It's all about the food...

Well here it is, five days later and I finally have that meme I've promised. This is the food meme that has made the rounds. I would give credit were credit due if I could remember where I found it but I can't but if I could I believe the credit would belong to this lovely man. So without further adieu have a gander at what I have and have not eaten in my lifetime as well as some things I never plan to put in my mouth. You'd be surprised how many things that weren't on this list that have made it into my mouth, or maybe you wouldn't, and get your minds out of the gutter. Anyway, bon apetit...

1) Bold all the items you have eaten.
2) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (Since I've never been able to strike through things or figured out how I will have to go with mark to things in italics.)

I have to admit that I had to look a few of these things up to find out what they were. There are a few of the dishes I would love to try and definitely will if I ever get the chance.

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 - Yes, and then found out I was allergic ending up in hospital for a week
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart – No, and why would you?
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle – Not by themselves but used in making a sauce if that counts.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - Blueberry
19. Steamed pork buns – yes after friends took us out for Yum Cha (aka Dim Sum to some). I have to say never again to Yum Cha but not the pork buns they were great.
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes – Yes, even though I’m not big on tomatoes. We were at a friends house for dinner and I was brought up to not be rude so I ate then and they weren’t half bad.
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras - Yes. and never again
24. Rice and beans – Red beans and rice to be specific and once a week every week growing up in New Orleans. It’s a staple on school lunch menus and it was a staple in our home once a week every week. So I guess that means I actually had it twice a week.
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters – Once and never again
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 – I’ve had clotted cream with Devonshire tea which included warm scones and strawberry preserves
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O – Yes, one to many in my life time, but none lately.
39. Gumbo – Of course, remember I grew up in New Orleans
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal - I like Indian food but this is WAY to hot for me.
44. Goat’s milk – I’ve not actually had a glass of milk but I’ve had plenty of cheese made with it
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala – yes possibly once a week as we get Indian takeaway
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 – A long, long, long time ago
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini – Yes but not my cup of tea or should that be cup of alcohol
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores – Yes, But not for a long time now.
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin – Why would you? When I looked this up all I could find out is that it was some sort of clay.
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake – Beignets from Café DuMonde
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette – Andoulle sausage is a staple in New Orleans and it sure is good in some gumbo.
71. Gazpacho - Yes, but not again. I never understood cold soup
72. Caviar and blini - Yes, but I think highly over-rated.
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie – Yes, but it was so long ago I’m not even sure what flavour it was. I suppose it would have been apple.
78. Snail – Yes, to rubbery for my taste.
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini – Again, one too many in my lifetime
81. Tom yum – A lovely Thai dish that we don’t have nearly enough
82. Eggs Benedict - Yes, my favourite breakfast to order when we are at a restaurant.
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef – Yes and it was delicious.
86. Hare – Not my favourite but will try over again from time to time depending on the restaurants presentation
87. Goulash
88. Flowers – Yes, in a few things but mainly in salads
89. Horse - Yes, apparently we were eating it when I was a child and my mother was getting meat from the downstairs neighbour whose husband was a butcher. The neighbour showed my mum how to cook this meat by sauteing it for a long time in lots of butter. My mother asked the lady what made the meat so tender and that’s when the lady told here it was horse meat. We stopped getting our meat from the neighbor shortly after that revelation.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam - Unfortunately
92. Soft shell crab – Yes, and it’s very nice.
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish – We used to eat a lot of this growing up but I haven’t had any since.
95. Mole poblano – Love me some chicken mole enchiladas!
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor – One of my favourite dishes but then again I love lobster period
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee – No and never will since I don’t drink coffee
100. Snake

52 things out of a 100 is not bad and of those things not tried there were many that I would so that number of tried things could eventually get bigger. You never know, you just never know.

I'm yummy...

Again with a bit of fun and a huge amount of laziness on my part. Enjoy...

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

TV Dinners...

