole, but I hate beans although I know they are a staple for vegetarians like me. I don't particularly like salsa either. I love Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian and every conceivable kind of seafood except octopus. They are way too intelligent for me to ever think about eating. This makes me a 99% vegetarian because I eat 1/2 pound of salmon a week.

Lily, I'm not crazy about most store bought salsas, but love homemade! I roasted tomatoes today and made a batch.

Many a night I woke to find my daughter with a colander in the sink rinsing shrimp in cold water. She loves it dipped in cocktail sauce. Its her favorite food. She used to have a very dear friend about 3 hours away who we would go visit, Amiee and this friend would share a plate of sushi wrapped in seaweed.

I do not like breaded and fried shrimp but I don't care for most fried foods. Ponderosa when there was a ponderosa had delicious grilled shrimp. Wish I had the recipe.

I must live under a rock since there's many foods I've never tried. I tend to be one of those that I won't try something if I don't like the smell or I don't like how it looks. My grands will try anything at least once..they are the most adventurous eaters I've ever known.

I would just say I don't care for/ don't like it......then hopefully they won't badger you to "just try it"

My mom is bad for that. When I was about 12 I made moussaka. It was terrible. That was 50 years ago. I have since made it and it gets rave reviews. But Mom now insists she hates all Greek food, she has never tried She hates yogurt, again never tried. My Dh always insist he hates quinoa, when I asked him he admitted he has never had it. Same with couscous. I think it’s the nene he hates.

I have never tried shrimp and don't plan to.

And you live in Florida?

I eat anything that can't get away from me. (Well, I admit I am not very crazy about peanut butter and Kool Aid). Peanut butter needs powdered sugar and dipped in chocolate. The thing I hate is eating the same thing over and over. If I had my way, it would be something different each day for about five or six years.

I'm with you, Sherry!! About the only things I will studiously avoid are okra and tapioca....and that's really a textural thing. Otherwise, it's all pretty much fair game to me :-) But I do have my preferences and a number of things.....like most organ meat....that I would not opt to eat if anything else was available.

I like tapioca. Also liver (as in pate of various forms). Not other organ types.

Okra, not my favorite. I tried it a few times (that's my rule for everything before deciding) and didn't care for it. How people can think they can decide they don't like something they haven't tried, or only tried once, is puzzling. And too bad for them.

The only thing I absolutely won't eat (other than meat) are bell peppers and raw tomatoes! Anything else I will try.

How people can think they can decide they don't like something they haven't tried, or only tried once, is puzzling. And too bad for them.

Are you talking food only, or is that your view for other things in your (and everyone else's) life as well?

I don't eat raw fish or raw oysters, although someone taught me what to look for when eating a raw oyster. The oyster lesson was given to me one evening on a street in New Orleans.

Schoolhouse, funny story. Miscommunication? Get all the shrimp you can and I'll be right over to fetch them. Kung Pao shrimp, curried shrimp; shrimp with Thai crisp fried basil and chili. Ceviche! Pizza! Many times I she'll them, but save the shells and fry or caramelize to use some of the fragrant garlic oil to flavor the dish I'm making or for stock.

I am pretty much like Shery. I like most foods, even okra with some exceptions. Had to look up "nacho" -- okay, got it. But as schoolhouse notes, the same ingredients (less good and oily) can be made into an un-cheesy taco or salad. This year I decided to try an enchilada. New to me. So now I make chicken enchiladas with onions and a few things and cumin, coriander, garlic an jalepeno. Maybe cherry tomato, Queso fresco (?sp). I put green tomatillo sauce on the top, and add some "whole" cooked cranberries (sauce!). Then I get the Vietnamese-like spicy, hot, a bit sour and a little hit of sweet. I have to back off some of the cheese, however (mix of a bit of pepper jack, cottage cheese, dot of sour cream and Mexican QF).

And, I found this crazy thing to share:

"Are you talking food only, or is that your view for other things in your (and everyone else's) life as well?"

