LUCY BURDETTE: Yesterday you heard a bit about our trip to Portugal and Spain. Today is reserved for food. First I should admit that I will never be able to make it as a Spaniard or Portuguese person. The dining hours alone would do me in: lunch between two and 3 o’clock? Dinner after 9 PM? Not a chance I could follow that schedule. (Photo was taken in Lisbon around 7 pm--notice there is NO ONE ELSE eating.:)
I should also admit that, although I am a foodie, I don’t always try things that I think I won’t like. On this trip I did. Here are a few unusual highlights.
Spanish and Portuguese people seem to be obsessed with topping dishes with a fried egg. Artichoke hearts, calamari, mushrooms, all garnished with an egg.
Vegetables are definitely not the stars of the show. Instead, it’s ham, pork, cod, cheese, and repeat. I try not to eat pork products because of the intelligence of pigs, and the way many of them are treated. On this trip, while feeling guilty, I probably ate an entire pig by myself.
Olives, glorious olives are served with most drinks. And not the kind of jarred green Pimento stuffed olives that we are used to in the US.
Churros dipped in thick chocolate are a favorite for breakfast or midmorning snack. I am talking thick!
Sardines are served on everything! Hallie would have been proud of me for trying and enjoying this whitefish on potato chips, which was actually quite delicious.
I also tried the fried calamari, which I never eat for the same reasons I try not to eat pork. Squid are smart, and honestly rather rubbery...
And here was my favorite food of the trip: homemade, crusty sourdough rolls, stuffed with chorizo sausage. That’s one I’ll be dreaming about forever.
What’s the most unusual food that you have tried either inside or out of your own house? (If you find yourself in Madrid, we highly recommend a Devour food tour. Isabel was fantastic!)
Yum!
ReplyDeleteMost unusual food I've ever tried? Snickers salad . . . chopped up Snickers bars, apples, vanilla pudding, Cool Whip.
wow, that's a salad??
DeleteWhat? I have to say, I cannot even picture that. Or maybe, sadly, I can… :-)
DeleteJoan, that reminds me of a coffee speciality topped with Snickers bars in Seattle, WA. Diana
DeleteIt definitely did not make it to my personal recipe book!
DeleteNow, I'm hungry! But I need to go to bed instead of get a midnight snack.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteHmm. Most unusual food I've tried? I suppose a pasta in Italy and a salad in Galicia with tiny bits of octopus that at first we thought were cheese. And in Galicia, a bar/restaurant/cafe we like serves mushroom caps stuffed with . . . we've never figure out! But it's delicious.
ReplyDeleteI so agree about the olives in Portugal and Spain, though. And here in Portugal we love a small crusty roll with a fluffy interior called "Bijou". It's like a mini baggette. I'm a bread person, so this is one of my favorite treats.
And I agree about the fried egg on top of everything - not something I like at all, and I always say no thank you to it. Also, shimp and prawns with the heads on? Nope! We always request "sem cabeça," or we get them battered.
Oh those rolls sound amazing Elizabeth! For breakfast, now please...
DeleteThat's exactly when we have them occasionally at the little cafe across the way, with a cup of coffee similar to a latte.
DeleteIn Spain, my husband and I also mourned the missing vegetables on our plates and loved the olives, Lucy. Over the years, I've eaten smoked eel, frog legs, snails, pigs' ears, ducks' feet, and, in Asia, quite a few things I couldn't identify. Years ago, when I spent six weeks alone in Tokyo, I bought a small octopus on a stick (like a lollipop) at an outdoor stand in a park. I took one bite out of the head, thought it was the worst thing I'd ever tasted, and threw it away. But I did swallow the bite! (I like calamari, by the way--this taste was very different.) Oh yes, we often eat rabbit in Switzerland, and I make a delicious rabbit stew with white wine, mustard, carrots, and cream. But in Mallorca, I was once served a whole roasted rabbit with the head on. I ate the meat, but I confess that staring it in the eye while I did that was unnerving!
ReplyDeleteKIM, I have another rabbit story. My mom and I ate a wonderful braised rabbit dish at a bistro in le Marais in Paris. Walking home, we saw a whole rabbit hanging in the butcher window. It looked like it was sleeping. My mom burst into tears (she rarely cries) & said "I can't believe I ate such a cute creature!"
Deletethose are sad rabbit stories! Kim, one night I was THRILLED to find a kale caesar salad on the menu and gobbled it down. Our academic guide, who is from Madrid, was astonished to see I'd found such a thing in Madrid!
