What are you currently eating?

[evilkinggumby]

I have a hot crock of homemade chicken noodle soup (gluten free) going and MAN the house smells awesome. Last week I made a batch of brownies frosted with cream cheese frosting. The weekend before that my wife made a big ol crock of yankee pot roast. It's the cold season here in Northeast USA so we got all kinds of comfort food going.

How about you? WHat are you currently cooking up, or what is your favorite dish?

Whether it be fast food, store bought or home made, let us know what kinds of stuff you like! We're scattered all over the globe, I am betting some of your favorites, even simple stuff like soda or cookies, is unique to your country and we'll be shocked and amazed!





Also, don't search google for "mouse with lots of food"... ugh.. big mistake...

[david]

Well, I'm really lucky at the moment visiting Thailand. Even the street food here, bought from a wheeled cart, can be delicious and incredibly good value... like a meal for 1 or 2 us$.

I haven't tried anything really exotic here in Thailand, but I do remember a few years ago when my boss in mainland China took some of us out for a meal to a fancy restaurant.

Feeling a bit adventurous, I had scorpion soup as a starter, and in my bowl was about ten small black scorpions, fully formed but tiny... each one about the size of a fingernail. I sipped the soup, cautiously, but I couldn't bring myself to eat any of the little scorpions... things are a bit risky in China, hospitals and insurance are more lax than other nations... but perhaps I was too cautious

[evilkinggumby]

I hit a nice Japanese restaurant in Florida once that was where I tried a number of types of Sushi (not my thing, for sure) and I also got ot try 'gator bites' which was deep fried alligator meat. It was.. odd. Sort of like a mix between pork and shrimp meat. I ate it all but.. not sure i "liked" it.

Scorpions.. yeah I dunno if I have the testicular fortitude to even sip the broth. You're much stronger than me, David!! lol

[david]

@EvilKing... It's not bravery, I'm just dumb as a rock

Brownies and yankee pot roast do seem a LOT more delicious than alligator and scorpions. I admire you and Solladrache for buying the ingredients and cooking real food... you folks'll consider me an utter barbarian... perfectly happy with dehydrated noodles. I'm incredibly lucky to live in Thailand where food is convenient, tasty, and low cost. It's a lot healthier than pot noodles too

[evilkinggumby]

hey i've done stuff like that. usually would get the Nissan ramen noodle ones if I could. They're tastey (assuming you don't live on them for weeks) though lack nutritional content and are VERY high in salt. Sadly.. had to give them up most times.

But for ease, cost, and getting full, they definitely do a great job.

right now I am eating a naval orange i just peeled. Had some taco salad form leftover taco meat and baby romain leaves with a buncha added stuff. fairly healthy, but still damn tastey.

[mousewings]

I love ramen noodles.

Ooh at alligator meat. A Cajun restaurant used to offer it in the evenings. I was curious but never got to try it, as the restaurant closed down.

Currently, I'm drinking a Canadian energy drink called Buzz Energy West Coast Energy. It's yummy and is helping with the mid-day slump.

[david]

@EvilKing... your taco salad sounds delicious... now you've given me an appetite for it. I must check my local supermarket to see what lettuce and spinach is available in this part of the world. Even I can cook salad, and its so crunchy, healthy and delicious

@Mousewings...I've never eaten Cajun food, but I'd sure like to try it. Also, I was curious, so I googled your energy drink... the website is cool http://www.buzzenergy.com.. "a fair price for the working man!"


Darn you all, with this talk of food, now I'm feeling ravenous. It's time to hit my regular local shack (yes, it is really a shack) for breakfast... a fresh, light stir fry vegetables and chicken, with rice.

[KwisatzHaderach]

Not currently, but a few nights ago, I ate and drank my brother's Christmas present:



Delicious Sushi and some great Japanese Whiskys to go along! I also learned that the French, in fact, drink more Whisk(e)y than US American's or the Brits!



That surely is the reason for the inspired games they create

edit: mhhh... Any way to resize pictures in my post?

[evilkinggumby]

I don't think there's a way to resize, the IMG tags are really basic. But David may be able to find a way. I usually manually resize and upload the altered to my photobucket. or shoot for medium sized pics when I cross link other's photo's.

whiskey and sushi.. interesting dinner. though was the gift a gift certificate or something? i can't imagine christmas sushi being that good this far from the holiday.. hehehe

currently not eating anything, just sipping coffee (called 'golden french toast). Yesterday for dinner we grabbed chinese take out, so I had some spicy beef something something with extra stir fry veggies in a spicy garlic sauce over white rice. It was good, but I wouldn't call EITHER dish "spicy" at all. had no kick whatsoever.

