Weirdest Foods I've Eaten

Marc's comment on my last post made me think back about the weirdest foods I've ever eaten. Being a habitual compiler of lists, here's a list of the 5 weirdest "foods" I've ever eaten:

1. Deer heart. I had deer heart many years ago on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. We were visiting one of my dad's friends who had just shot a deer. The heart was served as an appetizer before dinner. I don't remember how it was cooked but it was delicious, albeit incredibly rich. It's something that should be eaten like pate, i.e., served on crackers or perhaps on a salad. It's simply too rich to be eaten by itself as a main course. Definitely good though if you can get over the dark purple color and aren't opposed to chewing on the occasional ventricle.

2. Squirrel. Yes, I've eaten squirrel. One day while my parents were out and about, my brother John shot a squirrel in our backyard with his 22. We were probably 13 or 14 at the time. Anyway, John decided that we needed to skin the squirrel and cook it for dinner. Skinning the squirrel involved me holding the squirrel's head while John tried to rip the skin off with his bare hands. This ended up being a traumatic experience because when John yanked on the squirrel, I lost my grip on the squirrel's head, and the squirrel's teeth caught hold of my palm and shredded my hand. I was bleeding everywhere, as was the squirrel. John assured me that the squirrel wasn't rabid. Apparently it hadn't tried to attack him before he shot it. In any event, this didn't deter John from skinning the squirrel and putting it into a bowl in the fridge with some sort of Asian-inspired marinade.

If I recall correctly, the squirrel marinated in the fridge for a day or so without anyone noticing. It was finally noticed by my grandmother who screamed in fright. "Oh, Nan, don't worry. It's not a rat. It's just a squirrel. A squirrel that John killed and which he plans on eating."

John cooked the squirrel in a skillet on the stove top. It was greasy and disgusting.

I don't think I ever told my mom the truth about what happened to my hand because I knew she'd make me get a rabies shot.

Surprisingly, John went on to be a great chef.

3. Rabbit. This probably isn't too weird for a lot of people, especially if you're from Western Europe where rabbit is eaten commonly. But you don't see it often in the US and many people are openly hostile to the idea of eating such a cute thing. That's a shame because it's delicious. It's also extremely nutritious and lower in fat than chicken, turkey, beef or pork.

4. Fois Gras. Fois gras is also not that weird, but most people have never had it because it's extremely expensive and/or because they've heard about how frois gras is made/farmed and are morally opposed. I am actually one of those people who is morally opposed to frois gras, but I tried it once anyway because I lack moral fiber and just had to try it. So for all of you who want to try it but probably never will, here's what it tastes like: imagine making a pate that is equal parts liverwurst and butter. If you're into that sort of thing, you'll love frois gras.

5. Alligator. Had it in Florida. It was dry and bland. But it made me wonder, has anyone ever tried farming alligators for meat? That would be a dangerous venture. Definitely want to keep your small dogs in the house if you live on that farm.

That reminds me of a story. Several years ago, Nate and I were hanging out at the house one of Nate's co-workers outside of Sarasota, FL. I think the guy's name was Buddy although Nate called him Boutros (like Boutros Boutros Ghali). Anyway, Buddy lived inland and had a big pond in his backyard. Apparently the pond was full of large gators. Buddy told us about the huge gators as we sat on the little dock at the side of the pond late one evening. He told us about one occasion when his sons were fishing from the dock and a big gator jumped up out of the water at them following their bait. It lunged all the way onto the dock and almost grabbed one of the boys. The other boy ran and grabbed a golf club and then went back and bashed the gator in the head a few times. The gator apparently retreated back into the pond. This was a scary story to be hearing late at night with things splashing around in the water nearby, particularly since we were all high on mushrooms and Nate was crying for no apparent reason. Just kidding.

Anyway, would you ever let your children out of the house if you had a gator infested pond in your backyard? Me neither. But then I would never give my 14 year-old sons free access to riffles and shotguns so that they could go out into the yard and slaughter road kill for dinner at their leisure.

