Ring in the New Year with possums, nuts and weiner cobbler!

I know you all are dying to know what I did on New Years Eve. I know you are. My friends, R & E, live in a pretty rad condo in the heart of Raleigh. They also happen to be a block from where we drop The Acorn and shoot off fireworks. Yes, my friends, my city drops a giant nut each year. Squirrel food if you will. We drop a giant piece of squirrel food to ring in the new year. Could be worse, I suppose. Mount Olive, NC drops a pickle. They make pickles there, you see. Or it could be way worse than that. We could be Brasstown, NC, the alleged Possum Capital Of The World where they drop a LIVE possum and count down to the new year on the Possumtron. If only I could make this up!

This year the party theme was retro food. We had cocktail weenies in sauce, meatballs, a chicken liver pate, slices of pickles wrapped in cream cheese and ham. I brought cream puffs full of butter, smoked salmon and dill, recipe courtesy of my grandmother's cookbook. We had wine, beer, brandy slushies, and some peppermint stick cocktail thingy. And then there was weiner cobbler. Think about it. Weiner. Cobbler.

A visual aid.

Here's how I remember the recipe as told to me:
1 package of turkey cocktail weenies, wrapped in crescent rolls, covered with a mixture of brown sugar, maple syrup, toped with sliced almonds and baked.

All I can say is that it's delightfully weird.

Merry Christmas!

I leave you with a video from the best Christmas album ever produced.

Christmas meme

Christmas meme
Borrowed from S over at No Tea For You.

Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate before bed, but eggnog in my coffee. Of course, we have a local dairy, Maple View Farms, that makes an eggnog thicker than alfredo sauce. It's wicked good with Mount Gay Sugar Cane Brandy.

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? No offense to anyone but I've never understood this. Wrapped!!! Santa wraps his presents!!! (In our house, Santa uses a different wrapping paper than the rest of us.)

Colored lights on a tree or white? I like white lights on a tree, otherwise I think they compete with the ornaments.

Do you hang mistletoe? Never.

When do you put your decorations up? Since I've lived on my own, I've lived with cats. Lots of cats. The one year I tried to put up a small tree, we found ornaments all over the house for weeks afterwards. I don't decorate, especially since I have my circus freak Elvis Who Eats The Un-Eatable now. My family puts the tree and decorations up after Thanksgiving.

What is your favorite holiday dish? Christmas Eve dinner is big fat steaks, twice baked potatoes, veggies, the works. So good.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Every year my dad makes this big show of how we're going to open one present an hour on Christmas day. We open presents after dinner on Christmas Eve. I like it because it leaves us free to do nothing on Christmas day, or hang out, watch football, etc.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I have a ton ornaments, some homemade, some with significance.

Snow: love it or hate it? I LOVE SNOW!

Can you ice skate? I'm no Oksana Baiul, but I do okay.

What is your favorite holiday dessert? I can't really choose just one.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Eve dinner is probably up there.

Candy canes: yum or yuck? I prefer the fruity flavored ones. I'm not a fan of peppermint hard candy.

Favorite Christmas show? I haven't watched a Christmas show since I was a kid. It's a Wonderful Life is one of my favorite movies and I watch it every year. I also LOVE Elf.

Wishing you all a happy holiday! See you soon!

I thought you'd like to see what I've been cooking up!

Orange Tropical Punch Grey Poupon Socks! Yummy!

Okay, seriously....

I knit a pair of socks and decided I hated the color. So I dyed them. With Kool Aid. In the crock pot. Neat-o, huh? They went from a Grey Poupon dijon color to a fiery reddish orange. And they smell good too! Go here if you want to read more.

The grades are in! Drum roll please!

I am, for the first time in my entire academic career, a Straight A Student. Yes, devoted readers, I am officially a nerd. No weggies please. All of my grades were posted today and I am happy to report I got an A in everything. Even Purchasing. It's a Hannukah Miracle, y'all. It feels pretty good. Truth be told, it hasn't quite sunk in yet. It will when I see my name on the President's List, I am certain. My school has a Dean's List if you make at least a 3.00 GPA in a semester. If you make a 4.00, your name goes on the President's List. Too bad that goes out after Christmas, or I'd frame it for my mother for her gift.

