Adventures in Foodland

I've made a couple of soups out of The Body Ecology Diet book and I have to say, so far, I'm very unimpressed. I made the Quinoa Hash for some guests recently and, boy, do I wish I had tried it myself before serving it unawares. GOLLY, IT WAS BLAND. Needed tons of salt and flavor. It was nothing like the quinoa dishes I've had at R. Thomas. What is their secret? Does anyone know? I made the Broccoli and Fennel soup a couple of weeks ago and it was bland...ONLY UNTIL it sat in my refrigerator for four days and I tried it one more time because it looked like there was only a bowlful left and I ate it--finally--THAT TIME...it tasted alright. I also made the Cauliflower Dill soup and it's kinda bland and watery looking. I tried to boil a lot of water out, but imo, it needs something with substance like cream or seafood or something. Perhaps the answer is...crawdads?

Speaking of crawdads, I attended my first crawfish boil recently. They were free and they were delicious, but impossible to eat quickly. Also, you need to eat A LOT of crawfish to get full so my advice is to eat before going to the boil so the crawdads are like little yummy nuggets of southern love in your mouth and you're not scrambling to eat multiple plates like a starving mooch.

So, to sum up: Body Ecology Diet recipes: Overwhelming blandness. Crawfish boils: yay!

Thoughts on Violet Crumble

An Australian candy with this melt-in-your-mouth buttery crunchy stuff covered in chocolate. They call it "honeycomb"; I call it "delicious whatever". The chocolate is not the best, but it's minimal and the crunchy middle makes up for it. Get your mits on one of these (these were obtained from A Taste of Britain in old Norcross. They are probably also at Harry's or Whole Foods). I think it's one of the few foodstuffs still made with hydrogenated oils these days. Maybe that's why it's so good. Yum.

Caving and Korean Stinkyfruit

So, I went on a spelunking adventure last weekend which, much to my surprise, also turned out to be a nudist camp/naked hot tub adventure for the so inclined. (*If you are interested in participating in future events, check out The AOC's website.) This was my first event, so I don't know how crazy all the events are. I'm guessing that if there is alcohol involved and it's an overnight stay, all kinds of things happen in all kinds of tents. Just remember that bonfires purify and you should be ok. Note: Ask me how you can avoid losing your iPod! Answer: I don't know! I lost mine!

Our group of 13 went into Worley's Cave. It took roughly one hour to find and four hours to explore. It was dark in that cave...it sure was. I think the highlight was sitting around in the complete darkness for several minutes, snacking and chatting. Oh, yeah, and getting out alive. That was cool, too.

Some of our Korean friends brought a delicacy that for the sake of simplicity we will call "stinkyfruit". It looked exotic and smelled quite craptacular. It smelled like rotten meat and scared many of the weaker stomached drunks away. I, however, have a very strong iron-like stomach, especially when empowered by strong social lubricants and an even stronger affinity to show up a man any chance I get. So I ate it. At first, it tasted like the rotten meat that it smelled of. Then it started to taste like cheese. Then it started tasting sweet. At the point where it started to taste sweet, I swallowed and all was well. I repeated this experiment twice and lived. I also didn't complain about the smell until I ate guacamole the next day and I swear it tasted just like rotten meat. I would rather be a fan of guacamole than stinkyfruit because stinkyfruit costs $20 a pop from a Korean grocer and I just can't work that into my fruit budget.

I highly recommend AOC events, Korean stinkyfruit, and responsible drinking.