Ah, Lori - you sound like a "foodie"! Can't relate, 'cause i really am not much of a cook. Just basic stuff, pretty much.

Saturday night, i usually go out for supper after church with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and sometimes with another friend. Tonight, my sister-in-law is out of town, mil wasn't feeling great, and the friend and i missed out because the only restaurant in town was half-booked because of a club Christmas party. Soooooo...., i had had some cold pizza before church (no lunch), and after i just had a cup of tea. Was going to stirfry some veggies for myself, but my sister called and we yacked for an hour, so i ended up steaming a bunch of asparagus - and it tastes like more! :O

Hey, the only thing better than herbed leg of lamb is "going out"! Too bad it was not to be! But asparagus, cooked any which way, is always good too...

Yeah, I do like food and I kind of like cooking, when I have time...although general day-to-day cooking can be pretty boring (so those are the days we have popcorn as a main course and then "forage around" for the other food groups, LOL!)
Had some corn on the cob from the farmer's market tonight too - very nice and sweet. Now if I can just stop picking at that roast...

Supper last night consisted of a rich creamy butternut squash soup, followed by an Asian spinach salad. The main course was roasted striploin served in a pool of smoked maderia demi-glace with potatoes whipped with truffle oil, topped with oven roasted red potoates, steamed asparagus, carrot, broccoli & cauliflower. We finished this with individual chocolate cheesecake drizzled with dark chocolate sauce & a chocolate Christmas tree for decoration.

Whew! Glad I wasn't cooking! Thanks to the great chef at the Glencoe Club! ;)

Ooooh, sounds wonderful, GardenChicken! Wonder how the "smoked" flavor was introduced into the madeira sauce? Something like Liquid Smoke, or by some technique? (Well, I can think of one technique...as I recall the time my shepherd's pie burst into flame in the oven, LOL! Maybe I should explain, my cooking isn't usually incendiary but the butter that was supposed to brown the mashed potato topping rolled off into the hot oven... It would still have been okay if only I hadn't kind of panicked used the fire extinguisher on it, LOL!) On the subject of Liquid Smoke, I found it very interesting to read that it can be used to germinate seeds that would, in nature, require wildfires for germination.
But back to food... the best part of all about eating out? No pots and pans to clean up!

My dinner tonight will be Crockpot Roast with Broccoli and Butter. I work alot especially in the winter months and my crockpot is my best friend. But...

How about Tiger Penis Soup? hmmm, sounds good eh? LOL

I thought I'm a open minded person about the exotic foods people eat around the world, but I'm really grossed out hearing some of the various dishes that some of the Philippine girls that I work with have told me about.
Such as Balut, an Asian treat - duck/chicken embryo egg that is not yet fully developed with feathers, beak and all, still inside the shell. They boil these eggs and suck it out!!!!!!!

Anyone tried the more unusual ones listed below? Most of them seem perfect for a low carber such as I, sorry to ruin your supper tonight. LOL

