Soylent Green Is People

Yesterday, I finally got around to watching a TV show entitled "Writing With Food" that I recorded earlier this week.

One interesting thing I learned from it was that in 1993 Gay Bilson, a Sydney restaurant icon, was in charge of designing the dinner for the Symposium of Australian Gastronomy.

As her contribution to the menu, she decided to cook a Blood Sausage recipe that is normally made using pig's blood, but using her own blood, instead.

While I find this an absolutely fascinating concept, apparently her colleagues were less enthusiastic and she eventually shelved the plan.

Lindsay McDougall, another member of the show's panel who is a vegan, made an interesting point: this would have been an animal-based dish that no-one who is a vegetarian on purely moral grounds could possibly have a problem with, since in this case the animal had provided itself on a voluntary basis.

I've always thought that I should bequeath my body to a university, for scientific research. Now, I'm wondering whether it would be possible to donate it for gastronomic research.

Taking Lindsay's point to it's logical conclusion, I don't see how cannibalism can be considered immoral if the person being consumed has offered their flesh willingly.

What's more, this may be the best reason I've found, so far, for getting fit. I'd hate the chef to get stuck working with a fatty carcass :-).

Food, Blood and Gore

What more could one desire :-)?!

This evening, I had a lovely dinner with my good friends Susan and Matt at Raquel's, which is a great Spanish restaurant on Oxford St.

After dinner, I went off to see Eli Roth's sequel Hostel: Part II. An excellent end to a very enjoyable evening.

I felt the gore was a little tamed down in this one, but it definitely had its moments. Not for the squeamish!

I arrived home to find a couple of e-mails from Susan, containing promised links to some bizarro websites, which I will post about tomorrow.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers

No, not the band! We're talking serious stuff here.

I loved this post on Spluch about what is purportedly the hottest chili sauce in the world.

I'm a huge fan of spicy food and I've tried many a hot sauce in my time, but their description of the effects of Snake Bite scares even me.

It even says, right there on the bottle ... it's "like drinking cobra venom".

Maybe I'll order a bottle anyway :-).

Packed Lunch

Via Dump Trumpet I found these amazing food-inspired bags.

When is lunch?!

Sorry, I Asked For Medium Rare

I'm big on sushi, but I think even I would balk at this ...

Sacré Bleu !!

No bottle of wine that's been opened at my place has ever required re-corking, but for the more serious tippler, I discovered the Vin Au Verre, from Euro Cave on my new favourite blog Born Rich (sadly, I wasn't).

It's a temperature controlled dispenser that holds eight bottles of wine, which it will keep in pristine condition for up to three weeks.

Pizza Oven ... Sans Oven

This Presto Pizazz Pizza Oven cooks your pizza by rotating portions of it between two heating elements.

I can't help but think that, unless it moves pretty quickly, the 4/5 of the pizza not between the elements would get cold.

But, it must work ... they wouldn't try to sell it to us otherwise, would they :-) ?!

Portable Microwave Oven

The Red Ferret has an article on a device that I'm unlikely to ever use, since I don't own a car, but which could be of value on your next trip into the great outdoors.

The WaveBox portable microwave oven sells for $US199 and runs off a car cigarette lighter socket.

Unfortunately, the web page for the product seems to be down, so I can't provide any details regarding how powerful the oven is.

How To Peel A Boiled Egg

While I prefer my eggs poached, I think I'll be boiling one or two sometime soon, just to test the effectiveness of this technique ...

Guinness Marmite

I'm a huge fan of Vegemite. I've even been known to make soup with Vegemite as the main flavour ingredient (just add a few spare herbs, whatever vegetables you have hanging around in the fridge, some fresh black pepper and a dash of Tabasco).

So, when I read on Cool Gadgets that Guinness and Marmite will be combining to bring out a special St Patrick's Day blend of the product, using the same yeast that goes into making Guinness, my mouth began to water!

I'll definitely be seeing if I can grab a jar.

Currying Flavour

I had dinner with my mate Matt tonight, at an Indian restaurant I discovered during my Australia Day Odyssey.

Darbar is in Glebe Point Rd, right near the corner of St Johns Rd, housed in a beautiful old sandstone building.

Their website is probably the best I've ever seen for a restaurant. They even have a 360 degree virtual tour.

We went with the deluxe banquet (four entrees, four mains and dessert). The food was excellent, apart from the Butter Chicken, which was somewhat sweet, not to either of our tastes.

I'd definitely recommend Darbar. I'll be back to try some of their other fare soon!

Would You Like Air Mail With That?

My colleague, Ryan, pointed me to this one (he also told me about the circle-drawing guy).

China has released some stamps to mark the year of the pig. When you scratch the front, they emit an aroma of sweet and sour pork. When you lick the back, it tastes like sweet and sour pork.

Now, if they could only do a nice, fiery Kung Pao Chicken, I'd buy a book of them !!

I Think My Skull Shrank !!

I had another very full day yesterday ... in more than one sense.

First was lunch with Susan and Matt at the Grace Hotel's delicatessen. A very nice beef rendang and a couple of beers. An unexpected guest was Jeremy, an old work colleague who I've not seen for a number of years and Susan just happened to run into on Thursday.

Then, I went to see Blood Diamond. It was reasonable, but I wouldn't say "don't miss it".

I had an hour and a half to kill until I was meeting my mate Jeff for a catch-up. That's not really long enough to do anything worthwhile, so I just jumped on the first bus that came along and went for a ride to Drummoyne and back.

On my return, there were still 20 minutes to burn, so I popped into Dymocks for a browse. This was my fatal mistake, because while I was there I ran into an old mate, Paul, who I knew through work (although I've never actually worked with him). He invited me to drinks with a group of other people who I know in the same way.

Anyhow, I first went for my planned catch-up with Jeff. Over another four beers, we discussed many things, including the future of video downloads, the contents of our iPods, the NAS he'd bought recently, the possible announcements at next week's MacWorld and a number of other things I can't remember.

After that, I strolled off for those drinks with Paul et al. We ended up at a pub called the Crown on Elizabeth Street. About half an hour in, a guitarist started his gig there ... what an amazing repertoire! During the evening, every request the audience made, he honoured.

It was great to catch up with those guys; almost worth this hangover. I just wish I'd taken my camera with me, because the place was definitely alive last night. I'll be going back sometime soon ... but I think I'll stick to low alcohol beer next time!

As you can see, yesterday I most definitely had a skinful ... and a half :-).

Sorry, I've Just Eaten ...

I had yet another Bah Humbug dinner this evening, with my friends Susan and Matt, at the Pink Peppercorn, an exquisite Laotian restaurant on Oxford St, in Paddington.

There's a bottleshop across the road that I've been past a hundred times, but I've never noticed its sign before :-).

Riding The Roller Toaster

I've never really felt that my toaster took up an excessive amount of space, but I'd still love to get my hands on one of these!