Culinary Courage (or something)

Bold those you have tried.
Strike through those you wouldn’t eat on a bet.
Italicize any item you’ll never eat again.
*Asterisk any items you’d be interested in trying but have not yet.
Underline anything you eat regularly (more than once a month-ish).
Mark any items you’ve never heard of with question marks

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanouj
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses?
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda ?
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
* 41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal ?
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (sounds interesting but given the opportunity I don’t know if I’d dare)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel - Yum - unagi (broiled eel)
49.Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi ?
53. Abalone
54. Paneer ?
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8 ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin ?
64. Currywurst ?
65. Durian ?
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
* 68. Haggis
* 69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost?
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu?
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong ?
80. Bellini ?
81. Tom yum ?
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. ?
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (It’s available at a restaurant in Toronto)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa ?
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I got this from Todd Tyrtle.
I took that list into my word program (as though I were going to e-mail it) and stripped the text down. Maybe you could do that in some program or other you have. Word.

And my own personal comments are below:

Snake, catfish, frog's legs, crawdads, rabbit... those things all had to do with being around grandparents in Texas in the 1950's. I marked "hare" even though what I had was undoubtedly jackrabbit from near Rotan, Texas. My dad and some cousins went out, and later in the day we were eating rabbit. I think I was maybe six years old. My Aunt Doris used to raise rabbits to eat in the 1980's in Espanola, but I didn't eat any of it then.

Venison was a staple at my house in the 1960's. My parents were both hunters and we had an upright freezer full of venison and homegrown corn much of the time.

In college in the early 70's I had never seen a bagel and there weren't any in Albuquerque (the NJ contingent had searched). So Michelle Meyerhoff brought one back to me after winter break, in a plastic sandwich bag, with her clothes in her suitcase (I was there when she opened it) and apologized for it being two days old. I bit it like a doughnut and thought it was horrible. She tried to explain how they're cut and toasted and fancied up, but I wasn't interested for another several years. Now they're everywhere in Albuquerque.

Thank you, Schuyler, for the clarifying comment below! Clotted cream tea?! I've had clotted cream, and tea, but didn't put them together.

A roommate in college bought a box of chocolate-dipped whole insects. I looked at them many times, but although they were offered to all visitors, I never saw anyone eat one. So I've lived in the same room with food-intended insects, but didn't eat any.

I just tasted prickly pear, didn't eat it with the intention of thinking much about it or maybe having it again. I've had prickly pear jelly and candy. It's kinda common in Arizona.

I may have had paneer in the course of other things, in a Persian restaurant or something. I've seen it on menus but haven't known myself specifically to be eating any, that I can recall.

-=-McDonald’s Big Mac Meal-=- Not that specifically, but many times McDonald's fish sandwiches (which aren't very good), and a fair number of times on road trips, the breakfasts. Burger King's are better (breakfasts and fish sandwiches).

I had to look "blini" up, because I've had caviar but not with or on whatever blini is.

Marty says he and Brett Henry have been considering going for a kobe beef burger here in town somewhere. They're $30 apiece or so... They're thinking about it.

Salted lassi is a thing Keith likes a lot and I make every couple of weeks (or more in the summer). We make it with lemon juice and salt, or sometimes with mint (from our yard) instead of lemon. The recipe is taped inside the cabinet door.

I haven't had "nettle tea" but I've had "Indian tea," which is made of a kind of flower/grass that grows where I grew up, and you pick it green, fan fold it, tie the stem-end around the bundle, and steep it in a cup of hot water. Haven't had it for years.

I had baba ghanouj just recently. It looks terrible but tastes GREAT.

My husband has huevos rancheros more than once a month, but I don't.

If I'd never been to Ontario, I would never have had any idea what poutain is, but we had it a couple of times and though it sounds like it would be a greasefest, it was really good (and if I lived in the frozen north instead of the sunny south, I'd need more food like that).

Holly rockin' out gently

Holly and Ben, last night, playing a new song they didn't know yet.


That dress she's wearing is my wedding dress. She was wearing it without all its accompaniments (sash and shoes), but there it is... She changed a while later and went to spend time with one of her new high school friends. She's hanging out with three girls who go to La Cueva High School. She might go to the homecoming dance with them.

Marty had been playing with them earlier, but left to go to the state fair with Brett Henry (where they saw Molly Hatchet free), because Brett who usually spends a lot of time at the state fair is being sent to Chicago for a week or two, for work. (As I'm posting this, Marty has gone to take Brett to the airport.)

Other Brett (Holly's boyfriend) was upstairs on a scheduled World of Warcraft raid.

That's how my house is the past several hours.

Marty in photos, Holly in thoughts

I missed the Friday fill-in. I've been sickly. Sickish. My insides are quiet. That's kinda nice. Kind of waiting, inside. I don't mind.

Holly posted two new photos of her and Marty, and I'm looking for them in her storage. She's house sitting and so I haven't seen her since Friday afternoon. I've seen Brett, her boyfriend (pictured with Marty at right) and so I know she's okay.

Those of her and Marty are new, and it was fun to see them, in her MySpace photos.

Can the world be ending *again*?

BACKGROUND: Deb Lewis sent a link to the video at left, and entitled the e-mail "This seems appropriate today."

I called Keith. Meanwhile Kelly Lovejoy wrote "OK---so how do I apply that to our curriculum? Was that physics or music or astronomy or drama or history or math or....
Or...wait---oh yeah,...."