England: Warm Beer, Blood Pudding, Jellied Eels, Spotted Dick, Liver and Lights, Kidney Pie, Brawn, Bubble and Squeak, Fried Bread, Crisps with Flavors
Scotland: Haggis, Irn Bru, Blood (Black) Pudding, Herring Roe, Potted Hough, Sheep's Head, Ox Tongue, Oxtail, White Puddings, Powsowdie
Wales: Laver Bread, Rook Pie, Lardy Cake
Sweden: Sylta (Head Cheese)
Norway: Lutefisk, Gravlax
Denmark: Oellebroed, Skipsol, Beer-Jelly, Sild, Gamle Ole, Gammel Dansk, Nordsoe Olie, Rullepoelse, Flaeskesvaer, Skaerpekoed, Rastefisk, Grind, Spaek
Netherlands: Salted Horsemeat Sandwiches, Raw Salted Herring, Peanut Butter Sauce on French Fries, Hete Bliksem
France: Escargot, Tripe, Frog's Legs, Bleu Cheese, Roquefort, Steak Tartare, Brains, Truffles, Camel's Feet, Boudin
Spain: Criadillas, Morcillas
European Jews: Schmaltz, Gefilte Fish, Kishke
Germany: Limburger, Bierkase, Blutwurst, Kuddeln, Ochsenmaul-Salat, Schweinsmagen, Curry Wurst
Italy: Cynar and Campari liqueurs, Carpaccio, Cibreo, Song Birds, Gorgonzola
Greece: Retsina
Sicily: Ricci di Mare
Sardinia: Maggot-Cheese
Mediterranean: Sheep's head. The whole thing, cooked and skinned. Includes the eyeballs. Cheese (what a concept!) Octopus, Cicada, Octopus and Squid in Ink
Russia: Borscht, Kvass, Caviar, Vesiga
Africa: Blood fresh from living livestock, Grasshoppers, Okra, Fufu, Gari, Urine, Ugali, Clay, Goat's Head, Chitoum
Central Asia: Kumiss (Fermented Mare's Milk), Yogurt, Sheep Fat
China: Bird's Nest Soup, Sea Cucumber, Jellyfish, Rat, Snake, Drunken Shrimp, Jelled Blood, Bear Paws, Cho Do Fu, Tiger Testicles, Owl Soup, Thousand-Year Eggs, Sa Kuo Yu Toe, Fish Flotation Bladder, Bao Bing (Shaved Ice), Pork Uterus, Camel (and Cow) Tendons, Oyster Sauce, Snake Wine
Tibet: Yak Milk (Rancid), Tea with Yak Butter
India: Cow Urine, Human Urine
Southern India: Blazing Curry
Burma: a MAE oo, Ngapi-jaw
Hong Kong: Monkey Brains
Southeast Asia: Durian, Fermented Fish-Paste, Dog Meat, Snakes, Ngapi-Jaw, Bull Penis, Sour Candies, Fish Eyes
Thailand: Kapi, Grasshoppers, Snake Blood, Water Bugs
Indonesia: Blachan, Dog-Meat Restaurants, Bats
Malaysia: Ice Kachang (Shaved Ice) Belachan
Philippines: Baalut, Bagong (fish paste), Diniguan
Australia: Vegemite, Marmite, Kangaroo, Witchety Grub, Beetroot, Honey Ants
Papua-New Guinea: Sago Worms
Borneo: Monitor Lizard
Korea: Kim Chee, Silk Worm Grubs, Tiger Penis Soup
Japan: Fugu, Natto, Sashimi, Shiokara, Tofu, Miso, Uni, Mountain Potato, Seaweed, Takosu, Takoyaki, Tempeh, Crickets, Unagi, Gingko Seeds, Okra (Raw!)
Hawaii: Poi, Spam Musubi
Arctic Alaska: Blubber, Stinkheads
U.S. in general: Spam, Chewing Gum, Iceberg Lettuce, Bread, Beer, Peanut Butter
U.S. Northwest: Geoduck Clams
U.S. West: Prairie Oysters, Fried Pork Rinds, Blood-Rare Steak, Rattlesnake
U.S. Midwest: White Castle Sliders, Jell-O Salad, Fruitcake, American Cheese Food Product, such as Velveeta, in Fried Cheese Balls, Cincinnati Greek Chili
U.S. South: Grits, Crawfish, Hog Maws And Snouts, Etc Dropped Fowl, Chicken Feet, Chitterlings, Iced Tea, Ramps, Turkey Deep-Fried Whole (Fried Everything) Chicken-Fried Steak, Dill Pickles Fried
U.S. East: Souse, Pork Loaf
U.S. Northeast: Scrapple, Cod Liver Oil, Pumpkin Pie, Raw Oysters, Lobster, Fiddlehead Ferns
Canada: Sugar Pie, Poutine, Oreilles De Christ, Cod Tongues, Cod Cheeks, Pemmican, Cracklings, Seal Flipper Pie, Spruce Beer
Mexico: Tequila Worms, Menudo, Habanero & Jalapeno Peppers, Mole, Chichirrones (Chitterlings), Ceviche, Grasshoppers
Brazil: Gari
Agentina: Morcillas
Iceland: Hakarl

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Ray's List of Weird and Disgusting Foods

Uhh, well, if you eat hot dogs, chances are you've eaten most of the things on that list, LOL!

But seriously, I'd definitely draw the line at some of those things...assuming I knew what they were before I tried them. If they were being served to me, as a guest, I guess I'd buck up and eat them! Or at least try....

Looking at it objectively, if he finds all of those foods "weird and disgusting", Ray must have been raised at McDonald's! However, I suppose many of the things listed are probably weird to people (or generations, maybe?) who don't really know anymore where food comes from, or how to eat well! I'm sure poverty, and simple "use it up" philosophy made for lots of "interesting" recipes in every culture, too.