DeleteI'm a very picky eater. Sometimes it's hard for me to find anything on the menu that I am willing to eat. But one night we went out for seafood and they put some fried calamari on my Fisherman's mini platter, so I said what the heck and tried one. I like it. It's not something I will go out of my way to order again but if it's fried and on my plate I may eat it again.
ReplyDeleteFrying food cures a lot of ills, doesn't it?
DeleteTrue! Fried cardboard would be delicious if it were battered and dipped in tartar sauce….
DeletePretty much what my early cooking efforts tasted like.
DeleteMost unusual food were octopus, alligator, and duck. I never have to eat them again.
ReplyDeleteLOL Dru. Brava for trying them though!
DeleteOooh, I liked alligator, and have never tried octopus - lack of opportunity, and duck in any format is one of my favourites. We raised muscovie ducks, and one year we had too many for the market, so we took it in to Schwartz's of Montreal smoked meat fame, and they spiced it and smoked it a la meat. We took it home and served it as an appetizer (placed whole on a platter and garnished with spiced crab-apples and parsley), and people just ripped off a chunk. Memorable-meal delicious!
DeleteI used to love duck! And remember it being delicious. But… Of course, no more. :-)
DeleteBefore I went vegetarian, I attended a "wild game feast" with my husband and ate things that I've since blocked from memory. I became a vegetarian shortly after that. Coincidence? I doubt it. Now I'm a pescatarian because I like to eat out and needed SOMETHING I could order from the menu besides salad. Last year, I tried calamari for the first and last time. No thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think I SHOULD be a vegetarian Annette, but I've not made it to that side yet.
DeleteAnnette, with the global climate change and the droughts that we had in California, I learned that the process of making beef or meat contributes to a bigger carbon footprint.
DeleteTrying to remember when I started a plant based diet. I think when I learned that women in Asia do not seem to struggle with menopause as much as women in the Western world seem to because they eat more Tofu and vegetables, I decided to eat more vegetables. I used to eat beef and would eat hamburgers.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, I think I ate an hamburger ONCE in the last three years. I ordered a takeaway at a gourmet hamburger place near my home so I picked up the hamburger to take home with me.
Diana
LUCY: You know I am an eclectic adventurous eater, and I mentioned some dishes I ate while in Spain & Portugal yesterday.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to KIM, I have eaten frog legs, snails, octopus, squid and eel. For exotic meat I have eaten alligator, duck, elk, wild boar, yak (raised in Quebec & eaten last month in Montreal) & rabbit multiple times. Loved them all.
You are an astonishingly adventurous eater, and chef too!
DeleteAwww, thanks. Yesterday I mentioned those grilled sardines that I ate in Estoril, Portugal. I am not a huge fan of whole fish but those were a highlight. And I agree about the lack of veggies. My parents and I ate dinner at 5:30 pm (in Toronto) so those late dinner hours were quite an adjustment for me, too!
DeleteAdding some more exotic meat I forgot: ostrich, buffalo/bison, goat.
DeleteAnd other odd foods I have tried : tripe, Black pudding which is a blood sausage with oatmeal (UK). Alas, no haggis yet.
We served emu as a dish at a supper party once. There was a farm down the road from us, so tried it to support our neighbours industry. Roast the same way you would roast beef, and served with a fresh plum condiment. It was delicious and low cholesterol and boneless.
DeleteGrace - try haggis and get some real stuff. Make sure there are tatties and neeps on the side.
MARGO: I do want to try haggis, just couldn't find it when I was in Scotland for 2 summers. And yes to tatties & neeps!!
DeleteGRACE: Now I remember. When I met friends at a French ? restaurant in the City, we had fois gras many years ago. It is very fatty. It was yummy though.
DeleteDiana
Grace you are adventurous! I like eel in sushi. I won't eat wild animals (deer, elk, boar, etc) because of concerns with diseases - hopefully fully cooked game is ok to eat. Of course, I guess you could say the same about chickens, cows, pigs, etc. But they are stuffed with antibiotics, which is not much better for us either.
DeleteDIANA: I have eaten way more foie gras than I care to admit. It is a decadent indulgence.
DeleteANON: I grew up eating eel, octopus and squid at home in Toronto, so it was no big deal. The rest of the wild game/meat eating experiences came during my travels and living close to the Quebec border here in Ottawa.
