Wild Things

I'm excited about this:


Anyone with me??

I'll try anything once...

The Omnivore's Hundred, which I first found via Fark, which linked to Foodproof, which has descriptions of all the items, making for a quick reference for things I had no idea what they were. I finally found it posted on Daily Pie and I thought I'd continue the fun.

"Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results."

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. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
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
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 whiskey 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
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

The Hermitage

Reminiscent of vacations of yore, while my family was visiting Nashville this weekend, we went to visit Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage. This trip was slightly different from the old vacations though--my sister and I had a say in where we visited. I've always been a little fascinated with General Jackson. As described in history class, his life seemed like a breath of fresh air after the stuffy profiles of the previous presidents. Maybe 'fresh air' isn't the right phrase, given his life, but at least the (woefully incorrect) description of the homesteading duellist was enough to catch the attention of a second-grader already disinterested in history.


Back to vacations: I remember hours of trudging around various historical sites as a child, bored, sunburnt, and tired. I remember later trips where we did more trudging around and I, as a teenager, was bored, sunburnt, tired, and absolutely horrified at the thought of being seen with my parents at a historical site. For this visit, I was just tired from walking around so much, but at least interested in the story being told.


The visit was good, in general. The price of admission gets you in to see a short film about Andrew Jackson's life and the land, an audio-guided tour complete with headsets, and free reign to walk around on the grounds and listen to the audio tour until your legs fall off or you start dancing to the questionable soundtrack of the audio tour. There's a lot to see and there's been considerable effort in preserving the home.


There are a number of pet peeves that I encountered during the visit:

1. Historical films neglecting to acknowledge the fact that the subject is dead by pretending that the film was made during the time period being discussed rather than 1983.
2. A glossing over of unpleasantness (in this case, the hardships of the slaves owned by Jackson--at least they acknowledged that he owned slaves).
3. Modern conveniences (air conditioning, electricity) installed in historical sites--after they were considered a historical locations.
4. No water conveniently available for visitors and vending machines charging $2 for a bottle of water. Unacceptable.
5. Period costumes. Wear matching polo shirts and ditch the air conditioning. Seriously.

The people were very friendly and very knowledgeable. While a little campy, the audio tour offered flexibility that couldn't be met with a guided tour. I got to cuddle with Texas while he flirted with the ladies in the historical costumes. I got to make/hear comments to/from Mom and Jenn about poor decorating choices made a long, long time ago. Mostly, I got to spend time with the family and I was very content (and tired) at the end of the day.

Attention Span

I played a lot of some Mario-based racing game when I was at Purdue over the summer of '97. I can't remember what version of what system or what whatever things were, but there was a level that was described as "difficult", not because of the high technical level, or the irritating cheat-for-computer mode, but because the track was long and people (especially children, evidently) would have a hard time keeping their concentration for the entire race. I thought the concept was really funny.

Now, the Iphone has a "productivity application" that is meant to improve your concentration. The concept? Hold down the button as long as you can. Lifehacker posted about it. Click on the screenshot link....if you can remember to do so when you get there.

There's how much sugar in that?

Tastespotting linked to Foodsel today, reminding me of the short discussion of Smarties on Daily Pie after last Halloween.

You can pick the food and it shows you the equivelant number of sugar cubes, sticks of butter, and batteries (calories?). It will also tell you how long you would need to work out for different activities to burn the calories you took in. Kinda interesting but kinda sad. Enjoy!!

Before you freak out with the numbers, the default serving (for M&M's, at least), seems quite large. I think it defaults to 1 cup of the food. I have eaten more than a cup of M&M's in a sitting, but it's not the norm.

Help Kids With Math!

We did this last year, but it's a good thing to do. My favorite middle-school math teacher has called on her friends to help a fellow teacher get responses to a survey that will teach the kiddos about percentages and other math-y things. Go help!!

Take the survey!

For fun, put "pomegranates" as your favorite fruit. Heh heh heh...

To waste your time...

