Food for thought

I have just spent my whole work day in a seriously boring training course.

It started at ridiculous o clock (7.30am!) so I didn’t have time for breakfast before hand. Which meant that I spent most of the morning feeling hungry and dreaming about food. Instead of taking notes, I wrote down my current thoughts about food. And I thought I’d share them with the blogoshpere.

Here they are:

• I cannot give up coffee no matter how hard I try. Kylie, I’m not sure if you read my blog but I know you’re hearing me loud and clear on this one!
• delicious is the perfect foodie magazine for me. I find the recipies in Good Food, Good Taste and Food Ideas too simple but the ones in Gourmet Traveller too gourmet. Donna Hay magazine is insipid and uninspiring. delicious is just right.
• I hated avocado when I was growing up but now I love it. Especially on toast with vegemite. Apparently this is weird.
• I don’t really think I’m a fussy eater but there are some things I just won’t eat. I don’t like raw meat or raw fish. The texture makes me gag. Sometimes I manage to eat a little bit of smoked salmon but I have to activley not think about it being in my mouth. Which kind of defeats the purpose of eating it.
• Weirdly, bok choy also makes me gag. I like the taste but struggle to chew and swallow it.
• I also don’t like goats cheese or cauliflower. And hot tomatoes and things with dried fruit in them are only ok in moderation. 
• It suprises me that I am not a vegetarian. I hate like the idea of eating dead animals. I will NEVER buy food that has involved morally deficient humans treating animals cruelly. In particular, foie gras, non organic chicken and battery eggs.
• Two Figs vineyard in Berry produces such amazing wine that every time I drink something else now, I never like it as much.
• I love kneading dough. And pizza tastes so much better with your own base.
• I love dark chocolate.
• I tasted white anchovies once and loved them. In fact after I’d had them, I became a fan of anchovies in general. They were another thing I hated when I was a kid.
• The John West tuna guy was a topless waiter at a hens day I went to once.
• Balsamic vinegar always makes me think of Ian . He went through a phase where he’d make salad with nothing in it but lettuce, tomato and balsamic vinegar. Every single night. For months. And months. And months. Eventually I had to put a stop to it. I couldn’t eat balsamic vinegar for a long time after that.
• I’m bored with winter fruit. Seriously, there’s only so many oranges and mandarins one can eat. When are pineapples back in season? I need pineapple!
• I’m definitely not done with winter cooking yet. I love making hearty stews and soups.
• I usually have about three favourites cuisines at any given time. These change regularly but the constant favourite is Japanese. Especially sushi (without the raw stuff), ramen and okonomiyaki. Indian is more often than not in second place. Sometimes Italian sneaks in at number two. Third generally rotates between Vietnamese and Lebanese. Pho makes me very happy and kibbeh makes me equally as happy.
• I think that thyme is a vastly underrated herb.
• Basil, mint, thyme and rosemary are my favourite herbs.
• Dill is my least favourite. Ian and I are united in our belief that it smells like dead ants.
• I am a yoghurt addict. Poor Donna has spent too much of her life listening to me talking about yoghurt.
• I love the drinks we discovered in NZ. Monteith’s apple cider, and Phoenix Organics sparkling fruit juices.
• When I went to Tasmania with my parents, we did a tour of Cascade Brewery. They tasted all the beers, I tasted all the soft drinks. I think I just really like drinks that come in glass bottles.
• I really want to try more things with polenta and more things with quinoa.
• When meat, olives and fetta cheese are all in the same recipie, it makes me feel all salted out and I never want to cook it.
• I LOVE lamb shanks. I saw duck shanks on a tapas menu when I was on the Gold Coast. But I don’t think I could eat a poor ducky’s shank.
• Dumplings are my favourite food ever. The asian kind, not the sweet ones.
• I want to try baking a risotto rather than the painful, stiring for hours version.
• I used to be really good at making frittatas but lately they have been disastrous.
• I don’t like sweet things as much as I used to. I don’t know why.
• I love fish. A lot.
• I love blue cheese. The stinkier the better.
• Runny eggs scare me.

I wrote more but I think that’s enough for now…I’m practically salivating. Will save the rest for another post.