I know I said I would put up a real post but once again I'm just not feeling it so I'm going for another meme. In some ways it's not cheating because you do get to find out quirky stuff about me and my life. It's really like being interviewed and even though I'm not a celebrity I can feel like one. I have been so into cooking lately with my new cook top and oven. That I figured it would be appropriate to do a meme on cooking. This particular meme is about cooking and television. I love watching LifeStyle FOOD channel here in Australia. I think it's fascinating watching people create things. I'm always afraid to mix certain ingredients for fear they taste like crap and I'll have to throw it all away and that would be such a waste of food. So anyway on to today's meme and it goes like this:

1. Favorite TV Chef: Jamie Oliver, I know it seems to be an obvious pick but I find him easy to watch, what can I say

2. Favorite TV Cooking Personality: John Torode and Gregg Wallace from Masterchef Goes Large. I would love to test all the food that they get served up to them by the contestants.

3. Favorite TV Dinner: I don't do a lot of TV dinners but if I had to pick one it would be Heinz Steam Fresh Honey Mustard Chicken

4. Favorite Watching TV Movie Snack: Popcorn, it's not original but it's what I like

So there you go, wasn't that intriguing. I bet you were on the edge of your seat and I'm sure you found some of my answers shocking to say the least. It just goes to show you how little you know a person.

What's up???

Well I suppose that's the question you should be asking me. There are bloggers out there who seem to be able to write paragraph after paragraph about all sorts of things. I'm not one of those. I have a hard time thinking about what to write. I understand that this is my space and I can write whatever. I also know that I'm not going to get a million ongoing visitors who find my life and writings so fascinating that they can't go one day without seeing what I have to write.

A friend of mine recently sent me an email saying "I love your capacity to tell good stories about cheesecakes and HIV in the same blog." Now, I know she was being honest and truly meant what she had said but it made me think. I'm not sure what I write is that fascinating. Her comment did make me realise that this blog is exactly what I said it would be when I first started it over two years ago. This is just about me and the things I might find interesting. I never said you would be interested but am more than happy if you are so inclined.

This blog is a space in which I am able to talk about my life and what is currently going on. I do this so that my family and those few friends that are interested are able to keep up with what is happening in my part of the world. Occasionally I can also comment on certain things if I so choose. Seeing that we live in a relatively remote part of the world I don't get to see my family as much as I would like. To see my family requires me to get on a plane and fly usually around 25 plus hours. It's not like I can just pop in to see them. So I try to at least try to keep them posted about what is happening around here using this space.

I appreciate my friends words about my capacity to write about such a wide range of thins but the truth of it all is I write what I want to and what I write is not necessarily that ground breaking. I write for my self and if anyone is interested then I can only hope I at least make sure I spell check everything for them; other than that I can not promise what they will read will be even remotely interesting, kind of like this post.

Anyway, as to what's up, let me think. The oven is brilliant. I'm like a kid in a candy store. I'm as giddy as a school girl at the mall with my mothers credit card. I don't even know where to start. I love to cook and more specifically I love to bake. So lets just say for the next several months I will be reclaiming my life as a cook and I will be making up for a lot of lost time. Also, the new cook top, that we bought when we bought the oven, works correctly now that the proper gas-fittings have been installed so I'm now able to make a proper dinner.

In the short time that we've had the new oven. I've made:

Milk chocolate cheesecake
Pecan pie x2
Chocolate decadence cake
Oatmeal cookies w/white chocolate chunks and cranberries

Next up Pumpkin bread w/cranberry cream filling

What else is going on? Well James is still working most weekends on night duty, which is okay as it gives us most of the week Mon-Thursday to be together and do whatever chores need to be attended to. He also likes the nights because it keeps him away from the politics at work. I am still struggling with my neuropathy but that will never go away. I'm pretty well resigned to no more driving because of the amount of pain medicine I have to take now on a daily basis. I will just have to learn to continually adjust and I will. I have lost a few pounds/kilos, which is surprising considering all the baking I've been doing. Other than that we are just settling in getting ready for winter to truly arrive. We've had a few cold spells so far but nothing horrendous. James has done a lot of gardening and getting all the flower beds mulched and ready for their winter sleep. The Japanese Maple in the back yard is turning a lovely shade of red as usual. I love the fall colours but I am sad when that tree looses all its leaves, but i know it will be back next spring so there is something to look forward to as little as that is.