I went to a cooke swap tonight. I made two kinds of biscotti. One had cranberries, currants and pistachios, the other chocolate chips, walnuts and anise seed. They were thankfully a hit because I still have 2 dozen at home. I got some good cookies to bring home too! Yay!

My biscotti


The spread




I also wanted to include a link here to my photos of Montreal. At the cookie swap tonight, my friend JP went all fangirl on me (just kidding) (Hi JP!) and mentioned the photos on my blog. I use a plain ol' Kodak point and shoot digital. It's the Kodak Easy Share M883. I got it while working at my old job, employee discount and all, you see. For most of the food photos, I use the close up setting. The header photo I took at Le Marche Jean Talon in Montreal. I actually took hundreds of photos in Montreal, but posted some of the best ones on Flickr, which you can find here.

Tag! I'm it.

Ugh. It got me. I had started three posts in the past week because I have lots to share with you. Unfortunately, it will have to wait. If you can, get the vaccine. You don't want this. I've been feeling funky since Thursday, full-on ill since Friday night. Ugh.

Stay tuned! Film at eleven!

Very quickly, because I just got home and should have been in bed a half hour ago because I have to be at school at 7-ish...

1. I bought prune plums at Kroger of all places for 99 cents a pound. Is it possible to fall in love with a fruit? I am getting close to deciding what I want to do with them.

2. I made yogurt yesterday. Seriously, it's SO ridiculously easy that I'm mad at myself for not doing earlier. This isn't like me saying jam is easy. This is heat up some milk and let it hang out for a while easy.

3. I just got home from a cooking demo/class at Williams-Sonoma. One word... CAKE. I got to lick the icing paddle in the store. (Sorry, mom. I went there.)

More to come on all of this. I promise.

End of second week review

Hi everyone. I've been studying hard. I have a lot of reading to do. A migraine this week has put me behind a little. Not to worry. I have a Study Hall Monitor is keeping a close eye on me. That's really where he sits when I'm studying.


I finally got my new messenger bag today! Yay! It turned out really cute! I couldn't be happier with it. Like I said, the quality is great, the style is unique. If you're in the market for a new bag, give Holly Aiken a hollah.


The main color is called parchment, the stems are called olive and the inside is the same royal blue as the flowers. You can see the two pockets on the inside.


In Basic Culinary Skills lab on Tuesday, we started the class with an hour of knife cuts. We lay them out on a plate, label it with our name, and leave it out for Chef to look over. Here's what I have from the second lab.


The cuts are as follows, from the green stuff clockwise:
Spinach, chiffonade (shiff-uh-nod)-a thin, ribbon-like cut of a leafy green
Onion, julienne (julie-n)-a thin, usually matchstick-like cut, in the case of an onion, a thin straight cut following the shape of the onion
Potato, tournee (tour-nay)-a small, 7-sided, approximately 2" long, football-like cut of a firm vegetable, usually potatoes
Carrot, brunoise (broon-wahz)-a small dice measuring 1/8"x1/8"x1/8"
Carrot, rondelle (ron-del)-an 1/8" thick round cut
Orange, segment or supreme (like creme)

And finally, from Friday's Baking I lab....the moment you've all been waiting for.


I didn't get a photo of my challah knots (rolls), because I forgot my camera on Friday. They came out pretty good. I need some work with my braiding technique, as you can see the challah is a bit wonky. The baguettes came out great. This was an authentic baguette dough too. Flour, water, salt and yeast only. It was the first dough we made yesterday. The new instructor came by as I was kneading the baguette dough with the proper technique. She looked really surprised at what I was doing and asked me if I had done it before. I also figured out why my lean bread from last week and this week are too light when they are cooked. For one, the oven temperature is lower than it should be but that's not something I can change. Also, if I add a bit of egg wash before and after the proofing, it should help get some color on the crust.

