Monday Poll Question!

Ok, inspired by a silly list of pictures from the Wanfujing Night Market in Beijing, I started remembering some of the weird (and sometimes gross) things I have eaten in the past: silk worms, Japanese grated yam (the most disgusting texture I have ever experienced), whole bird on a stick, Chinese Thousand Year Eggs, sauteed lettuce, etc.

So I really would like to know:

What is the weirdest (or most disgusting) food you have ever eaten?

As always, I’m looking for good stories, and although I won’t be offering a prize this week, shouldn’t sharing with (and hopefully shocking) your fellow food lovers be reward enough?

Winner of Special Prize

Well, I had three stories to choose from last week on the special poll.

1) A stylistically well written response detailing the fear we often feel about things going wrong. However, as there was no actual disaster, I decided that one of the two actual disasters should win.

2) Ah yes...not cooking something...always a fun story, and made particularly fun by the fact that it was for in-laws.

3) The funniest, and most disastrous story of the bunch, but posted on behalf of someone else. If the actual individual who this had happened to would have posted, they would have won the prize.

So, without further ado, story (2), cold enchilladas, wins the prize. I feel no guilt giving it to the enchillada because the same person posted stories (2) and (3), and lives in the same house as the person in story (1). As a prize, you win....(drum roll please...): An 8oz bag of Chinese TienTsin Chili Peppers from Penzey's Spices, to be shipped directly to your address!

If you feel you had a better story than this one and think you should've won the prize...remember to chime in next time!

Monday Poll Question

So I decided to do a free-form poll today. The question of the week is:

What is your worst cooking disaster?

We all have had them...those days when you have Thanksgiving guests coming over and you forgot to defrost the turkey, or turn off the sauce, or one of a thousand other major or minor disasters that happen as we cook in our homes (or restaurants for those of you in the profession). I, and my readers, want to hear about them in a pitiful effort to salve our own wounds. And frankly, a lot of these stories can be pretty hilarious in retrospect, and who doesn't need a little humor on a Monday?

So tell me all about it my friends, and next Monday I'll have a special prize for my favorite!

(warning: I will be attempting to sniff out fake stories with my Sherlock-like analytical skills, so don't try pulling a fast one on me!)