Try everything once. First impressions. Funny—I find that you often have to try things twice. At least, I do. Two little examples: on vacations—to Hawaii, and Sicily—there were two things we had to try. Poke, and granita.

The first poke we bought, from some highly rated place everyone raved about, was one of those things that made us say, why does everyone like this so much? Are they all crazy or is there something wrong with us? The second place—a downmarket-looking joint with a confusing entrance and plastic tubs of 20 different flavors of poke, including salmon in addition to the classic tuna? Amazing.

$20 a pound for the best tuna you ever had, in as many sauces and flavors as you could imagine (or fit). I think we went twice. It was like a completely different food item. It occurred to me that had we dismissed this iconic Hawaiian dish after the first try, we’d have gone around maybe for the rest of our lives thinking we didn’t like it...