In other news, we had a guest this week in our main culinary classroom. A very, very chirpy cricket. He didn't shut up all week. Hopefully someone finally killed him. You have no idea how difficult it is to concentrate on the instructor when there's a cricket echoing from the drain under the cabinet.

Elvis says I'm done procrastinating. See ya next week.

Early Saturday Morning Farmer's Market Haul.

This morning I got up extra early and hit the NC State Farmer's Market. I haven't been too often this summer because it didn't seem that impressive to me this year. There didn't appear to be as much produce as previous visits, nor as much variety. This morning I was on a mission. I wanted tomatoes. I needed tomatoes. I was up, showered, dressed and on my way by 7:30. I got a great parking space which is rare when going to the farmer's market on a Saturday. I got breakfast at the restaurant first, a fantastic veggie and cheese omelet and a big fluffy biscuit.

Once I got down to the main building, I was really impressed! There was an amazing variety of produce, although some of the prices still seemed a little high for some things. For example, the corn was still $4 a dozen. The corn farmers will literally load up the back of the pick up truck and back it into the building. The kid stand in the back of the truck and shuck the corn for you. By the end of corn season, the price will drop to about $2 a dozen. You can still get the big bags, 65 ears, for $18. This is a great deal if you're going to be canning or freezing it. The regular red field tomatoes are about $1.49 a pound and the German Johnsons are $1.99 a pound.

I spent about an hour and a half there shopping. Here's what I got.
Please notice Elvis McSneaky heading for the basil. This, folks, is why I can't grow my own herbs.

I got tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, onions, peaches for eating and jam, a miniature butternut squash, blueberries, figs, apples, pears, cucumbers, fresh thyme, fresh mint and fresh basil, wax beans, goat cheese, and grape tomatoes. See the giant bag of peppers? I got that for $6. This farmer sells boxes of not perfect peppers. In the morning they look over their produce. Anything that's gotten soft, a bit overripe, had a bad spot, etc., goes into a box. The peppers are sold for $6 and the tomatoes are sold for $8. I think next weekend or the weekend after, I'm going back for a box of canning tomatoes. The peppers were $1.99 a pound. Since I'm making ratatouille, the box o'peppers was a great deal. I also made a box for friends, with peppers, a few onions, basil and a bit of cilantro.

When I got home, I made my traditional farmer's market salad. Grape tomatoes, onion, cucumbers, all the herbs I had on hand (basil, thyme, mint, oregano, and rosemary), a little olive oil and a splash of white wine vinegar. Yummy!

I couldn't resist posting this one. Just as I started to click the shutter, Helvis came out from behind the curtains and went straight for the mint. When I came home and laid out the produce, we had a few disagreements about who was allowed to handle the produce. Just before I started typing this post, I heard a strange noise coming from the bathroom. I found him on a pile of towels and swimsuits, playing with a wax bean. He'd apparently snuck onto the table while I wasn't looking and grabbed one. What am I going to do with this cat?

Murder She Baked

A few weeks ago, my friend, C., from high school sent me a message through Facebook. She had found an author she thought I'd like. The author's name is Joanne Fluke. She's a mystery writer. Her main character is named Hannah Swensen. She owns a bakery in a small Minnesota town and on the side, she solves murder mysteries. Now, I love a well written mystery. I am happy to say I had read and loved every Sherlock Holmes story Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. Most of the time, he'd leave out important clues so it was rare the reader could figure out who was the culprit. I also don't like a mystery writer who gives you so many clues that the reader figures out who did before they even did it!

The Hannah Swensen mysteries are very well written. There are enough clues so that you might figure out who was the murder, but maybe not why exactly, or she might give you enough information to second guess yourself too. There are 11 books to date, plus a mini-novela mystery, plus a 12th book on the way. So far I've read through the 9th book, Key Lime Pie Murder. Each of these books it titled with a baked good, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Cherry Cheesecake Murder, Blueberry Muffin Murder. The featured baked good is always involved in the murder somehow, ie. in the first one, the dead guy is holding a chocolate chip cookie, in another one, the dead guy is found face down in a strawberry shortcake. There's suspense and humor in the books. The stories are well written, including a cast of supporting characters and evolving story lines.

