scatterbrained

Where is this ride taking me and do I really want to go there?

30 October 2008

I'm not sure why I do this after all this time, but I still do. I still believe that individuals will be respectful to others. I wish I knew why it bothers me so much when they are not.

17 October 2008

I found wonderful yarn for my Soctoberfest socks, it is a beautiful blue variegated that is a wool bamboo blend. I tried the TTL mystery socks but I really don't like how they looked so I frogged and started again but I really don't like how the pattern is working up. I think I may start one more time and do something boring and familiar, a plain toe-up, I think.

03 October 2008

The Omnivore’s 100: How Many Have You Eaten?

Do you think you’re an adventurous eater? Are you the type of person who would you eat a snake, or an insect? Would you embrace a bowl of raw ground beef and bite into a snail with excitement? Well we’re about to find out just how adventurous you really are.
Very Good Taste blog came up with a list of foods that they feel every omnivore should eat in their life time, and they labeled it the “Omnivore’s 100“. They challenged us bloggers to copy the list, mark everything we have tried and cross off anything we wouldn’t. Bold means you’ve eaten it, crossed out means you wouldn’t touch it in a million years. So here is the list, along with my results.

Remember: bold means I’ve eaten it, strike out means I won’t eat it.

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. Calaarmi
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses (A French cheese)
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 (one of the hottest peppers in the world)
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 - I’ve had harissa but not with rose petals
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I had no idea that I have had so many interesting foods until I finished going through this list. There are very few things that I will not try but I just can’t do horse or roadkill.

01 October 2008

I wish I knew why I am so bad at updating this blog.
Today is 1 October. The beginning of Socktoberfest. I found some lovely yarn on Saturday, Trekking ProNatura and I picked a lovely blue variegated. I think I'm going to do another simple toe-up sock but by the time I get to the leg I may do some kind of a pattern.

I am nearly done with the Aliah sweater, I am constantly amazed at how much I like working with Vanna's Choice baby.

The teaching is going pretty well, but I would still love to be somewhere else.

Paul is no worse and no better than before, but I am getting annoyed when his hand tremors are so bad that it wakes me up. It is no fun to be waken by a wildly thrashing hand, especially when the owner of that hand is fast asleep and has no idea what is happening.

The most exciting thing that has been happening with me is that I am now a successful cheese maker. I was inspired, as were so many others, to try 30 minute Mozzarella as described in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This Monday my third attempt was successful.

Side note, I saw my favorite surgeon last week and he said that everything is as it should be and he will see me in one year. If everything is still fine at that point I will not have to go back. Dr. F is wonderful but I will not mind being free of pancreatic troubles.