I have tried many of the more "westerly" foods mentioned. Blood pudding is just blood sausage - you can buy it at any supermarket (though the more commercial varieties are usually way oversalted, I find). I admit, probably a pretty hard sell to generations raised on fast food and products from M&M Meats! A lot depends on what you were exposed to as a kid, and how adventuresome you are in later life. (We haven't travelled extensively, but it's sure depressing to hear about tourists in Milan asking for directions to the nearest McDonald's, LOL!)

Crisps are just potato chips. Right here at home, Hostess used to produce some pretty bizarre "flavored crisps" - ketchup, dill pickle, bacon... There was some especially odd combination I can't recall right now, too.
Tongue, cooked for sandwiches, and ox-tail soup are both delicious.
Anyone of middle European extraction is probably familiar wiht head cheese; I never ate it as a kid, though my mom made it for my dad and sister, and they ate it with vinegar...which made me cringe at the time.
Escargot, truffles, borsht, seafood - delicious!
"Boudin" is just a generic term for sausage.
Schmaltz is just chicken fat, used for flavorful cooking, in the same way that some people might use bacon grease.
My brother-in-law, from Kansas, eats some of the odd things on that list - rattlesnake, frogs' legs (from huge bullfrogs), scrapple, Krispy Kreme doughnuts...ooops, maybe the last one's not on that list!
Scrapple is pretty much like head cheese but with oat meal added - again, I declined to try it when my mom made a batch for him years ago! He ate it fried, which would make it a little more palatable, I think.
Well, all cheese is based on mold, so blue cheese and roquefort are only a little weirder and more disgusting than the norm. Actually, what I find weird and disgusting is that tasteless stuff from the supermarket! Yeah, I guess there's no visible mold on it, or a funky crust that someone may find nasty, but it tastes of...absolutely nothing.

Of course on the topic of strange foods, one always has to consider where eggs come from, LOL!

Have you heard of the live food restaurants in the far east? DH's brother is an executive whose company markets products to the far east. Anyway, back before he became the president (and could get subordinates to do this kind of thing!), he used to have to do a lot of dinners with clients. Apparently, Korea is/was a very macho sort of culture for doing business, so he'd be taken to restaurants that featured live food - live fish or snakes in the soup, for example. And to get a sale, I guess you had to make a good "manly" impression....gulp. I don't know how popular this sort of thing was in the general culture, but it does exist.

Hi all
Being of Swedish descent I suppose I should add some of the recipes that arrived from Sweden when my fathers parents arrived about 80 years ago. The ones I mention are still cooked from time to time in our family.

1. Pulsa - this is a mixture of barley and pork from pork hocks. This is cooked in a pot and then before serving fried in bacon fat.

2. Swedish flat bread - made with rye flour and rolled out with a special rolling pin that is covered with knobs to get the bread very thin ( about 1/8 inch). A family favorite.

3. Pickled herring - this is salted herring that has been gutted and skinned, rolled into strips with a toothpick to hold the roll together. This is put into a large jar with onion rings and spices, then a mixture of vinegar and sugar poured over them, then into the refrigerator for a couple of days and they are ready to eat. We make this at christmas every year and is a tradition in our family.

Glog - A dry wine is brought to a almost boil with a mix of spices, dried fruit, and raisins. Then put in the fridge and left until it is time to serve. Then back into a pot and a sweet wine is added and the mixture brought almost to a boil. Then into a punch bowl and a bottle of vodka added through some sugar cubes in a strainer. We then light the sugar and bring into a darkened room. Caution serve to a large gathering as this is potent stuff.

My brother loves Chinese food cooked from the traditional menu and some of the things that I have eaten with him are:
Chickens feet, octopus, tripe, fried smelts, oolong tea, green tea, jasmine tea etc.

One other thing not mentioned and cooked sometimes in western Canada are 'Prarie Oysters'.

Cheers Al

Mmmmmmm, pickled herring....
Just bought some rollmaps today - that way I can satisfy my craving for dill pickles at the same time, LOL! Must try to remember not to breathe anywhere near DH afterwards, though ;)

I mean rollmops, not rollmaps!
Just waiting for crepe batter to sit for a bit, prior to making blintzes. Ahh, weekends are great!

We ate some pretty interesting cuisine when we visited China in 1991. The food was absolutely fantastic but there were a few memorable dishes.

Duck tongues-an entire plate of duck tongues, of course we ate them.

