What Have You Eaten?

Erin passed along this interesting one: what from this list have you eaten, would you eat, or would you never eat? I had to look up some of the items on the list, but I was pleased to see that I've tried a lot of the list.

Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions. Bold all the items you've eaten. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating (or eating again). [I don't know how to cross out text here, so I've put the "never eats" in red. And the "have tried" in blue for good measure.]

Venison
Nettle tea
Huevos rancheros
Steak tartare
Crocodile
Black pudding
Cheese fondue
Carp
Borscht
Baba ghanoush
Calamari
Pho
PB&J sandwich
Aloo gobi
Hot dog from a street cart
Epoisses
Black truffle
Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
Steamed pork buns
Pistachio ice cream
Heirloom tomatoes
Fresh wild berries
Foie gras
Rice and beans
Brawn, or head cheese
Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (not into heat)
Dulce de leche
Oysters
Baklava
Bagna cauda
Wasabi peas
Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
Salted lassi
Sauerkraut
Root beer float
Cognac with a fat cigar
Clotted cream tea (I've had clotted cream with herbal tea, but this might be something specific)
Vodka jelly
Gumbo
Oxtail
Curried goat
Whole insects
Phaal
Goat's milk (I totally forgot about the goat that lived in our front yard until Erin reminded me)
Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
Fugu
Chicken tikka masala
Eel
Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
Sea urchin
Prickly pear
Umeboshi
Abalone
Paneer
McDonald's Big Mac Meal
Spaetzle
Dirty gin martini
Beer above 8% ABV
Poutine
Carob chips (I ODed on them at the international cinema and haven't eaten carob since)
S'mores
Sweetbreads
Kaolin (I bought a bag of "Georgia White Dirt" on our trip to Atlanta. All sorts of health claims)
Currywurst
Durian
Frog's Legs
Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
Haggis (not so tasty...)
Fried plantain (I gagged down boiled plantain and have no desire to try it again)
Chitterlings or andouillette
Gazpacho
Caviar and blini
Louche absinthe
Gjetost or brunost
Roadkill
Baijiu
Hostess Fruit Pie
Snail (both land and sea, both tasty)
Lapsang souchong
Bellini
Tom yum
Eggs Benedict
Pocky
Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (on my "bucket list")
Kobe beef
Hare (does rabbit count? I've had that a few times)
Goulash
Flowers
Horse (I haven't but James has)
Criollo chocolate
Spam
Soft shell crab (I can't stand to watch people eat whole crab, so I doubt I'll ever try it)
Rose harissa (I've had non-rose harissa)
Catfish
Mole poblano
Bagel and lox
Lobster Thermidor
Polenta
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
Snake

James has been kicked off the high council...

...and called into the bishopric. He's the second counselor. It's a completely new bishopric, and he's with two very good men.

I keep thinking of President Benson's saying: "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." I'm beginning to believe that we're not meant to get too comfortable in life. Not that this calling is a bad thing, but it will definitely be a learning/growing experience for both of us.

Quote of the Day

"If you ever leave me this much time, I will drop dead and haunt you."

James, after the first speaker and the intermediate hymn were done with 35 minutes left in sacrament meeting

BEETS!!

There's a reason Dwight Shrute grows beets--people aren't supposed to like them. They're "peasant" food, something your ancestors kept in the root cellar to sustain them through the harsh winter. They're ugly in their raw form, dirty and hairy and looking very much like the roots they are:

I know a woman who detests beets but has several cases of canned beets in her food storage so that "when the marauders come, I'll have something to give them." That's a direct quote. (I don't know why marauders wouldn't knock her over and take her entire store, but maybe they'll be happy with whatever she decides to give them. If they ever come. Apparently there are polite marauders in her version of the apocalypse.)

Anyway, I like beets. I only knew the pickled variety until I went to France, where you can buy cooked whole beets in the produce section or go to the deli for tasty marinated beet salad. Then when I started growing them in my garden, I truly became addicted.

