The Omnivore's Hundred

Found this on the chocolate and zucchini blog:

The Omnivore's Hundred is an eclectic and entirely subjective list of 100 items that Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste, thinks every omnivore should try at least once in his life.

Rules:
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 on Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

I was absolutely certain there are things I wouldn't eat but then I saw this from the writer of the above blog, Clotilde:

There are a few that I wouldn't rush to eat, but none that I couldn't swallow if someone's life, honor, and/or feelings were at stake.

I love this sentiment and would like to echo it. The crossed off food items are things I wouldn't eat unless I was presented with the opportunity in the best place possible to sample it. For example, haggis is something I wouldn't seek out but if I were in Scotland and was offered a sample at a little pub, I would eat it. Atleast once and then again to confirm an opinion.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea (I've always wanted to try nettle soup, something I saw on a show about food from Scotland)
3. Huevos rancheros (ATX! Woot!)
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding (Clotilde thinks boudin noir counts so yes I suppose I have but the spanish version)
7. Cheese fondue (Yeah, in switzerland)
8. Carp (apparently, there's a deccan white carp. As in, the deccan plateau which is part of the state of Maharashtra. The odds are high I've eaten this. I need a hindi or marathi name for this fish)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush (in the US and in Saudi Arabia)
11. Calamari (of course a great way to test a chef's skills)
12. Phở
13. PB&J sandwich (definitely an acquired taste but I will only eat it with grape or strawberry jam)
14. Aloo gobi (huh)
15. Hot dog from a street cart (Ann Arbor had this amazing cart that serves all it's hot dogs in french bread)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle (didn't like it. Don't see why I should)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Japanese plum wine)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream (just finished a stash in the freezer)
21. Heirloom tomatoes (darker the better, I say)
22. Fresh wild berries (does picking off the mulberry trees around austin during spring count?)
23. Foie gras (don't like it, too strong even though I do like chicken liver)
24. Rice and beans (which beans?)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (I'm not a masochist but they do have a non spicy version which allows you to actually taste the pepper flavour. I'm told it's citrusy)
27. Dulce de leche (next step is try to make my own)
28. Oysters (not raw but fried)
29. Baklava (I think it's too sweet, let the ostracizing begin)
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (um okay, really?)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (see above)
33. Salted lassi (tempered w/ mustard seeds and curry leaves and untempered)
34. Sauerkraut (meh)
35. Root beer float (like most foreigners to the US, don't like root beer)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (whatevs. We get it, you're a man's man)
37. Clotted cream tea (I'm counting this because the only way to get cream in india used to be to skim it off milk which I have then added to tea)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (was this list made by a 20 year old frat boy?)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail (would love to try this in spain)
41. Curried goat (my mom's and my dad's recipes both great but subtly different)
42. Whole insects (I do want to try crickets but no grubs ever.)
43. Phaal (apparently, this is a south indian style curry. Perhaps, I've tried it?)
44. Goat’s milk (surprisingly tasty)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/€80/$120 or more (maybe, what about scotch?)
46. Fugu (I really want to even get into a situation where this is even a possibility. In the US the fugu available is completely tame, the poisonous organs are removed in Japan and then it's flown here)
47. Chicken tikka masala (really? bleh)
48. Eel (yum)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (I tried one of these warm and understood the lure of the donut)
50. Sea urchin (a while ago, I don't remember liking it but I would give this another try)
51. Prickly pear (growing wild outside a mexican restaurant. Made Sandeep stop the car, got one, peeled it and ate it right there. He wouldn't let me in the car till I was done)
52. Umeboshi (I do want to try this. It sounds like some thing I would like)
53. Abalone
54. Paneer (cannot be made with skim milk. Will be cooking some with spinach for dinner tomorrow)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (never have eaten this, don't intend to. Whataburger 4Eva)
56. Spaetzle (wurstfest, texas)
57. Dirty gin martini (with hendricks. Delicious but I couldn't finish it.)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (started drinking beer on the harder stuff like triples)
59. Poutine (I don't know if I could stomach this)
60. Carob chips (it's as if they have to make these super sweet so that they don't taste awful)
61. S’mores (too sweet.)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (um, this is a clay. Why?)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (yes, yes, yes and yes please)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain (My favourite are the sweet ones but also those plantain chips which are slightly sweet and salty)
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (in menudo but did not like it)
71. Gazpacho (love it but had it once at Epoch where it was so thick it was almost gummy. Gross.)
72. Caviar and blini (almost, caviar and toast not blini but I think the point here is the caviar. Yum!)
73. Louche absinthe (I want to try absinthe so badly. I think we would make great friends. Nope, didn't get along at all.)
74. Gjetost, or brunost (brown cheese with caramel undertones, sounds tasty)
75. Roadkill (I would try it because I really like the concept of it. Nothing wasted)
76. Baijiu (why not, think rice wine but closer to rice vodka)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (Why? Why not just have some pie?)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong (tasty but easy to overdose on the smokiness)
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum (one of my favourite soups)
82. Eggs Benedict (again, was this list made by a 20 year old just being introduced to the joys of brunch?)
83. Pocky (Ah, yes, yes it was)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (not interested in that level of food snoberry)
85. Kobe beef (got it, fatty beef is tasty)
86. Hare (what about rabbit?)
87. Goulash (I even liked the crappy dorm cafeteria version)
88. Flowers (sure. Eaten as a meal accompaniment and as a kid on the playground)
9. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate (apparently the thing to eat if you're a chocolate lover. I'm not)
91. Spam (I come from a family of canned meat lovers. Me, not so much)
92. Soft shell crab (have I told you that I'm allergic to shellfish? No? Well soft shelled crab is amazing fried)
93. Rose harissa (it's harissa with rose petals. Color me intrigued.)
94. Catfish (yee haw)
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (allergic to shellfish and won't push my luck w/ lobster)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (I think I would like snake meat. Beating snake heart in snake blood? Not so much.)

