Trendy Omnivore

There's a blog making some waves in the news. Apparently Jill and Andrew from Very Good Taste decided to make an intriguing list of foods of the homo sapien palate. The contents of the list is of course debatable. But from reading what's on it, I must agree that it comprises a good blend of world foods. It's funny though that Big Mac Meal, Poutine, and Krispy Kreme donuts make up of the North American choices... goes to show how fat the North American diet really is.

Now I'm not a picky eater, especially compared to some close friends of mine. When ppl send me those dreaded "My fave...." lists to complete, the part where it asks about your fave food I always put "ethnic". Which may seem like a cop-out. But it's the simple truth.

So without further suspense... I've bolded the items in the list that have graced my lips. Apparently I've tasted 52/100. I'm not sure if that's bad or average.

1. Venison my Greek dad hunts deer... it's very good meat. But I like moose better.
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros thanks to befriending some Mexicans of late, I've been enjoying many of their dishes!
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile I remember eating this with friends over Christmas. It's tough meat!
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart best memory... a vender on Young Street in Toronto. I was 11.
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 but sorry no... shellfish aren't my fave
29. Baklava mmmm, my Greek mom's the best!
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl not in specific bowl...
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar sadly not together
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O can we say Jell-O shots?
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat and chicken, lamb, beef, shrimp...
42. Whole insects according to my mom I used to eat ants by the dozen
43. Phaal (sorry I like my tastebuds untorched)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more I'm a student, you think I'd spend $60 on Whiskey? Sorry Tullamore Dew is my "uppercrest" Whiskey
46. Fugu after that Simpson's episode, I doubt many will try it
47. Chicken tikka masala oh gawd... this with naan is heaven!
48. Eel on sushi... ick ick ick
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut this is the god-given purpose of glaze
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear in Mexico they call it Tuna... which causes some misunderstanding when someone orders a tuna sandwich
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer mmmm cheeeese
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal sadly any McD meal since I was raised behind a McDonald's (true story!)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini shaken, not stirred
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine I'm Canadian.. duh!
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. SweetbreadsIt wasn't what I thought it would be... but not bad tasting
63. Kaolin I've no idea what this is
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain though I'm not sure if simple fried bananas count...
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette for the the love of God, no no no! I've been offered it, but passed
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini sadly just caviar
73. Louche absinthe they still allow this to be consumed?
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill seriously... what is THIS doing on a list with Krispy Kreme?
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong thanks to Steeps, I get to try exotic teas
80. Bellini three words: Cactus Club Cafe
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant wtf?!!
85. Kobe beef hmmm, unsure if kobe beef on sushi counts?
86. Hare
87. Goulash my granny often makes this...
88. Flowers I've had dandilion soup, but edible flowers as garnishes
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano ole!
96. Bagel and lox part of the joy of dating a Jew
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee funny... this is now the 4th time I've seen this coffee mention in the past 30 days. Weird.
100. Snake

Sex and The Crease

Funny thing happened to me... again.

I was telling a few friends of mine that I was happy to be back in the crease, and suddenly the conversation went sexual. For some apparent reason some men find a female goalie sexy. I'm not sure why, especially considering that you're not dressed in lingerie and smelling like roses. If you've never suited up as an ice hockey goalie, it's like padding yourself with an extra 40-60 lbs of foam and still be "agile". Maybe that's part of the point... you can show off your flexibility in spite of the equipment. Or maybe it's like a steamy package waiting to be unwrapped.

But whatever the reason, sex and goaltending seems to go puck in glove. I have had the interesting experience of being courted right after a practise. Apparently watching and the thought of pucks slamming against my goal jill got him all giddy. It was a definitely the best "cool-down" session I've ever had after a practise. I thought it was an isolated incident, but here again talking about protecting the crease got other men aroused.

It's not just me... it's apparently in the culture. For example, in recent jabs at the American 2008 VP-hopeful Sarah Palin, Conan O'Brien couldn't resist a joke about her being a hockey mom and her pregnant teenage daughter. "It's not known what positions her children play," Conan said, "but one of them's not good at protecting the crease."

So ladies, if lingerie isn't working for you in the bedroom, go to your local sport store and opt for goal equipment. At the very least, invest in a sexy goalie jill strap. Believe me, it's far more comfortable than a teddy thong.

holy sh!t it's fall already?