DeleteLucy, few foods are more challenging than raw oysters, especially for the uninitiated. I have my own love-hate story with fried calamari, which is indeed rubbery.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you and I have similar sensibilities concerning pork and octopus. Although I am a meat eater, I draw a very fine line concerning which meats. At home we only buy Kosher meat and separate milk and meat products. I will eat shellfish if we are dining out. But, I won't ear reptiles or eat any animal with fur. I admire vegetarians and pescatarians. If Irwin would be comfortable with that, we would switch to that lifestyle.
Yes Judy, I admire them as well--the topic is very conflicting for me. We have a lot of non-meat meals at home but my John will never convert willingly.
DeleteLucy, have you tried Portbello Mushroom? It tasted like a burger to me. Diana
DeleteYummy post, Lucy! I'm with you on the reasons for not eating pork. Hadn't thought about squid...
ReplyDeleteOnce, in France, I ate, without knowing it, brains ("cervelle"), likely calf's -- tasted lovely and delicate UNTIL I figured out what I was eating (a hazard of eating unknown foods in a country where I was learning the language). Then -- NO. Not another bite. The thought put me over the top.
On my first trip to Italy a travel companion ordered the night's special, lamb brains, and ate it with such relish, but it looked so unappealing. That was the same night I tried a taste of another companion's tripe, which was delicious.
DeleteYes, to tripe, but I haven't tried eating any brains yet.
DeleteI'm skipping the brains and tripe:)
DeleteTripe doesn't have any taste of its own. It takes on the flavor of whatever it's cooked with. Very mild.
DeleteAgreed about the taste of tripe... it's the texture that is not so appealing. But I still liked eating it in flavourful soups or main dishes.
DeleteI had fried calamari at Lidia's, which is a very popular restaurant here in Pittsburgh. Surprisingly, it was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteLIZ: I have eaten fried calamari dozens of times & I love it. But I understand why some people are turned off if it's poorly cooked (rubbery). I learned that you should cook calamari (and other squid dishes) either very fast or braised for hours to avoid the rubbery texture.
DeleteI agree, if fried calamari is not done right, it can taste rubbery.
DeleteIf calamari is breaded and fried it is very good. But if it's just baked or saute - I think its rather flavorless.
DeleteGrace, et al: This was breaded in a light panko-crumb and fried. I haven't had it taste that good anywhere else.
DeleteI love calamari!
DeleteGrace is right, calamari does not have to be rubbery. I got spoiled by my first taste in Sausalito, super fresh.
ReplyDeleteI am an adventurous eater, and like to try new things. Kangaroo roast with plum sauce in Sydney; alpaca in Cusco; guinea pig in Orabumba (my piece was too salty to judge); eels in sauce at book club; gator tails in Miami (too metallic); bear meatballs (also metallic); octopus and ceviche in Lima, Peru while looking at the ocean it came from; goat in Arusha, Tanzania, and again later in Nairobi at a traditional Kenyan restaurant (along with some other stuff I've put out of my mind); plus, lots of American game like moose, elk, antelope (tasted of the sage it feeds on), and of course venison.
Lucy, when my middle daughter spent a year bumming around Europe a couple months of the time was spent in Spain. Since fifth grade she has avoided eating "pink meat", ie ham products, and she had a rough time with eating there.
How did you avoid salt, though? Or are you not still on a low-salt diet? Because all those cured meats!! Salty, all of them. In fact, so are olives.
Odd that the gator tails tasted metallic. Mine tasted fine, similar to chicken. Oh, and I forgot to add eating ostrich to my original list. Guinea pig is on my list to try when I make it to Peru.
DeleteI no longer have to watch salt like a hawk, thanks to my naturopath! You and Grace will eat anything!
DeleteGood news, Lucy!
DeleteI forgot bison, too, Grace. The metallic taste is because gator, like bear and big cats, are carnivores. Herbivores tend to have a more acceptable flavor to us.
Once upon a time (1971), we were semi-starving students, so we decided in an act of cheapness to cook up tripe – it was only 50 cents – what could go wrong? The question would have been better phrased “what could be right?” We boiled, it, simmered, it, drained it, salted it, boiled it again, and fumigated the apartment for about a month! It stunk. It was rubbery. It looked gross and tasty even worse, so we threw it away – and opened all the doors.
