Unlikely combinations

 Tinie Tempah's latest single, Wonderman, features one of my favourite artists of them all, Ellie Goulding.

On paper, this should not work. R n B/Hip Hop street-cool meets Acoustic/Folksy/Pop/Electronic blond starlet. When I first heard about the song, my first thought was 'Ellie, what have you done?!' Because after seeing her live, I am now entitled to judge her musical choices, of course. But somehow, it just works-they complement each other perfectly!

This made me think of other unlikely combinations-things which are so wrong...yet so right.

1. PBJ
The most famous combo of them all, and one which still divides opinion the world over. In my opinion, peanut butter and jam (or jelly, if you're going to be picky and American) is the food of the gods. But when I tell people that I had this on toast with a cup of tea, expecting a coo of understanding, people often look at me like I told them I breakfasted on roadkill. 'WHAT? Eeeew. That's sick.' I ignore these non-believers. One day they will be converted to the crunchy salty sweet jammy mixture of a pbj sandwich. But- 1) the peanut putter has to be crunchy, and 2) the jam has to go on top. Just the way it is.

2. Peanut butter and apple?
Imi informs me that peanut butter also goes well with cut-up apple, but I am yet to test this out :)

3. Black and brown
I remember my mum telling me when I was little and had no clue about which items of clothing went with what, that black and brown were colours you did not, on any account, mix. Much like green and red for their Christmas elf-connections, or purple and yellow for just pure grossness, brown and black were a no-go in my house. But recently, it seems colour rules are being broken. I am currently wearing a black dress with a brown belt, for example, and I've just bought a lovely pair of brown shoes that I intend to wear with black skinny trousers. Take that, colour wheel! But-again, another condition of unlikely combinations, the brown should ideally be tan, not too red that it looks orange, but not too chocolately to be an obvious clash.
Pah, who am I to give fashion advice! I am sure I will be corrected on that last point.


3. Tomato ketchup and macaroni cheese
This could also be entitled 'tomato ketchup and...anything and everything' if you are my good friend Hannah. It is entirely down to her that I discovered this scrummy combo. The sweet tangyness of the nation's favourite sauce sets of the creaminess of the mac and cheese to perfection. Not very gourmet, but delish all the same.

4. Chili chocolate?
I've seen posh bars of this in shops, but I have never been tempted to try out this flavour mix. It may be nice, well...it must be, or why on earth would they sell it, but I'm still unsure. I think the combination of spice and sugar could be too much for me.  
Has anyone ever tried this? Please let me know what it was like! Are you and your tastebuds permanently scarred, or are you a convert?

5. Cheese and marmite
Especially in a toasted sandwich, mmmm. Imi also tells me marmite works well mixed into pasta. Excellent student carbo-loading cuisine :) Marmite cereal bars on the other hand, my word. The texture and slight taste of an ordinary sweet cereal bar, with the sourness of Marmite. Not good.

I didn't mean all of these to be about food, but hey, that seems to be how my mind works. Leave me a comment if you can think of any others that I should include :)