Monday, September 18, 2006

5 Foods To Eat Before You Die




Four score and seven years ago I was sent a meme... I'm just getting to it now. I do apologize to all those who tagged me for the 5 Things to Eat Before You Die meme for the long wait. Bless you, Bonnie, Cyndi and Jasmine for your patience.

Narrowing down foodly perfection isn't easy. And sometimes the best food in one's eyes isn't necessarily exotic or rare. Often it's the food we desire in the moments of comfort. We wonder why everyone doesn't love it or has not yet experienced it. I thought of foods that changed my view of the world and the way I eat.

My list is as follows:

1) Wind-dried Pacific salmon flesh and sun-dried kelp with a dipping sauce of Nass Valley ooligan-fish grease. I know it's rather specific but of the three kinds of ooligan grease I know, Nass grease has better flavour. This suggestion really has ocean written all over it. Each one has a unique flavour but together they are better than the sum of their parts.

2) Foie Gras. This blew my mind more than once. The taste experience, the texture, everything about it is so overwhelming that it defies better words to describe it. And it tastes even better with cooked fruit. Buttery and sweet, it's a great treat but make sure your gallbladder is prepared.

3) Thin-skinned green eating apples taken right off the tree after it has been warmed by the afternoon September sun. I know, I know... very specific again. You have to trust me. By the afternoon in September, the apple is a perfect temperature to release every nuance of sweetness and yet still retain a bit of a sour edge.

4) Duck. This is not your average poultry meat but it isn't so difficult to find. The breast really is the best part, I think. Cooked well, it will make your toes curl in pleasure. I did, however, cook a duck recently. I would be hard-pressed to find a part that wasn't lovely to taste.

5) Dragon-eyes (Long-an): These odd little fruits are an experience unto themselves. Borne on their branches like bark-covered grapes, you can easily peel off the skin to reveal a translucent litchi-type flesh. The best ones have a perfume that takes a joyride through your sense. There is a large black marble sized seed inside the flesh but it gives a cool look to the fruit and makes the name understandable. They do rather remind me of the eyes on Oriental dragons--a black dot encircled in white. Bite into one and find out for yourself.

Gosh... There are so many more things. Five only? This really sucks.

Just a word about my disappearance. I am sorry it took so long to get back on track. With some things I really have been bogged down but some of it wasn't entirely just that. I beg forgiveness because of two things. I kinda lost the steam to blog in the last while and was quite delinquent. I didn't feel any creative juices flowing in the food department because I was spending so much of it in school. I also got satellite... and, um, errr... the Food Channel. I've been watching food being made instead of making it when I had spare moments. This will change promptly.

9 comments:

wheresmymind said...

Pacific salmon is the only type my wife will eat

Unknown said...

Nerissa, I have missed you! Was just thinking of you yesterday and wondering what you were up to! So good to see you back clogging.
I had foie gras on my list too...

Unknown said...

not clogging, blogging.

Christine said...

Hello Nerissa. It's soooo good to have you back! I never lost hope and checked your blog often only to sadly see that you had not yet returned. Do I ever understand how the lack of creative juices will quell the enthusiasm for blogging. But now you're back and I'm so glad!
I'm about to take a hiatus of my own as I am taking a 3 1/2 week trip to the east coast, leaving this friday. I'll try to blog on the road, but we'll see...

neil said...

There is a love/hate relationship with the food channel in our house...I love it - the wife hates it. Don't worry you'll soon sort out the programs worth watching, there is a lot of filler. Nice to see you back.

Deetsa said...

wmm: I'm not so keen on Atlantic salmon as much myself. It's okay when it's smoked. However, I know I am a big Pacific salmon snob. Once you have chum, the rest are ho-hum! ;-)

Linda: nice to be back! Funny I was thinking about you around the same day too, then. LOL oooh spooky *cue Twilight Zone music* PS: clogging made me giggle. I'm glad you didn't deep six the original post. :D

Oh gosh, Christine, now I feel bad I didn't get back sooner (I do rather slip into guilt mode pretty quickly). I enjoyed time during my weeks off. I hope you have a great time too. I'll be looking forward to your return. :D

Neil: LOL reading that about the love/hate relationship in your house made me laugh. It's a bit the same here. The frog rolled his eyes everytime I flipped to that channel, but, mwhahahaha! some of the shows are slowly seducing him to our side. There IS a lot of filler (what a polite term for it...;-) not what I'd use LOL)I am wading my way through it. The novelty is quickly wearing off.

sher: hiya hun! Thanks :D As for the apples, stolen ones are the sweetest, no? ;-)

Michelle said...

I'm right there with you about the duck and fois gras - I want to know where you get your ooligan grease and dragon eyes! They sound so interesting... (glad you're back, too)

Deetsa said...

:D Nice to see you drop by, michelle.
Dragon eyes are easy to get in most BC Chinatown/Chinese markets in the late spring and summer.
Go here to see what they look like and learn a bit about them:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Fruittroex.html

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longan

As for the grease... well, the best places to try it is on an Indian Reserve along the Pacific Northwest Coast. And you usually have to know someone to be able to try it OR know when there will be a feast with traditional foods (anyone can come to those as a witness to the proceedings. Just be polite and stay the whole way through since they are gifting you with free food and drygoods at the end of the event.)

Deetsa said...

Thanks Paz :D Hey, can't leave fruit off the list! That's some of the best food ever