Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Omnivore's 100

Following the news of this from my apprentice, I went to check my score. Survey says: 39.
Bold=things I've eaten.
Italics=stuff I won't/can't eat.

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
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
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
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
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
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
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
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
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Thursday, August 30, 2007

In Memoriam, Christopher Scofield

Last thursday my friend Poni's husband Christopher had a stroke and was taken to the local ER/stroke specialty clinic. After nearly a week of intubation and paralysis, yesterday (wed. 8/29) he passed away. As I sit here crying again, I want to talk about what this man of quiet strength meant to me.

Christopher Scofield was my local "uncle guy". Just last month he installed the step into the garage/studio in the condo (four years we've all been shlumping up & down that 11" drop and one day he and Poni showed up with supplies and he installed the step). He shared his old tool catalogs with me and talked "making stuff" in a grand fashion. He didn't care for participating in the SCA (Poni only got him into garb once last year) but he'd rig us encampment stuff in a heartbeat. I loved sharing house and project ideas with him (both of us gesturing pictures in the air.. what about this? you could do that...).

He was a small airplane/helicopter mechanic. People went out of their way to have *him* fix their machines. He loved planes and flying and airshows, motorcyles, kayaking, and scifi/fantasy novels. He knew wine & beer and at the holidays made his specialty cheeseball concoctions called "goo-balls". His favorite shows were Nova, Antiques Roadshow, and "This Old Mansion" as he called it. Gods, I'm going to miss his sense of humor. We all had the best time a couple of Christmases ago skipping all the holiday shows and instead watched Bugs Bunny cartoons. I've never laughed so hard.

Chris was a genuinely nice guy who cared about his family & friends with a deep and quiet affection. We're all going to miss him terribly.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Jury duty fun

Sat, August 4, 2007 - I had jury duty at the county courthouse last week. I didn't want to get stuck on a long case, so I was whining a little bit about going, but having gone I'm pretty glad I did. Sure, it's democracy in action but the only trial (which was a good thing it was quiet in the courts), was this case of a guy not showing up for a court date. I couldn't believe "failure to appear" was a crime and then he also got to have a jury trial for it! I kept thinking, you've got his [posterior] here now, fine him and let us all go back to work!

They called 47 people in for jury duty, kept 28 of them for selection (I got in this group), and chose 12 of them for a jury all so this guy could weasel out of why he missed his last court date. please! I'm all for due process but that was just dumb (says she, until it happens to one of us I guess). I came close to telling the prosecutor the above tirade but refrained. :-) I'm not sure the judge would have appreciated my rant and since it wasn't completely relevant...

The jury selection process was fascinating. I was worried they were going to ask all sorts of personal questions (like religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation) but the lawyers were more concerned about making sure we could be as fair as possible in our considerations based on our various histories. They kept all 28 of us prospective jurors in the courtroom and the defender lawyer got half hour to ask everyone questions then the prosecuting lawyer got a half hour to do the same. The court staff sets up a random order list and they take the next person in order for the jury as they excuse folks for various reasons. At that point I was juror 27 so even with "peremptory challenges" (excusing the folks they think will be biased or that they just don't like for whatever reason) they chose 12 people. I still think it was a waste of everyone's time, but as I said it was fascinating to be a participant.