6. Okay, I know I said five things but this is a bonus item because I just thought of it. There were rows of big maple trees that ran along both sides of a road that bordered our property in Maryland. John and I used to climb at least 50 feet up into one of those trees and would literally spend hours up there. One time I was up there by myself and I noticed that one of the branches had a hole in it that was leaking sap. I touched the sap with my finger and noticed that it was really watery and kind of smelled like maple syrup. I immediately wondered if it tasted like maple syrup. Instead of tasting the little bit of sap that was on my finger, I put my mouth to the tree and sucked as hard as I could. I was instantly gagging on a mouthful of sap and all sorts of bugs and dirt. I climbed down the tree and never told anyone about it.

It feels good to finally get that off my chest.

I would be interested to hear about the weirdest things other people have eaten. Marc and Hartsong, nothing perverted please.

Restaurant Review #1

I've decided to write some brief reviews of a few restaurants near our home in Mt. Washington. Why? I'm hoping that someone from a newspaper or a food website will read the blog and offer me a full-time job as a restaurant critic. Then, once I become well known and respected, I'll become a judge on Iron Chef America where I'll get paid big bucks to eat delicious food on TV and say things like, "I enjoy the textures and flavors in this dish, although I wonder how much the sea bass is really starring here. I feel like the risotto would be just as delicious without the sea bass." Could happen, right? Anyway, here goes.

The York








The York is a hip Gastro-Pub located on York Boulevard in Highland Park. This is one of our go-to restaurants, meaning we go there when we're hungry and don't want to take a chance on getting crappy food. Our favorite offerings from the black chalkboard menu are the shrimp bruschetta, the corn chowder, the fish and chips, the cheeseburger and fries, and the pulled pork cuban sandwich.

The cuban sandwich is particularly tasty. Imagine a good cuban sandwich in your mind's eye. The outside of the french bread is still hot and slightly greasy from the press, while the inside of the bread is soft and warm. With this sandwich you taste the pulled pork first. It's tender, thinly shredded, and slightly salty. It plays nicely with the thin slices of sweet ham and melted white cheese. The sandwich is also well complimented by a side serving of pickled slaw.

After a couple of big bites you've eaten half the sandwich. Now you're looking at the second half wondering if you should order another. You grab some fries from Priya's plate because you know you'll look like a pig if you order another sandwich. Mmm, the fries are good. Hot and well seasoned. A couple sips from your fine Beligian-style beer -- this time it's an Allagash White -- and you're wondering if you've ever had a better sandwich or a better beer or better fries. Perhaps, but the pork is causing delerium. Pork delerium hightened by fine Beligian-style beer. Now the room is spinning in pleasant harmony with your little food dance. It's really just a sway, that's all it is. A sway, back and forth, in your chair. You don't realize that you're doing it until Priya says, "What are you doing?" And then bartender gives you a funny look as if to say, "This bar is really meant for cool people, but it's okay, you look like you're having a good time." And you are. A great time, in fact.

So I recommend the York highly. Just try to get there early to avoid the dense hipster crowds.

Here is the link: http://www.theyorkonyork.com/

Marc has a blog

About gardening...

Check it out: http://www.growouterbanks.blogspot.com/

New Blog Post

So I've completely neglected ATGR in 2009. It's been that dreaded combination of work, laziness and lack of inspiration. Although I really haven't had much to write about. The one noteworthy item is that we almost bought a new house in January. We put an offer on a place in our neighborhood that we had always liked and which had come on the market cheap through a short sale. Unfortunately, when we had the inspection done during escrow, we found out that the house is full of termites, has a septic tank, needs a new roof, and has major structural problems. Even worse, we found out that the house was built on an Indian burial ground. Not a Native American burial ground. An Indian burial ground, as in, a burial ground of people from India. It's actually much worse than a Native American burial ground. For example, we encountered this one ghost named Darjaymender who warned us that the real estate market is still two years away from hitting rock bottom. It was terrifying. We also met a ghoulish Punjabi programmer named Ramjeet who said to Priya, and I quote, "आप मेडिकल स्कूल के लिए चले गए हैं चाहिए." From what Priya tells me, that roughly translates to, "You should have gone to medical school like my daughter, Ramjeeta." So we couldn't buy that place. Not with all that drama. Thanks, but no thanks.

Well, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your feelings about me and my off-color Indian jokes, I have nothing else to write. I guess I'll go to bed and sleep off what was another unremarkable day. Peace and love to all. As the late Louie Goldstein would say, God bless ya'll real good.