[david]

mhhh... Any way to resize pictures in my post?

@Kwisatz and EvilKing... sorry chaps, as far as I know there isn't an elegant way to do it with the current PhpBB forum setup. Like EvilKing suggests, if the image is too big, download it, resize it manually (maybe with Photoshop), upload it to an image host (like Photobucket) and paste in the link from there... the process is a bit clunky for sure. Kwisatz, I'll resize your images and host them for you: your whisky statistics are just astonishing, and your brother's Christmas present makes me drool with hunger like a cartoon dog.

What's interesting is that, though Seith is French, he doesn't really drink: this factoid happened came up in an interview when the reporter from the US was asking for advice on good Euro brews (Seith, do correct me if I'm wrong here). Wherever his many levels of genius come from, Seith's source doesn't seem to be whisky

[mousewings]

Today I had a Vietnamese style submarine sandwich as a light lunch.

@evilkinggumby: Whoa at the Rocky Mountain Energy. I've never seen this here before, which is odd as I assume it's inspired by Alberta. The "working man" part kinda weirds me out as I'm female and drink it; I do love the West Coast Energy, though.

@KwisatzHaderach: That looks so delicious.

[david]

@mousewings... darn you that rocky mountain link was my post I guess the slogan is a bit sexist though.

A Vietnamese sub would hit spot right now as I write this on my phone. I'm stuck in Bangkok traffic... which is really, really busy and slow... so I won't be eating for a while yet.

I feel a bit ashamed. Though I live in this exotic country of awesome food, this afternoon I wolfed down a double big Mac and fries at McDonald's. And it was fantastic

[evilkinggumby]

hey sometimes you want that taste of home. or you just want comfort food. I generally avoid Mcdonalds now but I will admit to every now and then hitting the place up for something in a pinch.

Though what is a double big mac n fries? like.. 2 big macs? or do they double the big mac on the same bun so it's like ... HUGE?

[mousewings]

I admit I love fast food, especially fries. They're the ultimate treat after a long day.

Whoa at that mega burger. That would be two to three meals for me!

@david: Oops, sorry! This is what I get for responding to posts when I'm tired and unused to message boards.

[evilkinggumby]

Considering a typical big mac is 550 calories, what I show above would be about 2x that, a whopping 1100 calories. So half a days nutrition for the average person. and the majority of a days calories for most dieters.

WHen I was young and in high school mcd's had some special promotions, like 2 for $2 with their big macs, so i'd get 2 and barely finish both. never felt good after that.. nowadays, i'd NEVER make it to the second. just way too much food.

If David had a double like this.. he's got some serious skillz.

[david]

@MouseWings... Exactly, to me, a Big Mac and fries is a taste of home... pure comfort food


@EvilKing... a double Big Mac has two extra meat patties, but everything isn't double

Combined with a large fries and large (diet) soda, it is still a really big meal though.

[evilkinggumby]

Man that makes me hungry... *licks chops*

wow thats a lot of food still.. lol.. OMG.

[evilkinggumby]

stuck working late tonight so.. got take out. garlic chicken over white rice with some vegetable lo mein and a pork egg roll. actually pretty tastey, considering it's just cheap chinese food.

the wife got me a reese's peanut butter egg for dessert.. YUM.

[david]

@EvilKing... yum, fantastic... I love Chinese food!

As you probably know, Thai street food has a reputation for being the best (and cheapest) in the world. So, these days, while I live here in Thailand... the ramshackle shack in the photo below is where I eat at least once daily. I know it doesn't look like much, but the food is fantastic: the lady cooks right behind the counter on a wok. I usually get a chicken stir fry with white rice, a light sauce, and fresh vegetables (baby corn, edamame, carrots and cauliflower). The omelettes here are good too, so healthy and also taste so excellent with rice

Here is the place, in the back streets of central Bangkok, very close to my home. A meal, including water and coffee, costs about USD 3 here:


and here is the simple, but incredibly tasty, chicken stir fry that I had for dinner this evening:

[Seith]

Sushi is da best! I discovered them when I first moved to LA and I'm fairly lucky to have found a REAL sushi restaurant (with a Japanese cook) 20mn from where I live now...

[david]

Sushi is da best!

Yum!

Last week was the Songkran festival, which is kind of the equivalent of a family Christmas for Thai people... though it involves throwing water for the week, hot weather and no Santa Claus.

