What is in your cup?

[ProfCrash]

Pot one of Rooibos Jungle Fire, working on cup one. Brought my hubbys fleece to work today. My sweaters and fleeces now ride about half way up my belly and look silly. I don't want to buy something for the next 6 weeks. So I am rolling up his sleeves and wearing his fleece. ANyone says something they can deal with the wrath of the pregnant lady.

Keep in mind that at work I have been greeted with "Wow you got bigger over the weekend", "You look like the battleship Missouri", "Hey now you're really showing", and other similar comments. I have put on 25 pounds, which is actually a very good amount for almost 34 weeks pregnant, and almost all of it is in the belly area.

So I am just about ready to rip off some heads...

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Quite typical; a bowl of miso soup, a bowl of rice, some tsukemono (the Japanese idea of pickles, usually made from cucumber, daikon, or cabage, and a piece of smoked fish, and often something left over from last night's dinner such as a piece or two of raw fish, and green tea. All this is a 'standard' breakfast.

For variety, add a boiled, fried, or raw egg, a square of tofu, perhaps some natto (fermented soy beans.)

In the photo, the plate in the left back corner has the pickles, the little white square bowl is natto, and the green/black package beside the chopsticks is seaweed. Give all this to my wife and she'll love you forever!


Stitchawl

I'm OK with all of that except the natto. I don't think any one who wasn't brought up with it can actually eat it. (One of the funniest ever Iron Chef episodes was a tie breaker where the theme was natto. Eeewww! )

[ProfCrash]

Overall I cannot say I am a huge fan of things like natto. Not my style but I was introduced to them in my late 20's and have not been in a position to try them on a regular basis. My Italian roommates could not understand why I loved peanut butter and how I could eat a PB&J for lunch.

[CRussel]

Peanut butter I get. Natto, it's all about the feel and look...

I'll pass, thanks. And as you probably could guess, I'm not at all a squeemish eater, normally. Heck, I even tried Vegemite. (No, I didn't like it, but I can at least understand how someone who grew up with it could like it.)

In my cup: Lion Mountain Keemun. Aahhh!

[Stitchawl]

In the summertime when the weather's high,
you can stretch right up and touch the sky,
when the weather's fine,
you got women, you got women on your mind.
Have a drink, have a drive,
go out and see what you can find.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP6XAroYFKI )

Good morning, all! Another bright sunny day today! I have unbranded Keemun tea in my mug, a plate of humus, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, and warm pita bread to get me moving. No... no natto for me either! There are a dozen different Japanese favorites that are just plain slimey, and I can't deal with them. Several are 'fermented' (read: rotten/spoiled/yuckey) items and my wife loves them. I can't even watch her eat them... I have a feeling that a lot of the things that have become staples in the Japanese diet did so due to starvation/necessity. I mean... who was the first guy who saw a bowl of raw chopped up squid babies that had been left to rot for several days, semi-fermented in its own guts , and said "Gee, that looks appetizing!"

I've got to admit... when I first moved to Asia it took me a looooong time to be comfortable with the food. Now, after 25 years or so, I've found that the 'taste' of most things isn't the problem, it's a combination of the texture and the idea... But I guess if you are hungry enough...

...or horny enough... When I first moved here I went on a date with a REALLY beautiful, sexy woman. She suggested we eat at a restaurant that was (I didn't know it at the time) famous for all its dishes being based on squid. And she didn't tell me.
(25 years ago, only Italian-Americans even considered eating squid [calamari] and that was well cooked!) I had never even SEEN a squid much less thought of eating one!)
The first course was deep fried 'something' tempura... OK... not too much trouble there. The next dish was some sort of rice topped with clean white squares of 'something' but it had a very 'clean' taste to it so I enjoyed that... still having absolutely no idea what I was eating. But the next dish was a soup-ish sort of thing; a large bowl of sake with baby squid still swimming, slowly slowing down as they succumbed to the sake's alcohol. The idea was that you were supposed to 'catch' the baby squid as they swam and eat them before they passed out...

And if I had ANY hope of sex for that night I damn well better not make an ass of myself at dinner!!! Life can be tough for a bachelor in Asia...


Stitchawl

[CRussel]

Yes, sometimes one truly wonders how certain dishes ever got eaten in the first place, much less become a delicacy.

Another perfect day here in Paradise, though the overnight low was a bit lower than I (or the tomatoes) like. Should be good through the May Long Weekend (Victoria Day is Monday), which means we'll be knee deep in tourists.

Fresh squeezed OJ, and then I'll brew some Peet's Major Dickason's.

[ProfCrash]

Probably because people ate what was available to them. I am sure that there are plenty of folks around the world who wonder about America's love of jerky but it was an easy way to preserve meat for hard times. I would guess that in earlier times, rice grew well in Japan but not flour. So Japanese breakfast and meals came to be built on rice as a staple and not flour for pancackes, bread, biscuits, and the like. Fermentation was a good way of preserving food so that is what people did.

[CRussel]

Oh, certainly. Though the process of deciding which mushrooms were safe to eat must have been rather unpleasant.

Peet's Major Dickason's in my cup.

[Latinandgreek]

Green tea. Speaking of unpleasant food, I'm at my mums and she just made baked Sepia. A lot of people here love it, but I can't stand Sepia. I'm fine with squid, though.

[CRussel]

Scottish Breakfast tea from Peets. A combination of India blacks and Lapsang Souchong. Hearty and full-bodied. Just what I need on a cool morning.

[CRussel]

And, switching to China Blacks for the rest of the day. Lion Mountain Keemun.

[CRussel]

Ah, a shipment from one of my favourite wineries here in BC -- La Frenz. This is a half dozen each of their Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. Pop a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc in the cooler, and whip up a bit of "mexican glop" (aromatics, chicken, spices and chilis, a bit of diced tomato and rice), and have a glass.

Lovely. A nose of grapefruit and ??, Strong acidity, and mineral, citrus and even a hint of some tropical fruit peaking through. All in all, an excellent summer food wine.

[Stitchawl]

Busy, busy morning! Finally able to kick back and relax with cup of East India Company's "Assam" tea!

Originally Posted by CRussel

Though the process of deciding which mushrooms were safe to eat must have been rather unpleasant.

I had a Prof in an advanced Bio class in college who told us that the only really safe way was to feed one to your younger brother...

ATTENTION VYDOR SCOPE!!!

Here is a photo I shot with my phone this afternoon at a typical lunch counter. Note the three chopstick containers (with red arrows) on the condiment rack, as well as the tea spigots situated between every two spaces... No silverware in this place at all!




Stitchawl

[Latinandgreek]

Ahmad Earl Grey. I'm watching the Season finale of Once Upon a Time. I love Robert Carlyle.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

ATTENTION VYDOR SCOPE!!!

Here is a photo I shot with my phone this afternoon at a typical lunch counter. Note the three chopstick containers (with red arrows) on the condiment rack, as well as the tea spigots situated between every two spaces... No silverware in this place at all!




Stitchawl

Nifty. I dunno why but I always assumed Chop Sticks were some tourist trap thing, and not for real. I guess I need to get out more! LOL

Tea on tap?