Edible Complex Meme

Courtesy of Cobweb's Shadowmanor, but originally from Very Good Taste.

Here’s what to do:

1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4. Optional extra: Post a comment here or at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Herding Kitten’s Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho I LOVE this soup
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - Apple
19. steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar Never on the cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo - I've even made it a number of times
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk - Prefer it to cow's milk, actually
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin - great sushi!
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian - I'll try it, but I suspect this stinky stuff will make me retch
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - Ooops, my red neck roots are showing
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong - Lovely tea
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant - the closest I've come is the tasting menu at Mario Batali's Esca in NYC - FABULOUS
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam - What did I say about my roots?
92. Soft shell crab - My mom's favorite food, that rubbed off on me
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I'm curious about a lot of the stuff I haven't tried, and I'll try almost anything once. I guess I have another quest!

Had to come back and update - duh, OF COURSE I've had a hot dog from a street vendor... zillions of times

Strange weekend: Milestones, Food, Music, oh my.

OK. On the entertainment front it has been a surreal weekend: Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes died. And, Madonna turned 50!!!

On the other hand, I had a pleasant weekend of cooking. Yes, cooking. I like to cook. Partially because I like to eat. But also because I like the process of cooking. It relaxes me. This weekend, I made buttermilk biscuits, rattatoui, and whole wheat cinnamon raisin muffins. I also picked a big bag of lettuce from my patio garden just a few hours before a freak hail storm destroyed my plants.

We watched some of the Olympics this weekend too. Men's gymnastics, men's swimming, and women's weightlifting, were the highlights for us. The Chinese really have an edge in the men's gymnastics.

I'm working on converting over my music from Yahoo Unlimited to Rhapsody. It really wasn't my choice. Yahoo sold out to Real Media. It looks like it'll probably work out ok though. I do like that I can access my Rhapsody account on my TiVo box. And, Summer has got me working on my 'top 100' songs of all time, which is currently well over 200!

We watched the season finale of Doctor Who (WOW!). We also watched another episode of the old BBC series Spaced (strange but highly amusing). Then, we watched "Mad Money" with Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes. Highly recommended conspiracy comedy. (Betcha didn't know THAT was a genre.)

Still working on meal planning, with the goal of cleaning out our freezer and pantry. The grocery bill was nearly half this week what it was a few weeks ago. After listening to "The Omnivore's Dilemma" the bill may continue to be lower (or a lot higher ... since the only way I'm eating meat is if it's grass-fed and free range, which is way more expensive).

I'm sure this week will be busy at work. However, last week was one of the most wretched on record. So, I'm looking on the bright side. Statistically speaking, this week will probably be better. If not, I can look back at last week with a nostalgic eye.

Time to eat less meat?

A while back I started reading "An Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. It floated to the top of the pile again this week as I became more thoughtful about what was in our freezer and pantry. The chapter covering the feed lots where cattle spend the last miserable months of their lives was disturbing on so many levels. The conditions the animals live in is not just inhumane to the animals, it's unhealthy to those of us who consume their flesh after their slaughter.

Feed lot cattle spend most of their time standing around in their own manure. Microbes that live in the manure often end up on the hides of the animals. When the animals leave the feed lot for the slaughter houses, they are processed so quickly that the microbes from their hides sometimes end up in the meat.

That's probably what happened here: More Nebraska Beef recalled

Before reading this story, I told my husband that reading Omnivore's Dilemma had me wanting to limit my meat consumption. Whenever possible I think we'll be switching to grass-fed free range beef, and free range chicken. Meat raised by small scale producers is nearly three times as expensive as industrially processed meat. However, our health and the health of the planet are worth it.

As to 'the planet' part: the amount of fossil fuels invovled in the feeding and production of industrial meat is just astounding. Every time you eat a hamburger you are indirectly consuming gallons and gallons of crude oil.

I highly recommend this book. But first, go watch "King Corn". It's a fun documentary that scratches the surface of the root of our hidden food crisis. Nearly every processed food we eat relies on the production of #2 field corn. This corn costs more to grow than the farmers can get for it, so the government pays farmers a fixed price per bushel to assure that they get at least a pittance for their effort. Most corn farmers are not making a living at farming. They have second jobs, or they rely on the second income from their wives' jobs.

It's all very depressing.

A foody "would you rather"

I applaud Dr Momentum's semi-regular postings on Would you rather. I find them rather enjoyable and usually thought provoking. My readership is MUCH smaller than his. However, I hope to hit closer to home hear for many of you.

I am an admitted Foody! The width of my butt is testament to that fact. However, currently, I'm trying to conform to the straight and (cringe) narrow. That said, let us indulge in one of my favorite fantasies...

If you were granted the ability to eat one of the following, forever, without suffering any negative consequences (long term health or short term jean size), but you would have to give up the other completely to reap the benefits, which would you choose:

• salty foods or sugary foods


• 'white death' carbs (rice, bread, potatoes, cake, cookies) or dairy (ice cream, cheese, milk shakes)
  
• fast food (McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Chinese take out, etc.) or home made fatty foods (mac & cheese, fried chicken, REAL mashed potatoes, bacon, etc.)
  
• salty foods (from pickles to potato chips) or alcoholic beverages (from beer to wine to cognac to martinis)
  
• meat in all its wondrous varieties or fruits and vegetables in all their wondrous varieties.
  

I'll post my own preferences in a comment for the pairs.

Spam for breakfast

Spam. No, I am not writing about unwanted email. I am referring to the much maligned meat-in-a-can. Spam is one of those foods that I grew up with that both disgusts and attracts me. About once or twice a year I get a craving for the stuff. The traditional mélange of meat and gelatin is high in fat and sodium, which is definitely not good for your health (much less your self-respect).

Yesterday, I was in the grocery store picking up some snacks for my son. He's going on a trip this weekend too, with a bunch of teenagers and a few chaperones from our church. While in the store, I stumbled on the Spam offerings. Yes, multiple varieties. I have been suffering from the craving of late, but had yet to give in. Then, I saw it. The stuff that might satisfy the craving but could subtract at least part of the guilt (but not the shame, mind you):

I bought a can of the lite junk. I put it in the refrigerator last night, since I much prefer the crud cold. This morning, I popped the top of the can. (Sends shivers down your spine, and revulsion through your digestive tract, doesn't it?) To my surprise there was no congealed gelatinous goo surrounding the compressed meat product. And the 'meat' filled the entire can, which did make it more difficult to wrestle out.

I am certain I will regret this, but I am consuming some with breakfast this morning (along with some virtuous oatmeal). It doesn't taste that different from what I remember of the 'Classic' variety, so I'm sure that it will repeat on me in an hour and I'll remember why I only eat this stuff about once a year. (grin)