Monthly Archives: September 2008

Breakfast of Politicians, etc.

I posted briefly on DCist about this Saveur article, but it wasn’t my complete commentary. So here it is, though not very well edited:

Serious chocoholic: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who goes for chocolate ice cream or barring that a chocolate donut. How does she manage to stay so svelte? It’s a good thing she’s not on the Senate side or it sounds like she’d be raiding their candy desk. And oh yeah… she will definitely drink your chocolate milkshake. Yes, she will drink it all up.

How to stay young forever: 91-year old former CBS News Anchor Walter Cronkite who details eating 4,000 calories before swimming a four-by-100-meter race.

Good luck on that artificial colon: Washington Post writer Dana Milbank takes his son to Chevy Chase Diner on the weekends. One can only assume he is referring to American City Diner since there is no Chevy Chase Diner. ACD is a great place to hit up drunk. But in the light of day it is only a place to go when your eyes are glazed over after some late weekend morning pleasures. The afterglow will stop you from noticing the thick patina of grease and the similarity of the bacon to Beggin’ Strips.

Stranger in a strange land: Atlantic Monthly writer James Fallows clearly loves the sound of his own pen with a lengthy five-paragraph description of his breakfast habits. Most notable is his attempt to avoid the Chinese breakfast staple, congee (basically cream of rice), during his three-year stay in China. His excuse? He likes things that are unimaginative and therefore comforting. I can’t think of anything more unimaginative or comforting than congee. It’s all spin. James Fallows obviously hates Chinese food.

The only man still on Atkins: Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is probably best known for his substantial weight loss. Surprisingly he lists his breakfast as eggs and meat with an occasional yogurt. Quite a departure from someone you would expect to be savoring whole grains or fruits and vegetables. In fact, he is the only one to list only proteins. Or perhaps he is picking up the diet or lack of diet plan that Al Gore embarked on after his own unsuccessful presidential bid.

The Offal and Strange List

Stinky tofu with kimchee
In response to the Omnivore’s Hundred List, I decided to do an offal/strange foods list. Many things on here are offal, but to bring it up to 50 I just added a bunch of strange-to-most-people foods. Most of it I don’t find all that odd, but different strokes for different folks.

Do what was done for the Omnivore’s Hundred List:

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 linking to your results.

  1. Balut
  2. Sea cucumber
  3. Pig spleen
  4. Pig liver
  5. Chicken hearts
  6. Fish eye
  7. Duck tongue
  8. Duck/chicken feet
  9. Black pudding/boudin noir/soon dae
  10. Haggis
  11. Frog legs
  12. Pigs feet (not pied au cochon in the sense of some tidy slice because that is cheating, but a foot where you can tell what it is)
  13. Pig intestines/chitterlings
  14. Tripe
  15. Deer antlers
  16. Sweetbreads
  17. Rocky mountain oysters
  18. Shrimp heads
  19. Beef tendon (chunks, not incidental)
  20. Gizzard
  21. Headcheese
  22. Lutefisk
  23. Uterus
  24. Penis
  25. Crab roe
  26. Stinky tofu
  27. Hundred year old egg
  28. Huitlacoche
  29. The just killed octopus that still has its suckers going
  30. Eel (even outside of sushi there are people who find this strange)
  31. Frog ovary soup
  32. Rooster comb
  33. Chicken/duck head
  34. Brains
  35. Beating snake heart
  36. Sea urchin
  37. Marrow bones
  38. Turtle
  39. Jellyfish
  40. Bear
  41. Ostrich
  42. Cow udder
  43. Roadkill
  44. Civet dropping coffee
  45. Lamb or cow eye
  46. Venison
  47. Soft shell crab (another one a lot of people seem to have a problem with)
  48. Barnacles
  49. Geoduck
  50. Beef tongue

Bonus round: Add an extra ten points for any animal’s anus.

I fail pretty miserably with 54%, and I made this test.

How to properly pour a beer

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a bar or had a friend pour me a beer that was not done correctly. There should not be three inches of foam on top. Bad. So pass this “You’re doing it wrong” video from Chowhound along to anyone who has putzed up your beer.