ReplyDeleteFlash forward several years (actually 2017). Our first grandchild is born at some ungodly hour of the morning. We hop in the car and drive 5 hrs to see the little darling and arrive at 6pm just before visiting hours were over – and that means no supper! I don’t do well with no food, but as we are driving home to her empty house, we spot a Vietnamese restaurant in the strip mall. I went in asked the woman to just feed me. She asked if I wanted tripe in my pho and being too hungry to make a decision, I just nodded. Talk about good!
So, tripe – would I try it again – yes, for sure if someone else prepared it.
Happy Hannukah to all – I will share a latke in my mind with you.
MARGO: you were brave to have tried to cook tripe yourself but I agree leave it to the pros. I have enjoyed eating tripe many times in Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants.
DeleteI commented earlier, but it apparently didn't register. I was having trouble thinking of some of the exotic foods I'd eaten, but all these comments have reminded me!
ReplyDeleteI have eaten ostrich egg which makes scrambled eggs for about 12 people. Had a delicious roasted goat in Mexico, tasty little salty dried fish as a drinking snack in Japan, and some perfectly cooked squid and octopus (as well as raw in Japan on sushi) over the years, except now I won't eat octopus anymore. I also made a rabbit stew for Easter one time which scandalized a few guests. I thought it was yummy!
Lucy, you made me drool with all the descriptions of foods in Portugal and Spain.
Laughing about cooking a bunny for Easter Edith!!
DeleteOstrich eggs, compared to the omelet my friend and I made with four DOZEN quail eggs. Enough to barely feed four people! And all that shell cracking!
DeleteGood for you. Lucy, for trying things you thought you would rather not! I don't think I have ever, knowingly at least, eaten anything very exotic. When my grandfather butchered pigs years ago, he made or had someone else make head cheese. I'm pretty sure I never tried that and I was surprised when a man behind me at the deli counter ordered some. My youngest son is vegan ( the other son raises pigs!) and I am not much for eating meat myself. Even though I fondly remember how delicious my mother's lamb stew was, I would never eat lamb again. Nor would I ever eat veal!
ReplyDeleteRecently I read somewhere that the there may be a genetic connection, or maybe a genetic trait that some people have concerning eating meat, or rather not eating it. Not sure if there is anything to that but i found it interesting to think about.
When I was a kid I would not drink milk (unless perhaps there was cake or cookies) all because of a horrible 'fact' that someone had told me. Of course I have since learned that 'fact' was totally made up. And now my poor old bones suffer from lack of milk while growing up. Luckily my granddaughter loves milk and can really put it away. I had told her how I had been put off it when young and that I'm now paying the consequences. I was surprised that she never asked what the fake fact was but i wouldn't have told her anyway. True or not, no one needs a picture like that in their heads.
Oh no, don't tell us Judy! That's so interesting that a genetic trait could affect what we choose to eat. Makes perfect sense.
DeleteThe lack of drinking milk probably had less impact than your genetics. I refused to drink milk, thought it tasted terrible. I have no bone issues.
DeleteYum! Sounds like a fabulous gastronomical experience. I do try to taste different foods when traveling, and in Edinburgh my host mom served me kippers for breakfast and haggis, which wasn't so bad.
ReplyDeleteGillian, I recently discovered that I love kippers! Diana
DeleteI am fairly adventurous, not quite a 'foodie' but close. I am not sure but I think I tried fugu in Okinawa. Can only remember a slight tingling to the bite. Where I differ from my family, I eat offal except kidneys, I never did learn how to clean them properly. I do try to eat vegetarian until the blood work says back to other food choices. The one main food source that I have not tried but would like to is (are?) insects. Again I think I have tried chocolate covered ants, and remember them being crunchy, but can not prove it. Kudos to the rest of you for your open minded approach to dining.
ReplyDeleteOh boy insects, Coralee! You are very open-minded:)
DeleteAh yes, eating insects. Trying cricket powder & chocolate-covered insects is too easy to mask what you're eating. I just have to find the right dish...I am open to trying anything once.
DeleteIf we ever meet in person at a conference, Grace, let's find a venue for insects in that city. Which also sells something really tasty to wash them (it) down.
DeleteCORALEE: I'm up for it but we definitely need something nice to wash down the critters. :-)
DeleteLucy, sounds like you had wonderful food adventures. Wonder if the lack of vegetables have something to do with the climate making it difficult to grow vegetables?
