4 Things: Foods to Try Before I Turn 30

As I learn more about food and develop my culinary skills, I’m finding myself wanting to try and explore more cuisines. If I am going to be any kind of pseudo-chef I figure I should be adventuresome and willing to try foods, as long as they’re not going to poison me. So here is my jumping-off point.

Oysters:
Some people say these are absolutely wonderful and some people swear they’re the most awful things in the world. I’m tired of letting other people’s opinions color my impression of this food. I figure I might as well try them myself and form my own opinion. Now I just have to decide what preparation method I should go with, or if I should try multiple methods. What if I hate them one way but love them another?
Escargot:
Cardine and Jennifer (The Skinny Chef) both advised me that I should try escargot. Yep, it’s scary because it’s snails. Oh, and the plentiful butter scares me too. But fear is part of this whole experiment. If it scares me then I should try it because I want to get out of my comfort zone.
Prickly Pear Cactus:
I’m not entirely sure why I chose this, except that I have seen it at the grocery store several times and I saw an article online about how to cook one so I thought, “Why not?” So not only is it something weird to try, but I’m going to cook it in my own home.
Sashimi:
Many people are scared of sushi because they fear “raw fish”. Even though I had never tried sushi until earlier this year (and have fallen in love with it), I knew from my several years of Japanese classes that sashimi is actually the raw fish. So even though I’m not sure what I should try for my adventure into this, I’m going to research and try raw fish. If you have any experience or recommendations on sashimi, please enlighten me.

Posted on 2007/08/18 at 4:20 pm in 4 Things, Before 30 | RSS feed | Respond | Trackback URL

No Responses to “4 Things: Foods to Try Before I Turn 30”

Loralee
2007/08/19 at 1:31 am

#1- I had Oysters on the half shell in NYC. Eh.
#2-It tasted like bits of butter and GARLIC soaked rubber. :S
#3- WTF????
#4- YUM, YUM, YUM. I recommend Tuna or Yellow tail, but you cannot go wrong with raw tuna as long as it is fresh. It is how I prefer it. MMMM….

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apples on a stick
2007/08/19 at 9:56 am

my first foray into Sashimi was with a “Rainbow Roll”, yellow tail, tuna and salmon. Very tasty!

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Jill
2007/08/19 at 11:09 am

Loralee: About the prickly pear cactus – WTF? is exactly right. I saw it mentioned and it sounded so bizarre I had to try it.

apples: Thanks for the recommendation. It sounds good.

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SparklieSunShine
2007/08/20 at 8:03 am

1. Never had them, but they are on my list of foods to try also. A little scary.

2. Delicious. Make sure you get it somewhere good though. Such as a French restaurant. (They are served with lots of butter and garlic, but they are tiny and they only serve you a few so it’s not like a whole meal. Usually just an appetizer.)

3. Interesting. I look forward to reading your entry about that. Never even heard of it.

4. I definately prefer Sushi b/c I

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cardine
2007/08/20 at 2:33 pm

1. I actually tried these fresh because of bribery. The person who fed them to me had me try them on saltines and with a little ketchup. They weren’t bad, but I’m not ordering them anytime soon.

2. I had escargot last week. It was still good. And my friend Sarah O tried them and liked them, as well.

3. Is prickly pear cactus what they make nopales out of?

4. I also like Yellowtail. Salmon is a favorite of mine, too. Tunas are pretty safe, too, for a first-timer. I prefer raw fish in the form of rolls.

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Jill
2007/08/20 at 5:23 pm

Cardine: I don’t know if prickly pear cactus is what nopales are made of. I’ll have to figure it out. It just sounded so bizarre and random when I saw the link, I had to throw it on my list.

Sarah O like the escargot, huh? So far all the review in favor of the snails have been pretty positive. Most of them…

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