Susan asked for my recipe for gingery beet salad, and I started making some today, documenting the quantities for everything. I don't know what I was thinking, though, and I put in a healthy dose of dijon mustard instead of ginger. It was dang tasty. Here are the proportions for that one, though everything is to taste, really:

4 c shredded beets
4 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1.5 Tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper

The gingery salad is about the same, but instead of mustard you put in lots and lots of fresh grated ginger. (My favorite ginger tip: keep wrapped in plastic in your freezer, then grate it still frozen with a microplane grater/zester. It grates like a dream, and you don't even have to peel it. And it keeps forever.)

My other beet stand-by is roasted beets. They taste much better than boiled, and they couldn't be easier. Just trim and scrub them, wrap them in a foil packet like a tinfoil dinner, and pop them in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Make sure the beets are about the same size so they cook evenly. Here's what I roasted today:

Funny note about the long, skinny beets--I have been a bad beet steward, so this is the first time I've thinned the herd, so to speak. So I thought that I'd created a mutant variety with all the overcrowding. But then I remembered that I planted two varieties, one round and one skinny. Oh yeah.

After roasting the skin comes off super easy. Then I slice them and put them in a salad with goat cheese, arugula, and the mustardy vinaigrette. Again, super tasty.

What are your favorite beet recipes?

Pickles

Today I tried something new: making pickles. I started with green beans and a recipe from Emeril. Green beans, fresh rosemary, and lemon rind in a brine of white vinegar, water, and salt. Here's the "in process" picture:

Steam process for 15 minutes, then let "cure" for 3 weeks. I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long.... It seemed wasteful to heat up the whole canning pot for just two pints, but it felt like the beans needed to be cooked, so I didn't want to skip that step. And this way I can keep one pint for later.

Then I tackled bread and butter pickles. Lara inspired me with her success story, and then there was a recipe in this month's Cooking Light, so it was fate. Cukes are from the Borskis. This mixture smelled wonderful:

The b&b pickles don't require processing, so I just put them in a big jar and will keep them in the fridge. Here are the finished products:

I'll let you know how they taste...

Apricot Curd

OH ... MY ... GOODNESS ... this is tasty stuff.

I love lemon curd, but I'd never heard of apricot curd until Lena mentioned it on Saturday. She gave me the recipe (see below), and I finally got around to making it today, and I'm floored by the results. I was a little skeptical, since it sounds like apricot jam with eggs in it, which doesn't sound tasty at all. But it's amazing how creamy and pudding-like the warm results are, how rich and flavorful. I assume it will be a little firmer than pudding once it cools. Honestly, it tastes like lemon curd with apricot mixed in rather than the other way around. I'm not complaining--I love lemon curd, and this version is just a bit sweeter and more complex.

Oh, and a note to Salt Lakers, Mary Boyer still has tons of apricots, if anyone wants to try this recipe.

8 oz fresh apricots

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1½ oz (2½ Tbsp) butter, diced

8 oz* superfine sugar (I used regular)

2 eggs, beaten

Wash the fruit and put into a pan with very little water and cook until soft. Push the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof bowl and stir in the sugar, lemon zest and juice and the butter. Place the bowl over a pan of hot (not boiling) water and cook, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the eggs and continue to cook until thick. Pour into warm, sterilised jars and cover with waxed discs and lids or cellophane covers. Store in a cool place.

*Note that this is 8 oz by weight, not volume. I expected it to be one cup, but it was considerably more than that, closer to two cups. I thought it seemed like too much sugar, so I used only 6-7 oz, and my curd is a little tart.

Any canning experts out there want to suggest processing times for longer-term storage? I'd love to give this away as Christmas gifts, but I'm a bit wary of leaving it unsealed that long. (I think modern standards even rule out the parafin seal for jams and such.)

Next time I think I'll reduce the lemon and increase the apricots. I wonder how many other fruits are curd-able?