ReplyDeleteIn high school, my Spanish language teacher told us about his experiences travelling in Spain with his wife. They were shocked that Dinner was served after 9 p.m. He explained to us that restaurants serve too much food for lunch and people have Siestas after lunch.
My grandmother's grandmother was born in Spain to Irish- Spanish parents. My grandparents had the habit of eating late Growing up, if the family got together with relatives for dinner, we would be having dinner as late as 9p.m.
Someday I would like to visit Portugal and Spain. I will definitely check out DEVOUR tours.
Trying to remember any "strange" food experiences when travelling. I remember travelling to Hawaii, the 50th state in the USA. I remember the food tasted strange. The 7-Up and the Coke drinks were flat - no sugar. I remember adding lots of sugar to make it taste like the drinks that I was familiar with. The papaya was unique.
We have an International Cuisine here in California. Once we went to an Ethiopian restaurant and I remember unusual combinations of food.
Diana
That reminds me Diana of the Hawaii McDonalds. I recall they had spam, haupia pie and red fruit juice, Saimin noodle soup (the best!), taro (poi) pie. So different that what what I see here in So. Calif.
DeleteAnother once upon a time story, but once we were in Halifax and opted to try the new Ethiopian restaurant, which was really a Mom and Pop (or sister) place. We each had a different selection and were surprised that they all looked the same - ground something in a spicy sauce served on a wet pancake-type thing. We asked and were told this was injera bread which was always served under the food, and proper etiquette was to rip off a bit and pop it into your mouth making the bread the tool for eating. It was delicious and so different to anything we had eaten before. Again flash forward in time to book club where the book was Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. In this book he reminisces about life as a child and the Ethiopian food he had growing up. I was drooling having tasted it that once, while the others just passed it on by. Just another sample of how each person's life affects what we read.
DeleteI don’t know where you were in Hawaii, but the food is excellent, and I am a picky eater. The soda is not flat nor lacking sweetener. One experience does not represent an entire area, only your personal experience at one place!
DeleteWe had fabulous food in Hawaii, eating in restaurants representing diverse ethnicities. We also went to a McDonald's which did offer spam and other unusual fare. I don't drink soda, but the food was great.
DeleteFirst I'd like to wish Happy Hannukah to those celebrating.
ReplyDeleteLucy what a great trip. I enjoyed John's report yesterday as well and hope there'll be more to come?
As far as eating late the French are similar, and they simply will not serve you until the "correct" time. We had been driving all day (and hadn't eaten) and arrived in Saint-Emilon at our estate inn. They refused to serve us anything (c'est impossible) but it was worth the wait! We sat in the vineyard terrace until well after midnight.
The olives look heavenly! Yum. Churros in thick chocolate (I'm moving to Spain tomorrow!) And Spanish anchovies are the best. I get them often at our local fish market. Love them!
yes, happy Hannukah all!
DeleteYou are a traveler after my own heart! FOOD FOOD FOOD! And of course so much more. And eating late was SUCH a challenge when we took our first trip to France with a 9-month old who needed to be FED at 5 and was asleep by the time the French thought they might deign to make dinner available.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lucy, were those SARDINES?? Because they look more like white anchovies, my favorite.
ReplyDeleteActually now that you mention it, they do look like anchovies!
DeleteOh I think you are right Hallie. I just assumed they were white anchovies too. Which are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteNorway (such a beautiful country) has strange food (most of which isn't very good - but we didn't go to Norway for the food).
They are allowed to catch and eat whale, reindeer (poor Rudolph!), and other indigenous foods.
We're hoping to visit Norway soon--I will have to prepare myself for so-so food!
DeleteLucy you will love the beauty of Norway. The food was very expensive (as was just about everything). Baked goods though are great! One thing we did every morning was to walk down to the local bakery with our grandkids and ordered the skillingsolle (a Bergen original ). We loved Bergen. A fun time to visit is around May 17th which is their national independence holiday.
DeleteOh, the olives!! Olive stalls in the markets are one of my favorite things in England, and you also get fabulous olives in any restaurant in London. I've wondered for years why we never get olives that good here. They are always too salty, and they just don't taste the same. I wonder if the importers prepare them differently for the American market?
ReplyDeleteSo interesting about the vegetables, Lucy. Surely they eat them at home? Did you see lots of veggies in the markets?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty adventurous and have eaten lots of odd things, or at least things that Americans think are odd. Black pudding, haggis, smoked eel, rabbit, frog legs, snails, calf brains, sweetbreads (which I actually love,) tongue, octopus (not anymore) and squid and sardines. I think I had alligator on a visit to Louisiana as a child, but that might be manufactured memory. I haven't tried insects. Or bull testicles:-)
We will add you to Margo and Coralee's table!