Snake-one was cut up and done in a sauce, sort of a teriyaki type sauce, but not teriyaki of course, the other was deep fried and was curled around and around sort of like a tree and sitting on the table, we tired them both.

Eel-I didn't care for eel, but then I don't like fish much either.

Fish lip soup-nobody told us what 'fish lip' meant so we assumed it was fish lips, it is actually the skin of a large fish.

We found that no food was wasted, all parts were used and we also ate a lot of vines. At a market there were some weird looking things so we asked our hosts about them. They were selling blocks of coagulated blood, our host said they were delicious, we never had to try those though.

In restaurants in Vancouver we ate chicken feet but did not have them in China, in China we ate duck feet.

This list is reminding of the "Amazing Race" shows and contestants having to eat the local foods..... (I always walk away until that part is over....). I guess it is true that "necessity is the mother of all invention"!

With my parents being immigrants from Holland they definately ate head cheese and horse meat (sold at the local "Dutch Shop" at the time) and blood sausage (bloed worst) and yes, pickled herring too! I may have Dutch background but "no thanks" to that.

What I do love is boeter koek (butter cake -- literally translated), almandel ring (almond ring cake), speculaas (spiced cookies), zoete drop (salted licorice), stomppot boerenkool with rookworst (basically mashed potatoes mixed with farmers kale and smoked sausage) and OFCOURSE Droste chocolate.

But what did we have last night? Mushroom meatloaf, mashed 'taters and green beans. That sounds so normal! LOL

Oh my that list has many things I've tried and many I haven't. Most people look at me funny-- I LOVE squid, so I figure octopus would be about the same!

My mom's family were german farmers- they ate alot of things- but during the depression, they had meat, while my californian father ate meat he didn't even know what it was! Also, living near a mexican border for a while, we had lime oysters etc that never saw a heat source (although the heavy lime annoyed me!) My father loved brain and eggs for breakfast. I have boiled a pot of crawdads for dinner myself! And as for steak, is there a BETTER way than blood-rare? I mean, really, in small areas, we KNOW where OUR meat comes from and it's only the cut edges that matter (beef tartar I couldn't even think of!) I personally like froglegs and snake and rabbit (all of which make my kids cringe!

Pickled herring-- ooh! My grandma used to pickle our summer catches of trout for winter! YUM!!! Now I'm going to have to go out and find some at a store! Seriously, grandma pickled ANYTHING! I currently have in the cupboard pickled beets and carrots from her recipes!

I suppose we do some things that others would view as strange. I know my stepdaughter thinks I'm out of my mind all the time where food is concerned! We had a goose for Thanksgiving and she wouldn't even try it!

Al, I remember buying Swedish flat bread (hmmm... Norwegien maybe?) many moons ago, it was my absolute favorite. I look for it everytime I'm in a specialty shop but never have any luck. Any chance you'd share your recipe?

Lori, I think flambe shepherds pie sounds interesting! Too funny, you must be very mentally organized to think to use a fire extinguisher, that must have been a mess to clean up! I doubt they used that method to smoke the madeira. ;)

My mom still makes kroppkaker - they are really gross looking boiled potato things but YUM!!! are they ever tasty!

Ok, I'm hungry now.

Hi Garden Chicken
Here is the recipe for Swedish flatbread. The only drawback is that we have a special rolling pin to roll the flatbread before it goes in the oven. The rolling pin is covered with knobs. The one we have was brought back from Sweden when my parents visited it a few years ago. You may get one at Ikea or at a speciality store. A pin for Norwegian lefsa will also work.

Ovanokar Flat Bread
1 pint butter milk
1/2 cup cooking oil
1-1/2 tsp baking pwd.
400ml rye flour
400ml whole wheat flour
200ml bran
100ml oatmeal or cornmeal (we like cornmeal best)

Roll thin, about 1/8 inch, only enough to fit on a baking sheet. Run a pizza cutter across the dough to score it. This helps break it apart when cooked. Bake at 425 F
until done. Approximately 5-10 minutes.
Makes lots.

When someone makes this in our family it is very popular. I like it with just butter or margerine on it. But meat, cheese,jam, or anything else works too. Hope you like it.

Cheers Al

Thanks Al! I googled 'flatbread rolling pin'... I think my mom has one of those tucked away in her cupboard - don't recall her ever using it.
Time for a trip to the farm.

We used to eat it with just margerine (make that butter these days!). Can't wait to try this!!