Anyway, I was in eastern Thailand for the festival, close to the border of Cambodia. We drove past a bunch of roadside stalls selling very exotic stuff like dried frogs, crickets, etc. So I tried a cooked flying ant and silkworm... both eaten whole... antennae, wings, legs and all

The ant was ok... lightly salted and spiced... quite small and dry, tasting just of the spices (which is probably a good thing). The silkworm was more, let's say, large and uniquely flavored...

Terrific experience! But one - of either - in a lifetime is plenty for me

[evilkinggumby]

wow you got some guts to try that so easily. I'd have to be tied up and begging for my life.. hehehe

so if the flying ant mostly tasted like the spices, if you were in a dark movie theater and snacking on them without looking.. would it seem ok? I wonder if they're stiff enough to dip in something for added flavor.. hehehe...

silkworm.. yeah not happening. i think i could deal with the crunch of some bugs but the squishy worms.. nope. I've seen too many horror movies to let that fly.

You can be Seith's consultant for the game though. Most animals will eat whatever they can for nutrients, bugs and grubs included, so if he wants a taste-tester to tell him how to write the description for eating them you could totally pitch in! He might even pay for you to eat a few bonus bugs.. lol

actually.. what did the bugs cost to eat, per bug?

[david]

@EvilKing... most excellent questions!

if you were in a dark movie theater and snacking on them without looking.. would it seem ok?

In a dark cinema, the ant would be fine! With the salt and spices, it really tastes JUST like a normal snack food. Perhaps, 'Ants'... or 'Antz'... will be coming soon from Frito-Lay, packaged and available just like Doritos? You know, I suspect that it might be lots healthier than most snack foods... seriously!

As for the silkworm, I know exactly what you are saying about horror movies. It wasn't quite as squishy/juicy as it looks (thank heaven... because it really does look like a little brain-sucking alien maggot). If you ate it in the dark you might be wondering if you picked something off the movie theater floor by accident

he wants a taste-tester to tell him how to write the description for eating them you could totally pitch in!

Agreed, I'm a team player! My title could be 'community manager and SUPREME bug eater'.

what did the bugs cost to eat, per bug?

At that stall, my Thai friend bought a plastic bag of ants for herself - about the same size and weight as a medium bag of potato chips. That's a lot of ants, maybe 150, and it cost her the equivalent of USD 1.60. So, on your per-bug basis, that's about a cent per bug

She didn't buy any silkworms (the one I tried was a sample) but probably about the same price.

PS. I'm not sure if I'm really enthused about convert to a bug-eating lifestyle yet, but insects do feature on the menu of some high-end restaurants, and there really is a movement in the western world towards using insects as food that seems to have some very good arguments.

According to the website http://people.howstuffworks.com/entomophagy.htm, here is a useful rule of thumb if you are considering eating a bug:

Red, orange, yellow, forget this fellow.
Black, green or brown, wolf it down.

...now that's genius poetry

[evilkinggumby]

MMM edible bug poetry.. now my life is complete. hehehe.

I just had the thought about those vendors.. how do they actually sell and cultivate their bugs? do they have traps at home or do they have huge rooms fulla bugs? creepy to think about..

[david]

@EvilKing... I was wondering too! Is there an ant farm, or do they catch them somehow? Is insect farming going to be the big agri-business of the new milleneum?

I'll ask my Thai friend at the weekend.

Bugs are yummy

[KwisatzHaderach]

Bugs are delicious! Someone should go tell Seith

I was cleaning up my photos folder recently and came across this:



The sweetest birthday-chocolate cake my wife baked for me last year...

[evilkinggumby]

ok THAT is a great and awesome idea. what kind of cake is it? ginderbread? chocolate? Cricket and Beetle?

[KwisatzHaderach]

Let's see if I can recall the ingredients:

heaps of butter
heaps of sugar
heaps of chocolate (both dark and light brown)
a pinch of flour

Something like that... As far as I recall there where no insects in it. I might suggest spiders the next time.

[david]

Terrific birthday cake topping, and I'm literally starting to salivate as I think about the sinfully delicious ingredients!

For sure, a sprinkle of insects would add crunch, and their protein would improve the nutrition aspect too. Do check out the nearby 'weird drinks' thread on these forums for ideas on exotic birthday beverages

PS. I forgot to post it but I did ask my friend about 'insect farming': she knows there are silkworm farms (yeah, that makes sense, silkworms are also farmed to make silk, as well as food) ; she thinks there are farms for ants and possibly for the other insects too.