Go take the Sci Fi Sounds Quiz.

I'm terrible. Identifying sounds isn't a strength, but it's an entertaining quiz. I went back and took this, trying to go from memory, but still only scored a 71. I think Jeremy got a 71 without the advantage of multiple choice answers. I would play a clip and he would say something like, "Oh, that's HAL."

I was going to post the little tag from the website, but I couldn't get it to play nicely so you'll have to go and take the quiz and imagine the little tag at the end of this post.

**Imagine Cute Tag Here**

Green Christmas?

I have no idea how well this works, but Catalog Choice gives you an option to decide which catalogs you want to receive. Sounds great, eh?

Thanks Susan!!

Letters

I received real mail this week. I checked my mailbox as I was on my way to campus and found a card. A real card--just because!! I detoured back to my apartment to open it right then because I couldn't wait. I think about how happy I get when I get a letter, note, anything from a real person that I think I ought to be sending letters to people I know (like real correspondence).

Another inspiration for sending letters is the beautiful and fun stamps that the post office has put out this year. See? Yoda! Yea!

Go buy stamps and send a letter!! Make someone's day.

Inspired by: Sunflower!! Thanks soo much!!!

Yum!

Jeremy is here. I have no ice cream. We wanted something sweet. Do I really need to say anything more?

Yum!

Ask and ye shall...

This will probably become more commonplace with the fabulous-ness of the infoweb, but Minnesota Public Radio has a candidate selector quiz. It has the major issues and the stances of the candidates and you can rate the issues based on how important they are to you. It then pops out an ordered list of candidates. Very cool. I was looking for something like this the other day and Chris pointed me this way. Thanks, Chris!!

Go try it!

I wish WFIU would do something like this for the local elections...

Followup: #756

It turns out that Matt Murphy auctioned the Barry Bonds home run ball #756. I had posted earlier that I was disappointed, but something about taxes made the guy think he couldn't keep it. Well, as it happens, the ball was auctioned for around $750,000, much higher than originally anticipated and the name of the winner was not immediately released.

To my glee, Mark Ecko, a NY fashion designer and pop culture fan won the auction and has posted a website for the public to decide the fate of the ball. We can vote to donate the ball to the hall of fame, brand it with an asterisk and donate the branded ball to the hall of fame, or launch the ball into space.

Watch Mark's story on the Today show. He's evidently prepared to finance the launch of the ball, if voting goes that way. I'm fascinated. It's a lot of money to make a statement like this, but I'm all for it. Perhaps this is, aside from Mr. Murphy keeping it and playing catch with his grandkids, the best possible outcome.

Go vote. It's your right.

Sportswoman of the Year

Rebecca Ward, a sabre fencer, has been nominated by the Women's Sports Foundation for Sportswoman of the Year. She's up against the likes of Lorena Ochoa and Justine Henin.

Go and support fencing and vote for Rebecca. It requires some information to be provided, but they didn't specify that the information had to be correct.

Thanks.

A good idea?

We'll see.

My Tarot Card

Webhamstress had a survey posted on Free Cletus designed to find your tarot card. I was completely creeped out when I did this because it came up with the same card that I deemed "mine" in the short, dark period of Jr. High. Cue creepy music...

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Step away from the laptop

It's 1:30 am. I need to go to sleep, but I was catching up on some reading, winding down from the day (yes, all, I did finish my math assignment) and stumbled upon this and I thought, "UNpossible".

Then, I found myself following directions and walking 6 steps away from my computer and when I looked back, I thought, "woooah, poahsssible". Weird.

Then I decided to get some sleep.

Well, blog about it first, then sleep.

g'night.

P.S. Having already talked about the daily life of an octopus this week, I thought I might share that there's definitely an elephant post to come, and I think someone mentioned llamas, but I haven't figured out the relevance yet.

