Incredible Edible Meme

This is a list of food and drink that someone -- I forget who -- thinks we all need to taste before we die. The boldfaced items are things that I myself have actually eaten.

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. Yum, good soup
13. PB&J sandwich.
14. Aloo gobi. delish Indian veggies
15. Hot dog from a street cart. In NY we call them dirty water hot dogs.
16. Epoisses.
17. Black truffle. but rarely...
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes. but not recently...
19. Steamed pork buns. lunch on the run
20. Pistachio ice cream. I prefer chocolate
21. Heirloom tomatoes. All over the farmers market
22. Fresh wild berries. 
23. Foie gras. No liver for me forced or otherwise!
24. Rice and beans. All over my neighborhood!
25. Brawn, or headcheese. Yuck!
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper. Too hot!
27. Dulce de leche. Yum. Sold at Big Bootly bakery -makin my booty to big!
28. Oysters. I've caught and opened my own on the east end of Long Island in December
29. Baklava.
30. Bagna cauda. 
31. Wasabi peas. From the corner Korean 24 hour fruit stand
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl. I prefer Manhattan-the red one.
33. Salted lassi. (I'll salt anything!)
34. Sauerkraut. 
35. Root beer float. When I was a kid
36. Cognac with a fat cigar. A without B, No phallic symbols necessary!
37. Clotted cream tea. at the Plaza Hotel
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O. 
39. Gumbo.
40. Oxtail. 
41. Curried goat. very delicious and delicate at multicultural day at the office-my office-very multicultural-3 people from Africa, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Russia, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Gay (3, at least), not, Irish, various other islands with delicious foods. That's all I can remember right now.  

42. Whole insects. in Broccoli of course. Ultra-Orthodox Jews consider it to be not kosher because it can't be cleaned properly!
43. Phaal. hot stuff
44. Goat's milk. as cheese
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$130 or more. not recently but delicious
46. Fugu. I've caught and eaten the North American form-small blow fish- which is delicious!

47. Chicken tikka masala.
48. Eel. Also caught and eaten, at night, while drunk.
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut.
50. Sea urchin.
51. Prickly pear. 
52. Umeboshi.
53. Abalone. Once on Fisherman's Wharf  in SF on my 16th birthday. Hated it!
54. Paneer.
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal. I don't like all the gunk they put on it. 
56. Spaetzle. 
57. Dirty gin martini.
58. Beer above 8% ABV. but not recently
59. Poutine. 
60. Carob chips. Yuck again. Who said this was any replacement for chocolate!
61. S'mores.
62. Sweetbreads. Not sweet and not bread.
63. Kaolin. Wikipedia said this is clay in which case I've eaten it as a kid.
64. Currywurst. 
66. Frogs' legs. tiny bones
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake.  Yes to all, # 2 with chocolate dip
68. Haggis. oh no! On Robert Burns birthday, we were at a wonderful place called Mohonk Mountain House. The Burns Society was there celebrating Scottish culture in full regalia-it was beautiful. Haggis,  was on the menu, marched in, presented, and served to every diner. One of our party actually ate it then had an allergic reaction. Fortunately, Mohonk is so big, they keep a doctor on premised every weekend!

69. Fried plantain.
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette. My sphincter tightens
71. Gazpacho. 
72. Caviar and blini. yum I wish I could afford it
73. Louche absinthe. 
74. Gjetost, or brunost. 
75. Roadkill. 
76. Baijiu. 
77. Hostess Fruit Pie.
78. Snail. like eating little rubber bands

79. Lapsang souchong. tea
80. Bellini. But not recently
81. Tom yum. lots of Thai restaurant in my neighborhood and I love the flavors
82. Eggs Benedict. not so much any more, too rich
83. Pocky. 

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. It was an anniversary outing.
From the NY Times: "It's not hard to understand why New Yorkers keep a warm spot in their hearts for Chanterelle." I'm not sure how many courses we had, but dessert was 3, which won my heart!
85. Kobe beef. also too rich and too soft
86. Hare. little bones
87. Goulash. 

88. Flowers. I've had fried squash blossoms stuffes with something
89. Horse.
90. Criollo chocolate.
91. SPAM. I used to make sandwiches for may father, but never tasted the stuff
92. Soft shell crab. but I prefer picking the hard shell guys
93. Rose harissa. 
94. Catfish.
95. Mole poblano. 
96. Bagel and lox. Popular in NYC, though most people eat nova which is less salty, I love the salty belly lox. Note to "L Word":  They use lox in Japanese restaurants here in maki rolls-with cream cheese!
97. Lobster Thermidor. Not anymore, way too rich!
98. Polenta. love it
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.

If you read this, you're tagged!

A Franciscan Friday Five

Sally said: “I would like to dedicate this Friday Five to St Francis of Assisi.”
She posted a Friday dedicated to St. Francis, as this is his feast day.

1. Saint Francis experienced a life changing call, has anything in your journey so far challenged you to alter your lifestyle?
Several things have done so. I worked in the interior design business from 1972 to about 1985, first in the design end and in the business end. In 1985, you mar remember, we were in the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the design business was hit hard, with my clients and colleagues getting sick and dying on a daily basis. It had a profound effect on me and forced me to reevaluate my vocational life and eventually to return to school and eventually to become a counselor.


2. Francis experienced mocking and persecution, quite often in the comfortable west this is far from our experience. If you have experienced something like this how do you deal with it, if not how does it challenge you to pray for those whose experience is daily persecution?
Well, there was coming out. Worrying about being discovered, being rejected, being declared mentally ill-we're talking about the late 60's here! It took moving from Ohio to NY in 1972 to actually act on my orientation. On a much smaller level, As an person of Italian heritage attending an Irish Catholic parochial school I took a lot of ribbing and was occasionally treated as a second class citizen. (still don’t reply to their alumni donation requests…) so there!


3 .St Francis had female counterpart in St Clare, she was influenced by St Francis sermon and went on to found the Poor Clare's, like the Franciscans they depended on alms this was unheard of for women in that time, but she persisted and gained permission to found the order. How important are role models like St Clare to you? Do you have a particular female role model whose courage and dedication inspires you? If so share their story....
I have lots of female role models. I’ll think of a particular one to post later. A lot of them are part of this group!

4. Francis loved nature and animals, how important is an expressed love of the created world to the Christian message today?
Nature is important to all of the spiritual world, not just Christian.

5. On a lighter note; have you ever led a service of blessing for animals, or a pet service, was it a success, did you enjoy it, and would you do it again?
No, can't say as I have not have I been to one.

Seen on the way to work in the NY Subway

That is a hospital gown he's wearing.