Lucille, certainly for food, less so for other things but sometimes yes. If you go on a roller coaster or Space Mountain at a Disney property and dislike it, fine, you tried it. If you ate shrimp once and only at some dive or tried something else ill-prepared, or never tried it at all (horrors!), then yes, what a shame. If you stand and look at something without trying it, worst of all. Life is about experiences, why have one that's needlessly limited or boring?

I don't eat raw shrimp, raw fish or raw oysters. About the only thing I like that is very, very rare is beef, but I don't like anything over cooked. I'm with Lily on eating octopus. I guess I am a picky eater, but I don't eat venison or any other wild game. I don't like rabbit....my family raised them for meat, and I ate it a little when I was a kid, but I saw them more as pets. I never liked eating it. I would never eat snake and though I have tried it....I don't want to eat alligator or frog legs. If it tastes like chicken....let me eat chicken.

My daughter it much more adventuresome with food than I am. We were in an upscale supermarket in Houston and someone was passing out some kind of dip or spread on crackers. It had yellow specks in it, which, I thought was cheese. It tasted okay and I asked if the yellow specks were cheese, and the guy told me no, it was carp roe. Oh, barf!!! I raised koi, and sure enough their eggs are yellow. But I don't want to eat them....or chicken eggs, for that matter, although I cook with eggs.

Anyway, I didn't recoil in horror when he told me that, but he offered to give me some to take home, and I made an excuse. I guess I could have fed it to my dogs or the raccoons or the wild hogs even.

I don't like the way most people fry shrimp....or oysters. I don't like heavily breaded fried foods. With shrimp, I peel them, wash them and break an egg over them and mix it up and then dip them in some self rising flour with Tony Chachere's seafood seasoning....which is a seasoned salt. The self rising flour makes them very light and crunchy. Most people fry oysters in cornmeal. Cracker meal is okay....but again, self rising flour....no egg...and they are very light. The first shrimp of the season, I always fry....my husband's favorite, but I like them almost any way, and especially in gumbo.

I like grilled or fried shrimp but not boiled or poached. I used to eat shrimp cocktail but somehow got burned out or turned off by cold shrimp.

Nachos are pretty good, depending on the toppings. I like shredded cheese, well toasted rather than a queso or {shudders} canned cheese.

I usually love spicy food but there is some spice in Cajun seasoning that turns me off. No jambalaya for me.

Schoolhouse, you should tell your friend that she hurt your feelings by saying that!

I cannot remember a time in my life before I loved shrimp, so that answer would have surprised me. And then followed by the statement of never having had nachos, which have been ubiquitous for a few decades. So apologies schoolhouse, but if it had been me instead of your neighbor I might have made a similar comment, but it definitely would have been intended in a light-hearted, joking manner.

With that said, if I were offered "shrimp cocktail" and I thought it was raw shrimp, I would decline, just like the time I was offered "Steak Tartare" and as far as nachos go, even the best nachos are somewhat mediocre IMHO, there may some individual nachos on the plate that are perfect with the right amount of toppings, and the right crunch to the nacho chip, but the first chips from the top of the plate of nachos are usually overloaded and hard to eat, than as the pile dwindles those further down are either soggy and flabby, or are broken fragments, or have no toppings remaining and are just chips. And any incarnation of "nachos" that involves gloopy melted "cheese" sauce, is just gross.

edited to add: With the subsequent explanation here that you've had shrimp, just not shrimp cocktail, and have had all of the ingredients of "nachos" just not an actual plate of nachos. I wouldn't find it not unusual enough to make a comment -- even one intended to be funny. I'd likely instead say, "Well however you feel like preparing them, I hope you enjoy the shrimp."

She asks the names of flowers and plants I have growing at my place, even the very common (to me) ones. Even that same afternoon of the "under a rock" comment, she was leaving and asked what was growing behind my mailbox. I told her it was Bells of Ireland. I should have said, "....under a rock?" ha No, I wouldn't do that. Besides, I didn't think quick enough. : )

I have yet to see the shrimp. I wonder if she'll fix nachos,too.

I haven't been in a while but sometimes I and my nurse friends would meet at Mama Ninfa's on the Gulf Freeway and they had perfect nachos. Only one layer deep so each nacho was a work of art.