Maaaan this summer was a blur. Okay 30 second update:

The most vivid memories were the 10 days in Canada's Ocean PlayGround (aka Nova Scotia). I took my mom there for her 60th bday. Although she turns 60 in November, I decided in July that I'd take her for three reasons:

1. the maritimes in November don't have the best weather
2. the November I'm finishing my thesis, thus I don't have time for a 10 day retreat (though come November that's exactly what I would wish to have)
3. summer holidays are meant to be in summer

So we had an awesome time. Spending 10 days with your mother may seem irritating, but we managed not to get on each others nerves for 9 days. The 10th day, I think we were just cranky due to the whirlwind tireness of running around the province. We did all the tourisy things, but will definitely return to the fave spots. There's a cove in the highlands with our name on it, definitely going back there!

SoCal Kelly visited me again, she braved leaving her nirvana of sunny California to northern Canada. Sadly I was preoccupied with experiments, but managed to take off nights to enjoy the visit with her. We always enjoy our time together.

August... back to the bench, madly doing new experiments for a manuscript resubmission and then more experiments to leave what I'm calling a "legacy" for my lab. The data coming from it will jump start endless projects for the next decade or more. The downside is that I'll have to wait that long before getting credit for it in journal form. Woe well.

September - the return of undergrads underfoot. I think the more time you spend in university is porportional to the underlining dislike of lost undegrads. They can't help but be clueless and immature. But seriously, don't ask me to hold your hand to show you where the bathrooms are. I often just screw with their minds, "Oooooh you want THAT room... well you're in the wrong building."

The good news about fall - ice hockey begins again. I'm back in the crease. This time I'm going to improve on a few things: butterfly stops with my stick where it's SUPPOSED to be. The other is working on my weight. I'm not thin, neither pudgey. Clincally I'm obese, but I'm wanting to really work on that. Nothing drastic, just better eating and a lil more active. Who knows, I might shave off a dozen stones.

What's an intreresting blog without photos? All text and no eye candy make a scientist unpublishable (ick, need to work on catchy sayings too). So me will try to find some comics/pics that I enjoy. Maybe state my mood of the day.

I rented a van over this past weekend to pick up a TV from a friend. It had a GPS system on it (free of charge) which reminded me of this comic from XKCD.com

lil mouth o' pain

My mouth is blessed.

For the 3 decades of my life, my mouth has been blessed with good teeth. I give credit to my maternal grandfather's side for being Darwinian and carrying "good" teeth genes. Not one cavity, filling, maybe a touch of gingivitis, but hell who doesn't have that.

However there's a draw back of having good teeth... you never experience the pain in your mouth. So this week my wisdom teeth decided to migrate a lil north. They have moved before, even cut. It produced some discomfort, but nothing I couldn't handle. My dentist has always urged for me to get them removed, but there's a quirk with me. Thanks to my patneral side, I inherited a blood disorder. Nothing too life threatening, just that I bleed much more and it's hard to get it to stop. So... teeth extraction requires more than a trip to the orthodentist, it requires hospitalization. Which then there's a lot of questions about the cost involved, yadda... And me being a poor grad student, it's not on my list of priorities.

Though soon I'll probably find out. Holy sh!t my toothies decided to migrate this week. My lower right wisdom tooth has impacted in my mandible and I pleaded for pain killers all yesterday. The codeine is working, though my mouth and face have swollen up, and can barely extend my jaw. I find out my fate tomorrow at the dentist... so it'll mean surgery within the next few weeks if not months. I'll keep ya posted.

Now off to spoon feed myself some soup.

the (continuing) woes of being a grad student...

For those who don't know, I've been a grad student since the turn of the millennia. So you do the math and that means I've been a labrat for 8 years now. I think it's due to my mild masochist nature why I've stayed so long being a grad student. That doesn't mean I've been 8 years on this project alone. The first three tender years were spent on my try at eukaryotic genetics for my Masters. They say that a Masters is a buffer degree. When you graduate with your Bach, there's still too many directions to go. So I ventured to watch worm porn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXx35u7zLxs) for three years and thought... ehhh, no. So I went back to my first love: bacteria, and I've been happy ever since to work in the field.

That's not to say that I'm a happy grad student. I think the number of years you spend in grad school is porportional to the bitterness of being a grad student. Seriously, we're slaves. Sure it's a full circle as the advisors were once mistreated as grad students long ago and now it's their turn to hold the whip. I think Gandhi was onto something with that "eye for an eye..." way of thinking.

yeah... I'm bitter, but it goes with the territory... c'est la vie!