Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Food and the New Year

Inspired by my in-laws' copy of Fierce Food, I am going to make an effort to eat more things outside of my comfort zone this year. The reason is not because it makes me better in any way. It may by crazy to eat a locust, but I see most new foods as an experiment, after all if other people eat and enjoy these seemingly strange ingredients, why can't I? And on the whole, trying gross food is cheaper and (hopefully) safer than drugs, you know, without any of the moral, legal, behavioral issues, and other such trivial matters. Well, there are chapters in the book on human placenta and live monkey brains, but the live monkey brains dish is basically exposed as a hoax, and anything with the word human in the name is not classified as food in my book.

I did start my fierce food journey with a $3.49 purchase of Gustaf's double salt licorice. I actually like licorice, but more than 1-2 pieces of this at a time fills my nose with Ammonia fumes, making it hard to enjoy the candy. The "salt" in salt licorice is ammonium chloride, which is more commonly used in cleaning products, glues, and in medicines as an expectorant and diuretic. In addition to the heady fumes, ammonium salts are an irritant to the stomach lining and may induce nausea and vomiting. Back to the candy - I would like to try another brand just for comparison sake, but will stick to Sour Patch Kids the next time I need a sour candy treat.

Not a fierce food, but a dearly beloved food, waffles, will also be a bigger part of my 2009, thanks to my mom's gift of a waffle maker. A tradition of Saturday mornings waffles would be a thing of beauty, especially if I can get the wifey into the fun of making them with/for me!

Finally, here's an article about cast iron cookware. I love using cast iron, and in addition to buying a few pieces, my wife and I were both blessed with cast iron passed along from our grandmothers. Not only is it great to cook with, it can also serve as a bludgeoning weapon (a la Grosse Pointe Blank) should the need arise.

Happy New Year!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Politics and cooking have so many wonderful parallels.

For starters:

- "Either you have a seat at the table or you're on the menu."

- "Eat or be eaten."

John B.

Anonymous said...

Waffle Saturdays at our house used to be as regular as... something fairly regular. But recently there have been fewer waffles and more breakfast jump-ups (as in, "why don't you jump up and fix your own breakfast?").

All said, I'm bullish on the delicious deliciousness of a delicious waffle.