My friend Sara posted this list...

From British food blogger Andrew Wheeler's blog, Very Good Taste, a challenge:

"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 www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results."

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

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 (I had to look; a pungent cheese from France)
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 (sorry)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (no, but I've eaten brains)
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(Sara says:a staple on the Oregon coast)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float (no, but I've done Guinness spiders)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat (I make a mean goat vindaloo)
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal (I looked it up, it's a curry hotter than vindaloo)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/US$120 or more
46. Fugu (why would I eat something that might kill me?)
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 (I know, born in the wrong continent)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (beignets in New Orleans, yum. Churros at all the folk festivals.
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 the tea, I assume. Tastes like creosote. Yuck.
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky (I can't remember, but possibly)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers (pansies, borage, nasturtiums, calendula, violets, lavender, roses....)
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

A surprising number of these I have eaten with Sara, which is kind of cute. We met in 1981 when her family moved to Aus for her Dad's work for 2 years. We've stayed in touch all that time, and I've been to see her a few times.

In family news, the big boys went to see some wrestling last night and it was well received I think. D'Arcy has been talking about it all morning, and is challenging everyone to wrestling matches.

Erik is still screamy, and in fact, ready for a feed now, so I'd better cruise!

If you don't do anything else this weekend, at least give this a go

Our friend introduced us to these tonight. The first is a bit long, but well worth the time. The second speaks for itself...

Sleep

Erik's. Two and a half hours of it. Yesterday afternoon. I cooked dinner for the first time in 11 weeks. It was my lamb stew where you just chop everything roughly and throw it in your cast iron pot and chuck it in the oven for 3 or 4 hours. Worked a treat.

Time moves strangely in these first months. Erik was 11 weeks on Thursday, and got his first round of immunisation. He hated it, as you might expect, and he's been reasonably grumpy since then, but then that's normal for him anyway, so who can tell if it's related.

Big news that has changed my life - we got someone to help clean our house, which is just great, so nice to be able to see the table again! We can start having people around again without feeling bad about it. Sure, the baby will still scream at them, but it'll be in a nicer environment.

OMG

more cat pictures

Where can I get some of those LoLmagnets?

Still in sleep hell. We seem to have a bad day followed by a less bad day, ie one where Erik won't sleep at all during the day followed by onw where he will sleep a bit. Today is in the second category so far. He's been asleep for more than an hour. Cautiously optimistic.

Nevermind I see I can get them from ICHC.

Interruption to normal programming

We've just returned from a 4 day stay at QEII (the family centre, not the ocean liner) where we've been trying to get to the bottom of Erik's screaming. It was a positive edxperience, but he's by no means fixed yet. The only thing they could tell us was that he's "unsettled" and we've found that he'll sleep reasonably well at night, no matter where he sleeps, but in the day time, likes to be on me in a sling or the Baby Björn poouch. That would be fine, but it hurts my neck and back, and not much gets done. So we're trying to teach him to sleep on his own. Easier said than done really, when he has a sleep cycle of about 20 mins and is unable to settle himself when he wakes. Having said that He's been asleep for more than an hour now, so some progress must have been made!

Anyway, all this means that I will be intermittent for the next little while! Feel free to email me though, I'll try to check in.