Well, I know that the printed word doesn't always convey the the emotion involved. It seems most here have interpreted your neighbor's comments as rude, maybe they were, but I actually laughed when I read them. And to me, it seemed like your answers were maybe not outright 'rude', but really 'short', or unfriendly. For the shrimp, just a plain "Thank you, that's very kind of you", or something similar would have been much friendlier. And for the Nacho recommendation, maybe a bit more diplomatic, something along the lines of 'Do they? I'll keep that in mind". or "Good to know." But I realize your tone of voice and/or facial expression may have shown a much friendlier tone than the printed word did.

If I offered someone jumbo shrimp and they answered me like that, I would conveniently forget to give them the shrimp, for sure!

Okay, I know I'm about to be severely chastised for offering this reaction, but I'll take my licks and say no more about it.

Rusty

I like the canned cheese on my nachos. No shame. I also like shredded cheese on them. And also real,scratch made cheese sauce. Doesn't matter. All of them have their place in my heart. (besides the arteries :OP) The best ones cannot be eaten in a restaraunt, but must be squirreled away to the house to be eaten with abandon. Or even better, made AND eaten at home in ones most comfy jammies.

I hate all fish and/or seafood. No, I dont need to try it again, try it cooked a different way, try it from this place or that place. I have wasted many a calorie listening to and following that garbage advice. I dont like it. I get lots of horrified looks and snarky comments when people learn this. I do not understand this. Why do so many people get upset or judgemental at someone elses food preferences or experiences, of all things? I don't pull a nasty face when someone tells me of their love for it.

There are lots of things i havent tried, food wise, and I am okay with that. If I am curious about it or if it appeals to me, then I will try it. I am not going to try something just for the experience, or because someone else thinks i should.

Talking about nachos. The best that I have had is in a small boutique hotel in Costa Rica. They make one that is beautifully presented. It is stacked high, oozing with cheese. Love it. Get it every time we go there.

I read it the same way, Rusty.

Okay, I know I'm about to be severely chastised for offering this reaction, but I'll take my licks and say no more about it.

Rusty I think this is the sole purpose of your reply to the post.

I reiterate: When did I ever say in my posts that I did not like nachos? I told her "I never ate nachos". It's the truth.

Same thing with the shrimp cocktail, I never said I didn't like shrimp cocktail.

I told her I never ate shrimp cocktail.

My grammar was bad. I should have said, "I have never eaten shrimp cocktail or nachos".

Wow. Thanks for all the comments anyway - I guess. I actually didn't make taco salad last night after all, I made black beans and rice and had two big servings. I used to have a friend from Cuba who made the best black beans and rice and also yellow rice and chicken. She could make the best pork, too.

I'm like Bubba Blue in the movie "Forrest Gump".....I've had shrimp prepared countless different ways. My favorite is whatever I'm eating at the time, lol. No, that's not true; there are plenty of ways to ruin perfectly good shrimp. I've never had it raw, though.

I like to give a food several tries before deciding it's simply not for me. Okra is in that category as is calamari or octopus. Thanks, but no thanks.

LOL! I went to college with a Japanese exchange student. His favorite snack was dried octopus (his mom used to send bags of the stuff), so of course I had to try it!. It was like chewing a mouthful of rubber bands!! Awful!!

But calamari is wonderful as long as it is made from very fresh young squid, very lightly battered and served with a good garlicky aioli. Yum!! My mouth is watering just writing about it :-)

We lived next to a young couple our age in the late 70's. We were talking over our back fences and the subject of steamed shrimp platters came up. She said, "I tried it once and didn't like them. It was too crunchy." We just said oh and moved on to another topic. When we got inside, I told my husband she must have ate the shell also!

Calamari is one of our favorites too. Deep fried is my least favorite preparation, but sauteed or grilled are terrific, whether steaks or tentacles. No sauce needed for me.

Octopus is good too. We had some last month while visiting Iberia that was cooked over an open charcoal fire, as if BBQ'd. It was outstanding.

For both, it's important to not overcook because flavor will be lost and it can get rubbery.