Reasons Why I Love My Job - The Omnivore's 100

I read this on cooksister, and I knew I just HAD to do this. Some guy (sorry, I have not been blogging regularly) has made a list that every omnivore should eat. I love lists and I love to eat. The bold items on the list are what I have eaten (burp!) and the struck out one's are the things I will never try. So --- here's what I have eaten...
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 - Eat practically every week (heh)
15. Hot dog from a street cart - Noo York, Noo York
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - My uncle's wine from roses and plums
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras - I don't care what the food police says, FG is ambrosia
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters - My 2nd fav food after FG
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas - YUM! YUM! Tong's Garden - Life would be so incomplete without you
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi - every week (Yay India)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - Does doing the two separately count? IMHO, yes....
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - every week (Yay India)
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal - I'm convinced this is another fake indian curry like chicken tikka masala
44. Goat’s milk - at my grandparents and something I'm not doing again
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more - Thank you job!
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 - Thank you job!
58. Beer above 8% ABV - Thank you job!
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst - One of the best things (foodwise) about TJermany
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 - Thank you job!
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini - Thank you job!
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare - I was v surprised at liking this, eating cute things is normally where I draw the line
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


79 out of 100. Not bad. Though nothing will make me eat brains and roadkill is not really my style.

Absentmindedness

It is very difficult for most people to place me. I fit in but I don't. I feel very lucky to have my parents the way they are, as long as they don't go and do something grossly unworldly. It surprizes me how my father gets taken in, for a person who's IQ level is the highest of most people I know. I feel like an extinct tribe of one. I wonder if there is anyone out there who has a parent who has been/ is a brilliant scientist, but remains unworldly and impractical in day to day life. When people are surprized by my lack of knowledge about the practicalities of life, they should know, its not me, its just that the worldliness that comes to most people as a way of life, never presented itself to me and my siblings. When I see my parents, now living in the real world, as opposed to a secure campus, my heart is wrung by their sudden befuddlement.

My mother was telling me about one of my father's collaborator's daughter buying him a bright yellow suitcase, because he was never able to identify his black/ blue suitcases off luggage carousels, and then I knew, I was not alone. There are other people out there, who must have similar experiences. And sometimes, I wonder, does anyone even care that I will never forget logtables because my father taught them to me?

I would love to hear from anyone who has any interesting stories to tell about their mad scientist parents. I really would.