Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Nom, Nom, Nom, Nom

I am going to consider myself tagged by Laura because I am struggling with pulling together anything coherent or interesting today. At the very least, having a numbered, topical list might help with the coherency issue. Interesting? Not so much. (You’ve been warned!)

The rules are, as follows,

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.

2. Share 5 facts about yourself. – Laura talked about food, so I am, too.

3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them)

4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.


1. Meat freaks me the right hell out, but I wish that it didn’t. I like the taste of meat, and I think it provides important nutrition. I know I drive family and friends a bit batty with my random shrieking and gagging at the dinner table (yes, yes I have done that).

But, I imagine pathogens all over and in it, and am TERRIFIED of biting into a piece of GOD KNOWS WHAT that I can’t get my teeth through. After An Incident of Biting Into Something Scary, my gag reflex is then on High Alert and I can’t even choke down a raw baby carrot. *gag* A. now recognizes the look that comes across my face when this happens, and has been known to quietly pass me a napkin to spit into when this unfortunate event happens in a public place. LOVE HIM.

2. Once, while browning up some ground moose meat for Sloppy Joes, I saw a piece of something that was this color:

It really was! I am not exaggerating! Ask A.! I made him look and made him *gag* remove it. *GAG*

My terror around all things meat has increased tenfold since.

3. I am not, however, scared in the slightest to eat raw fish. I looooooooooooooove sushi and sashimi. I crave it. I could eat a spicy tuna roll every day and never grow bored. Yum. Which is all very problematic and unfortunate since I live in a sea of sagebrush.

4. Going to the grocery store to buy food results in near anxiety attacks every week. I’ve been known to abandon my cart in the store for a few minutes, step outside, and breathe deeply before returning to the Cave of Sinister Tricks and Evil Lies. I’ve gone into some of my concerns about food and nutrition a bit before, but the sheer sophistication, cynicism and greed of the food marketing and delivery system boggle my simple mind. (Let’s not leave the nutrition industry out of the indictment!) The bummer is, the more I start to think about things, the more desperately I want out of the rabbit hole.

And I have a hard time keeping this shit in perspective.

5. I’ve got three food “projects” in mind. I’d like to attempt to make the following from scratch very soon:

a. whole-wheat bread with sprouted whole wheat grains that I sprout myself;

b. mayonnaise; and

c. mozzarella.

I am far too lazy to tag anyone, and for all I know everyone is sick of being tagged. Feel free to tag yourself if you just want to talk about food or if you are struggling with a topic today.

Happy Wednesday to you!

17 comments:

  1. Dude, we sound pretty similar, food-wise. I too could eat a spicy tuna roll each day. I also hate going to the store. I have made mayo from scratch a couple of times, and neither time yielded good results. Once the result was inedible, and the other time it was okay, but not the delicious homemade goodness that I've heard mayonnaise is supposed to be. Good luck, and if it works let me know! (FYI, I read the recipes for mayo on cookingforengineers.com and also at marthastewart.com and worked with those.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. God I love it when you write about food. You are too cute and simultaneously right on with your fears. I mean, I assume, since I know very little about this stuff. And also, go A. for recognizing your look and discreetly handing you a napkin.

    And mmm. I could so eat sushi and sashimi for every meal for the rest of my life (breakfast included) and not get sick of it. Assuming I could have a variety of kinds, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When I got to that giant turquiose square, I just DIED laughing. Oh man. What the hell WAS that? I hope it was a trick of the eye.

    Mayo SEEMS like the easiest thing on that list. Maybe Alton Brown's recipe? I mean, I don't HAVE it or anything, but when in doubt, Pick Alton.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What on earth could be that color in moose meat? Or meat of any animal? Traumatizing.

    I also adore the spicy tuna roll and wish I could make sushi at home, but that would require far too much skill and also access to sushi grade fish, which would cost more than my rent I would imagine.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ami and Tessie - I am a bit nervous about the mayo. I mean, if it goes badly, it seems like it would go VERY BADLY.

    Love Alton Brown. Love!

    And Ami - welcome!

    Jess - I love food and am totally obsessed with it. Probably not a healthy combination. Oh, but to have a variety of yummy sushi daily - I could sooo do that.

    flib - Alton Brown's sushi show was the first (and only) time I got slightly infuriated by him. No way is it that easy to make your own sushi - a great sushi rice - at home. NO WAY.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was waiting for the punchline where you said, "just kidding, this is the opposite of me". I just assumed that anyone who made moosemeat sloppy joes was a-okay with meat. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ami - P.S. - Are you over your cold?

    LoriD - Too funny! No, I really do have a ridiculously hard time eating meat. I eat it mostly because A. insists he can't live without it.

    And I can muster up the courage to eat wild game since I know it didn't grow up on a feed lot and that A. killed it with kindness. (He doesn't take hunting lightly. He struggles with taking a life. He won't even kill the Scary Spiders In The Shower for me.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Man, moose meat sounds awesome. Is it a tough meat?

    ReplyDelete
  9. P&D - I am not really qualified to answer this as I almost always end up over-cooking it in an effort to KILL THE PATHOGENS. But, the Sloppy Joes never turn out tough or chewy, and A. has had pretty good success with making roasts, etc. from it. I'd say no, it is not tough. No more than elk or deer.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hahahahahahaha... I needed to laugh like that. This post is completely timely as I icked myself completely out tonight, while slicing flank steak for fajitas. *gag* Right there with you.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So, I have bought GOOD meat from our meat market here that is dyed blue on the outer edge. I just trim it away, though I think it is just food dye.That was beef though, and from a meat market.
    I am suspecting the moose meat was not inspected by the FDA for grade and quality.

    Back in MT each fall my whole dads side of the family has wild game processing parties, they are all avid hunters. They have a 'family grinder and meat table'. As a child I was always part of the festivities. We would all have different meat processing jobs: cut, clean, sort, wrap, label and freeze the deer, elk, antelope, moose, game birds, etc.

    Anyway, do you process your own meat or take it to a wild game processor? Maybe it was just somebodies shirt sleave that got caught in the grinder.

    I am sorry, I bet that did not help at all with your squimishness toward meat. Oh well, I am posting it anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yick, yick, meat meat, yickety yick. The first year of our marriage we mostly just ate chicken (which Jim could make) or pasta with marinara and salad, because I refused to touch or handle raw meat. Now I WILl do it but I still HATE it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm so puzzled by the blue meat! What could it be? And also, yeuck! I feel the same way sometimes in the grocery store. I try to keep my eyes to the front and grab only what I know isn't cleverly marketing corn syrup, but sometimes it becomes too much!

    ReplyDelete
  14. i am SO OVER making mayo. i tried once and failed miserably, so now pretend i'm not interested in making it ever again. pshaw. stupid mayo.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Man, I found something blue like that once in ground beef. UGGGGGH.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mozzarella is very easy to make!

    Rikki the Cheese Queen has a very easy kit you can buy.

    Ricotta is also easy to make.

    I don't have the gag reflex thing, but I just feel sad when I see meat, particularly that is farmed in the cruel (normal!) way. In order to eat anything, though, something has to die. Even if it's just a plant. I keep reminding myself this.

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the word verification. Spambots have found this little blog!