At the Opry

I had the chance to go to the Friday Night edition of the Grand Ole Opry last weekend. Essentially the same show as the Saturday night, still broadcast on the radio, still very good. The show was held at Ryman Auditorium, the previous "official" opry house, but now is the winter home of the show.

The whole show was pretty amazing. It started with the obligatory reminder that it is a radio show and there would be a bit of prompting for the audience. When the announcers clap, everybody claps. The music was consistently good and there was a variety of types of country--from Western to Bluegrass to Cajun. Some of the acts that stood out to me were the Del McCoury Band, Emmylou Harris, John Starling & Carolina Star, Joe Nichols, Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys, and Riders in the Sky. I ended up downloading John Starling's new album from emusic. It's scheduled to be released on February 20 on Amazon.

There's a certain casualness to the atmosphere that I really enjoyed. The folks performing were very much "on" while they played their numbers, but from my vantage point, I could see all of stage right, including the comings and goings of the artists. People would roll in about a half-hour in advance, perform their set, and leave. Those who weren't performing stood around nearby, listened and talked near stage. During "commercial" breaks, there was some interaction between the audience and the performers--flash photography was allowed (read: encouraged) and some of the artists would ham it up a bit. Very fun.

I had flashbacks during the show of sitting in the middle of Granny and Pop-Pop's living room floor, wrapped in a blanket watching the Opry on television. It seems that it was on every night (and may have been, had they also televised the Friday show). We would make popcorn, drink soda, and stay up late--you know, until 9:30. I think Pop was watching with me.

Idiotarod--Phoenix

I got an e-mail this week from Shawn. The mail was to four of us and said something along the lines of "check this out--Sarah, you're in the cart". I had been volunteered for a race that none of us could actually attend due to its location across the country, but was really tempting. We all geared up for a theoretical trip to Phoenix to participate in the first running of the Phoenix Idiotarod. Basically, four people pulling a "borrowed" grocery cart while someone is riding in or on said cart. There can be modifications to the cart, but it must ride on the crappy hard rubber wheels that take it through the store it was originally intended for. It's everything I look for in a race--short, convoluted, and had the potential for me to participate without running a step.

It seems that there would be a lot of potential for "creative gaming". The rules suggest bringing along a bike lock for the mandatory 20 minute delays at the checkpoints. It has been suggested that you bring along several bike locks for the mandatory waits--for other carts. Other thoughts? Anyone??

Shawn says that he's going to try to get one set up in B-ton. I'm all for it.

JanSport

Many years ago (let's go with the Fall of 1996), I purchased a backpack for college. This bag was to be carried around with me wherever I went, it was destined to carry all my crap through school, camping, working, and triathlon-ing. It finally got to the point where I couldn't actually ask it to do anything beyond sit there and take up space.

I then remembered the JanSport "lifetime" guarnatee. My backpack recently got sent back to JanSport. They promptly sent me a postcard telling me that it arrived alright, and tonight, I got the (original) backpack back, safe and sound, as promised. Several things had been fixed, altered, manipulated, agitated, or otherwise changed, but the bag, along with all the safety pins from races was returned as good as new.

Hindsight tells me I should have saved the postcard with the arrival notice and that I should have taken a "before" picture, but that was before the blog. I willl know better in the future. I am pleased with the outcome of the situation. I have a bag that will serve me well through the next few years, and I have been vaguely entertained at the prospect of sending back a well-used bag and having it completely repaired for the cost of shipping.

It is a bit smaller than it was originally, though.
I suppose I should list that as a drawback, but I'm just happy to have my bag back.

Thank you, JanSport!!!

Standard Deviation

One of my favorite jr. high teachers e-mailed today asking for help filling out a survey (www.survey.jokai.net) for one of the Bedford Middle School math classes. These 6th grade students will be using the survey as a data-collecting tool and then spending about a week analyzing the data. The survey closes 2/4/07. If you've got 5 minutes, go and clickie away. The math minds of the future will thank you.

Last year's survey generated over 2000 responses and over 150 pages of analysis, all of which are available for your viewing enjoyment.