And after my conversation with Keith, I wrote this:

Well for me it was current events, only I had to call Keith at work and say, "So... is there some science news today involving particles?" So he told me about them having turned the thing on this morning in Switzerland and he was trying to tell me where it was and how big, but I'm all "Yeah, yeah yeah, I know that; I just wanted to know why today." (He can't watch YouTube at Honeywell.)

So he told me about the end of the world predictions and that some geek has said if they DO create a black hole it will travel out and away from earth without doing any damage, and that the guy was an idiot to say so. But anyway, I think I'll put it on my blog and put some other end-of-the-world predictions with it. At least a Prince song I heard yesterday--not, of course, for the first time, but I didn't know it would be significant if I knew we were on the eve of yet another end-of-the-world day.



And how should people act when they believe the world is going to end? I'm thinking... live every day as if you're glad to be there, if you can manage to do that.

Here are some end-of-the-world songs you can listen to while you wait for news of the Large Hadron Collider.

Corrections and comments

When I said the readers couldn't see anyway, I meant the listeners couldn't see anyway [the chat box (on the podcast page)].




later note: I have changed the links so they'll open in new windows, so you can look things up and still listen.


When I was talking about our local unschooling group, when the kids were little, I misspoke. I said
"Some people got kinda cranky with us when we kept running it," but I meant "stopped running it." Sorry about that.

I named Julie Rice-McClure as someone they've known since they were little, from that group, but Brett Henry (known to some of those who'll read this) is another one they still have regularly in their lives.


The links I mentioned:
http://sandradodd.com/howto
http://sandradodd.com/zeneverything

The conferences are linked here: sandradodd.com/speaking

How many social groups and chatgroups are you on? I said four. I think five, though. Two social-forums sites, the message board at unschooling.info/forum, AlwaysLearning@yahoogroups and UnschoolingDiscussion@googlegroups. Five, then. Three of them aren't very busy lately.

The "optimal" quote was this:

If each person is as kind and generous and good as he or she can be, then the situation will be optimal.

Stunning, that someone wanted to dispute that...
And Schuyler Wayforth paraphrased it even better:

Even on a bad day, if everyone is being as generous and kind as they are capable of it is better than if they aren't.

When I talked about addressing other parents in stores I said "grocery store" but I wish I'd just said "store." One was Target, one was at the library, and one was at Lowe's, and one was in Walmart. The neighbor problem was over the fence once and in the vacant lot near our houses another time.

Here's something for those who might not know what owl pellets are.

I got cut off, maybe by the podcast site. That's okay. The thing I was saying when I knew I'd been disconnected was that blogs are a great way to learn more about other families' unschooling experiences, with photos. I was giving the address of this blog. So never mind that; here you are, and you already know that blogs lead to other blogs!

---

MORE COMMENTS LATER:

UnschoolingSupermom wrote on her blog about this: http://unschoolingsupermom.blogspot.com/2008/09/sandra-dodd.html

And the quote I kind of haltingly gave during the "Learn Nothing Day" part of the podcast interview was this:

Try not to learn. Don't try to learn. Those two aren't the same thing but they're close enough for beginners.

Monday morning!

In less than an hour, I need to be quick and funny and profound for a blogtalk radio interview. Unfortunately, I have a cold, so I'm patching up and medicating and gargling and trying to figure out how to seem normal(ish). The next part of of this I pulled from my reminder e-mail.

http://www.Blogtalkradio.com/RelaxedHomeschooler/2008/09/08/Relaxed-Homeschooler-4

And do not forget, if you want to call in live and speak with the host, be sure to dial (347)633-9765. You will be placed into the caller queue where you will still be able to hear the show while you are on hold.

Enjoy the show,

BlogTalkRadio Staff

I'm going to sit at Keith's desk because he has a phone that's actually fastened to the wall with wire. You know. Not hardwired, like our old house, but at least modularly clicked in with a physical wire. And he has the laptop that Holly rejected because it turns itself off occasionally just seemingly for meanness (I know, I know... don't anthropomorphize computers; they don't like it). So there, if you want to picture me, I'll be on a wall phone at Keith's desk in the back, with my big catalpa tree and my snake grass out the window to the left, and my hot tub behind me through the glass door. Not the glass door with all the glass to the left of it. That leads to the sunroom and the den. The other door, up the stairs behind the tub.

Now that's as close as you're getting to webcam for this interview. Enjoy!

One word meme, and tomorrow an interview

Reminding myself and other readers about the interview tomorrow morning (Notes to the left, unless it's passed...) listen here

The intro it came with:

YOU CAN ONLY TYPE ONE WORD!
Not as easy as you might think.
Now copy or forward to at least 10 people.
Change the answers to suit you and pass it on.
It's really hard to only use one word answers.
Let me know if you're doing one!
I'd love to see your answers!

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Your significant other? Keith
3. Your hair? aging
4. Your mother? gone
5. Your father? sweetie

6. Your favorite thing? music
7. Your dream last night? spooky
8. Your dream/goal? peace
9. The room you're in? cavelike
10. Your fear? illness

11. Where were you last night? home
12. What you're not? dead
13. Muffins? thanks
14. One of your wish list items? rain
15. Where you grew up? Española

16. The last thing you did? cooked
17. What are you wearing? jeans
18. Your TV? dark
19. Your pets? old
20. Your computer? Mac

21. Your life? big
22. Your mood? great
23. Missing someone? Kirby
24.Your car? shared
25. Something you're not wearing? flippers

26. Favorite store? Beeps
27. Your summer? long
28. Do you love someone? yep!
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? forget
32. Who will repost this? strangers

I got this from Stephanie's Learning through Living blog.