No, not the kind that your grandpa used to have in his basement.

We're talking about homemade chocolate y'all. What else you got going this weekend? Halloween? Trick or Treating? C'mon, man. When you make your own delicious chocolate at home, from bean to bar, it's Halloween every day. (or Christmas, or Easter, or your birthday or any other day fueled by ridiculous amounts of sweets)

So get on it. Head on over to A Patric's Making Chocolate at Home demo at the eG Forums, and take a tip from us. Try it with bacon.

Labels: Food

The Rules:
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 at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The Mouse & the Billionaire Omnivore's Hundred

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 ghanoush


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/Jell-O


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


47. Chicken tikka masala


48. 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, 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


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

80 percent is pretty damn good, I think. We have made a pact to finish the list within the next year. We'll keep you updated.

Labels: Food, Life

Arizona!

Last night, after a quick drive across the desert (made quicker still by Mr. Harry Potter and his half-blood prince), we arrived in Arizona.

In Scottsdale we crashed a birthday celebration dinner of Thai fusion for Pat Dodds, and we all especially liked the tropical pineapple curry. Later on we headed back to Phoenix for some wonderful Arizona night swimming and a refreshing night's sleep.

Today we leave for the Grand Canyon with a must-see pit stop in Sedona. I got two words for you. Airport Vortex!

Also, we've started a flickr photo set of the trip. There's only two in there so far, but we'll make sure to add more as we continue making our way across the land.

Labels: Food, Life, Photography, Wagons East 2007

I mentioned earlier that we have been eating delicious food. Well, I know how some of the more "foodie" of you feel about the lack of adequate description.

So, In the vein of Gloyd and Hamilton they are, in order, as follows:

• coffee from the corner Deli in Greenpoint


• hot dogs with delicious spicy brown mustard in Central Park


• ice cream cones on the steps of the Met


• coffee and a croissant at a coffee shop in Greenwich Village


• French 75s (ah, drew!), French onion soups (with just the right amount of onions) and a peach cobbler at a lovely little restaurant in Greenwich Village


• bourbon and sodas with J Carey


• coffee and a bagel from the corner deli (again)


• pizza and ginger ale in Greenwich Village


• ice cream cones on the steps of the Met (again, again)


• a beer at the Greenpoint Tavern


• a phenomenal dinner at Marlow & Sons which included
  • a mint julep
  
  
  • a ramp-infused vodka martini
  
  
  • rabbit rillettes
  
  
  • an oyster
  
  
  • sorrel soup
  
  
  • marinated mushroom crostini
  
  
  • herbed gnocchi... and
  
  
  • a chocolate caramel tart with grey sea salt on top (to the moon!!!)

My mouth is still watering. We’re off to do it all again!

Labels: Food, Life, on Holiday - Spring 2007

Suicide Food is a blog that features images like the one on the left. Specifically, ads featuring animals that literally beg to be eaten.

While not all as morose as this mid-century French ad, it is interesting to see how the advertising men seem to think we will feel better if the animals we are about to eat are okay with it.

"C’mon," they seem to say, "We’re delicious. We would eat ourselves if we could. Don’t feel bad. We want you to."

Pigs rubbing BBQ sauce on their bellies. Lobsters willingly jumping in to pots of boiling water. Sexy ribs, winking at us seductively.

I’d feel bad if wasn't true. You are delicious. Thanks for understanding. Wait. The ad-men were right! I do feel better.

Labels: Food

The more Anthony Bourdain I see, the more I love.

6 years ago I picked up a copy of Kitchen Confidential (mainly because I was on a big David Fincher kick, and he was supposed to be directing the film adaptation - with Benicio del Torro in the starring role I might add, too bad it never happened) and didn't put it down until it was finished. It is simultaneously informative, frightening, and funny as hell.

Last year, I bought his Les Halles Cookbook and it has quickly become one of our favorite go-to place for recipes and stories. He loves food. And he loves food culture. And any chef who uses the f-word so much when describing food has got to be doing something right.

This week, however, I saw two things that surpass all of this.

1. Anthony Bourdain eats a still-beating Cobra heart in Vietnam

and


2. Anthony Bourdain's opinion on the current Food Network chefs

Rachel Ray: Complain all you want. It’s like railing against the pounding surf. She only grows stronger and more powerful. Her ear-shattering tones louder and louder. We KNOW she can’t cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So...what is she selling us? Really? She’s selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough. She’s a friendly, familiar face who appears regularly on our screens to tell us that "Even your dumb, lazy ass can cook this!" Wallowing in your own crapulence on your Cheeto-littered couch you watch her and think, "Hell…I could do that. I ain’t gonna…but I could--if I wanted! Now where’s my damn jug a Diet Pepsi?" Where the saintly Julia Child sought to raise expectations, to enlighten us, make us better--teach us--and in fact, did, Rachael uses her strange and terrible powers to narcotize her public with her hypnotic mantra of Yummo and Evoo and Sammys. "You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion--you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep…."

Oh, Anthony. You sweet sweet man. You never cease to amaze me.

Labels: Food, Rants, We {Heart}...