Well I suppose I've rambled on enough so I will stop for now. There is only so much boredom I can dish out in a day. Keep your eyes peeled for posts about our upcoming trip to Strahan with the bears in June and also pictures and stories will be forthcoming about our visit to the Hawkes Bay region on the North Island of New Zealand, which we are planing for August to visit our friend Moys. So you see there is something to look forward to if your really bored.

Just desserts

I like to bake especially desserts and I like to cook in general with Xmas on it's way there are lots of things I want to make or attempt to make. One of the best things about this house had/has going for it when we were looking to buy was the fact that is has a big kitchen. The apartment we own in Sydney and that we lived in for six years before we moved here had what is called a galley kitchen. Let me tell you it was just that; a galley. It was like trying to cook on a small sail boat, which is why we almost always had some type of takeaway (Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, you get the idea...).

I could never make a big meal in the apartment kitchen because it was so small. The stove/oven combo which was also tiny to be accommodated in the kitchen was also very old. So old that it did not regulate temperatures right if at all and only three of the burners worked. Needless to say about the only time I turned that thing on was in the winter so I could pretend to cook something but I was really only hoping to warm up the apartment. Mind you we really only got really cold days about two times during the winter. We were living in Sydney after all.... Funnily enough we replaced that stove with a brand new one just before we left to move to Tasmania, because we were going to rent that apartment out for some extra income and we had to provide them with a working stove. I don't know if the tenants use it or not as they would still have to deal with the size restraints of the kitchen in general but that's not my problem.

Anyhoo, when we found our new home we/I loved the new kitchen. It was huge (it runs the width of our house in the back) and best of all it has a separate gas cook top and a separate oven which is an electric fan forced type. I had not used a fan forced oven before but it had to be a hell of a lot better that what we had. We also gained a dining room for which we ended up buying a real life dining table. The need for one in the previous apartment was non-point as there was no dining room. We used to eat or takeaway on our laps. If we had guest or a party I made sure the food was either something cold and finger food size or once again shipped in. I was looking forward to all sorts of dinner parties.

I have been cooking dinner now on a regular basis since we moved in two years ago, no more takeaways. (OK, we have takeaway once a week. I need a break too). I mean I've been making real meals with things like, roasts, spaghetti bolognase, stroganoff, fresh steamed fish and real vegetables sliced, diced, boiled and mashed. You name it I'm making it. Best of all I love to bake and was thrilled at the thought of being able to make things like chocolate decadence cake or my grandmother's buttermilk pie. I have this big beautiful oven that actually works. WRONG!

As I mentioned earlier the new oven is and electric fan forced type, top of the line even. The previous owners had expensive taste. A fan forced oven is very different from a regular electric oven and you have to bake things at temperatures at least ten degrees less then normal. Well let me tell you this thing burns things like there's no tomorrow. I mean I have to actually turn down the heat by twenty degrees and also back down the cooking time by 10-15 minutes. I do keep trying but it's really bad.

I tried once again to bake something yesterday, a key lime pie and as usual it burnt that baby as if had been bad all it's life and it had been sent to hell. Xmas is a week away and we have friends coming over next weekend for a small get together and I am really concerned about what to make for food. I have purposely picked a menu that does not use the oven except for one item and I will just have to keep my fingers crossed. So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, I think it just seems like just desserts that I was so happy to get away from that kitchen in Sydney and to move to this big wonderful kitchen only to be reminded that the grass is not always greener on the other side (or at least when it comes to kitchens). Who knows maybe Santa will bring me a new oven???