In some ways I'm still 5

I want to be a big girl and eat my vegetables.  I tried to like beets.  I really did.

You're not so scary, are you?

  I even tried to get myself to eat them by disguising them as brownies.

Red?  The brownies?  I don't know what you're talking about.
You must have that red-brown color blindness.

But it just didn't work, so I've been passing the ones I get from my CSA over to a friend.

Now I've run into another vegetable I just can't seem to get myself to like: Brussels sprouts.  We got a baby Brussels sprouts tree(?) in our CSA box last week, and I was determined to try to like them one more time.

Credit

I cut them off the stick, and Master Chef Daniel sauteed them with a little butter, rice wine vinegar, and maple syrup (going for the sweet and sour thing).  They looked good, the sauce was good, but the actual sprouts were just so... bitter.

I'm tempted to give up on this vegetable, too, but they are so healthy and other people like them (actually Daniel liked these).  Any tips for combating the bitter?  I'm not sure I'd even eat these smothered in Velveeta...