DeleteWelcome to my table anytime, but I, too have not tried bull testicles!
DeleteWhen we were in Spain the first olives we had were a delicate lemony flavor. Never saw them again, darn it. Weird things I have eaten (that I can remember) include frogs legs and alligator. The legs were meh. The gator was good. Again, when we were in Spain a waiter offered us little glasses of a liqueur made from acorns aka bellotas. We thought this was an ancient regional drink. The waiter explained it was brand new and the region was trying to promote it. It was all right, but nothing to get excited about.
ReplyDeleteWe love the pork cheeks (carrilladas) in Spain. And you can't go wrong with churros y chocolate!
ReplyDeletePS I would rather not eat late, either. We start our travels in Spain with a cafe con leche and then have the menu del dia for lunch, which is always an amazing bargain and is a ton of food. We save leftovers for the evening and supplement with local cheese and maybe some tapas or some boquerones from Aldi. You can eat very very well in Spain for not much money.
Deleteeating a big lunch is always a good idea! I can't imagine how they digest so much food that late!
DeleteWe have friend who has studied sustainable fisheries, particularly mullet. Fried mullet fillet on a sandwich is definitely yummy! But then, she decided to splurge and get some bottarga, which is a smoked roe. This was served grated on pasta. A few bites and no thanks for me. Then there was the "male roe" episode. I'll leave it to your imaginations as to what that might be. I think we all had to spit it out! But always good to try something new. -Melanie
ReplyDeleteMy imagination refuses to go there Melanie:)
DeleteI had tongue sandwiches in the exotic locale of New York City! It was very tasty, but having tried it at delis in SoCal, NYC has them beat. I believe I’ve tried ostrich burgers (definitely have had bison), have had octopus and calamari (loved the latter), but don’t think I can eat either since reading Remarkably Bright Creatures and seeing My Octopus Teacher.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, my mom made frog legs (which surprises me to recall because my dad was extremely unadventurous regarding food. If it wasn’t meat ‘n’ potatoes, he wasn’t interested). I don’t know if I even took a taste because it looked like a frog! I can fool my brain (haven’t tried that either) into eating steak and chicken because they don’t resemble the animal from which they came. I’m leaning more toward vegetarian the older I get. — Pat S
Lucy, I didn't comment yesterday, but I loved your post and hearing about the different places. You look quite excited about the olives in the picture, but olives is a hard no for me. I think it has something to seeing my father eat green olives out of the small jar they came in and then drinking the juice left over. However, a delighted yes to friend egg on everything. It seems to be either a Honolulu or Hawaiian thing, too, especially putting a friend egg on hamburgers. There was also a place where I enjoyed their club sandwich with fried egg. Closer to home, when I went with some friends to a restaurant in Lexington, KY, there was a pizza on the menu topped with fried eggs. That's what I ordered and loved it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been very adventurous in my eating, but I have had alligator in Florida, and it was pretty good. In Union Station in D.C., my daughter and I decided to grab some lunch at the restaurant out in the middle of the station lobby (don't know if it's still there). Anyway, my daughter is always up for trying new food, and so to keep up with her I ordered a salad that included octopus. What I got shocked me. It was a miniature octopus, whole. In the spirit of being determined to try something new, I cut off a bite, and yuck, never again. Of course, now I have such affection for octopus, I wouldn't dare order or eat it. I don't like raw oysters, have to be cooked.
Thanks to our neighbor when I was growing up, I had moose burger. He went on a hunting trip to Canada every year. I just remember it as being okay. Cobia fish caught in Key West by my son, son-in-law, and son-in-law's father is the most delicious fish I've ever eaten. It's a hard fish to come by though, and it's only found in certain waters. Quail eggs are good, as is quail itself. I rather like calamari, but it does have that rubbery thing going. My son loved it. My ex-brother-in-law offered squirrel to me, but I passed on that.
Two things: I had bower not to eat lamb, because it isn’t nice to eat baby animals, but in a hill town in Portugal, our group was served a meal of roast lamb. No menu choices. It was so delicious I accepted a second slice,
ReplyDeleteHave not eaten it since.
Second thing. In Spain, we had gazpacho for lunch every day. It was always different and it was always delicious.