August 28, 2008

Omnivore's 100

I've seen this meme a couple of places, most recently at the excellent D Magazine Side Dish blog, and I thought I would finally play along.

I'll quote the rules from the original source:

Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you 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 at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison - (sausage is best)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile - deep fried, tastes just like crocodile.
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses - I've had and enjoyed Camembert.
17. Black truffle - would gladly try some if not for the $$$$
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Plum)
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 - of the foods I haven't had and would try, this would probably be the most challenging for me.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - actually, Habaneros, but they are the same species and hold approximately the same number of SHUs.
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda - this looks really good. I may need to try to make some.
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi - looks delicious
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects - but only if cooked, not raw.
43. Phaal - this looks like my kind of dish.
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu - One of the few I would not try, because of potential fatality.
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
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 - depends on how they're prepared.
63. Kaolin - Yecch. I ate clay when I was a toddler, but wouldn't do it voluntarily.
64. Currywurst
65. Durian Anthony Bourdain, on Durian: "Try leaving cheese and a dead body out in the sun and you're in the same neighborhood as the smell of durian." Andrew Zimmern couldn't even handle it.
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain - I'm allergic to bananas. Love 'em but can't eat 'em.
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette - I think I get credit for this having eaten tacos de tripas.
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill - I might eat it to survive in the wild, but only if it were a matter of life or death.
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash - the first and best I had was in Austria.
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab - just like eating steamed tarantulas. What?
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish - not too fond of this fish anymore.
95. Mole poblano Highly recommended. Best if you have to order it in Spanish.
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (Rattlesnake chili, to be precise).

Wow, 52 dishes I've tried. Only 5 I wouldn't try (and 1 of those only because of a food allergy). I'll have to get to work trying some new things.

Feel free to play along. Let me know if you post something, and please throw a link back to the original poster.

Posted by JohnL at 01:57 PM | Comments (2) |

I'll Be in My Bunk...(*)

Check out these great advance promo pics for the new season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

terminator2nd31top.jpg

I know I'm married and twice her age13 years older than she is, but I think I'm in love with Summer Glau:
terminator2nd29.jpg

(More below the fold).

Lena Headey (Sarah Connor) is quite easy on the eyes, too, and doesn't make me feel like quite so much a dirty old man:

terminator2nd19.jpg

Here's a piccie of all the major characters:

terminator2nd9.jpg

I liked the show last season, despite a slight tapering in quality toward the end. I might blog some more about it after the new season premieres on September 8.

(*)Wrong franchise, I know.

Via Agent Bedhead.

Posted by JohnL at 09:14 AM | Comments (0) |

Glamourous New Blog

Be sure to check out Virginia Postrel's new blog, Deep Glamour: At the Intersection of Imagination and Desire.

In addition to being pretty easy on the eyes, this new blog offers up a fresh perspective on what many may normally consider a superficial topic. Call it a more focused application of the "substance of style."

Posted by JohnL at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) |

August 25, 2008

Such a Noble Profession

"Doctors purge the body, preachers the conscience, lawyers the purse."

--German proverb (from my desktop calendar)

Posted by JohnL at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) |

August 12, 2008

Greetings From the Prodigal Blogger

I'm still alive. Summer is always a bad time for blogging for me. Something about the structure of the kids' school year helps me write more consistently.

We recently returned from a two-week vacation in Colorado. High point (literally): I bagged a 14er -- Quandary Peak -- with my two sons. That makes two Colorado 14ers in my life now (I climbed Red Cloud Mountain when I was 15).

More later.

Posted by JohnL at 08:30 PM | Comments (0) |