Things I have learned from years of physical therapy

Had my annual pilgrimage to the physical therapist today. Actually this was the referral to go see the PT tomorrow. I came away with my head swimming in lots of fancy words and compounded latinates like patellofemoral. I'll have more details about how this will affect the training plan tomorrow.

But for now I give you some nuggets of wisdom:

1. Names of the muscle are fun to say. Popliteal muscle anyone? How about iliotibial? But with another word attached they become scary. e.g. popliteal tendonopathy or iliotibial syndrome.

2. Do not trust a first diagnosis of anything that ends in 'bursitis' that means, they don't know what it is. Sandeep had a 'bursitis' till they figured out what is was. My SI syndrome (OMG SYNDROME!!) was a 'bursitis' till Dr Spears got to it. Just get a second opinion.

p.s. the SI syndrome has undetermined-graded to SI joint dysfunction.

p.p.s. I might have to start aquajogging. I might also have to give myself a wedgie. We'll see.

Magic Mixer

I used the bullet to make vegetable soup yesterday with roasted veggies and spinach. Blended all of them up and heated the soup with a pat of butter. Served with goat cheese crumbles. So simple and so good
Also made banana peanut butter smoothies with it.

peanut butter (also bananas) makes everything taste better.

The one about the pull ups

I can't do a single pull-up, I hang there and bend my elbows pretending I'm lifting myself.

I did five yesterday. By 'did' I mean, I hung there and bent my elbows while the guy who helped me did 5 of those 'lift a weak G' exercises that are so trendy right now.

My arms hurt.

Weekend run

My first ever 14 miler. It's the longest distance I've ever run and I can't believe it went so well. My knees were tired by the end of it but otherwise I felt great. Since my left side (leg, knee, hips back) are weaker than my right, I was encouraged (is that the right word to be using here?) by the fact that both my knees felt equally worn out. We've started to experiment with salt tablets and they make such a difference during the long runs especially given the humidity in this hell-hole that is austin this summer.
I ran with Leslie and Jessica. I'm surprised how smoothly things went considering, I ran 14, Leslie ran 12 and Jessica ran 8. We ran into a fellow Gazelle that had been left behind by her group who ran my 14 with me. Having someone to run large distances with you is great but having someone who is fun to talk to really makes the run. Emily, the girl I ran with, was a talker and interesting to boot.
She also happens to be crazy!
She is training for her second marathon and she does all her runs without any nutritional supplements, I mean no food whatsoever! The only time she has used gels was during the marathon itself and it her cramps so she's a little weary of using them. I shared an extra gel and salt tablets with her during our run and I hope that has changed her mind about using the stuff.

A weird result of the salt tablets is that I need less gels to run on. I took three with me since that's how many I used during my training runs over 12 miles during the half. I ended up using only two. As long as I was alternating the tablets w/ the gels. I was fine. Actually that's a lie. I almost forgot to take a second gel because I felt fine but around mile 9 I started to feel a little nauseous. Realizing that I was probably low on sugar, I took a gel and immediately felt better. Ah, mustn't forget to take those things.

Then, the strangest thing happened once stretching was finished. I realized how amazing my legs are. This is a big deal because my legs (thighs) are what I like the least on my body. But the run made me feel this intense love for them. They carried me through those miles and kept me moving. They are getting stronger as training progresses and I can't help but be proud of them.