I think my favorite part of this series is the recipes. While reading, you'll find the characters talking about, for example, the Peanut Butter Melts a lot in a chapter. At the end of the chapter, there you go. A recipe for Peanut Butter Melts. I think it's cute! I also like it because as I'm reading I'm thinking, "wow, those Peanut Butter Melts sound really good!" Each book has an index of recipes in the back. The recipes sound great too! The website is Murder She Baked. I'm really enjoying these books that include two of my favorite things, a good mystery and pastries!

If you're in the mood for a good summer read, check them out. Your public library should have them, but beware! If it's anything like my public library, there's a crazy long waiting list for them! I highly recommend them! Thanks to C. for telling me about this too!

Three column blog!

I got a number of good suggestions about setting up a three column blog. Thank you, one and all. I was poking around Wordpress when I had an a-ha! moment. Why didn't I think about this before? I googled "how to add a third column to Blogger template." This was at the top of the Google results:

Three Column Blogger

Since my current template is called Washed Denim, I chose the Denim Tutorial. I am not kidding when I say it was freakishly easy. All I had to do was change a couple numbers and copy and paste some pre-written code a couple times and voila!

Thank you, Dear Three Column Blogger! I love it.

Ps. I am working on my knife lecture. I also have pie to show you. Except I seem to have, uh, misplaced the cable to attach the camera to the computer. Once it is located, we shall discuss pie.

My little knitter.

Just wanted to pop in and say hi. I'm behind on a couple posts. Here's why.



To clarify, this is what he should look like.



I was supposed to be out of town this weekend. Elvis was going to stay with some friends of mine while I was gone. In return, I went to stay with them and watch their kid on Monday night. Elvis came along. He did beautifully. What a trooper that guy is! Unfortunately, at approximately 3:18 AM he woke me up. He was throwing up yarn. Traffic cone orange cotton yarn. That he had been playing with on Sunday. Can you say freak out? There was still some he was trying to barf up, but unfortunately he'd swallow it before I could catch it. I rushed him to the vet as soon as they opened. The plan was to give him fluids and laxatives and see if he could poop out the rest. No dice. So...Little Buddy had an emergency yarnectomy yesterday. The vet pulled 4 feet of yarn out of his small intestine. I picked up the 2 feet he barfed up. For those of you playing along at home, that's 6 feet of yarn.

He came home today around 2 PM. He's been going back and forth between sleeping hard and walking around the apartment. He's been locked in a cage for a few days now, you see. He's eaten a little and seems to be doing well. Somehow I think he's going to recover from this before I do.

Progress

I started walking yesterday. I'm totally gimpy, but I'm walking. I am completely and totally over wrestling with my anti-embolism stocking everyday. Seriously. Over it. It's like trying to put on a wet swimsuit that's a size too small. Times ten. Oy. (Yes, I realize the alternative is way worse. So I'm wearing it.)

My grandmother always complains how hard it is to cook for one.

see more Engrish

Surgery update

Thursday morning I had surgery to repair damaged cartilage in my left knee. We arrived at the outpatient surgery center at 10:15. I had to do some paperwork, get reassurance from the anesthesiologist that I could have anesthesia, put on my hospital gown, shower cap and slippers and mostly just sit around. I wish they'd be a little more efficient in this process as I found the longer I waited the more anxious I got.

I was impressed that everyone I encountered was aware of my latex allergy. The staff, with the exception of the woman at the front desk, was very nice, empathetic and smart. But isn't that always the way it is? They made me leave my glasses with my mom so I literally had to be escorted by the arm to the OR. I found that walking into the OR and laying on the table while I was awake was terrifying. I had the option of being awake throughout the surgery. Aside from not wanting them to poke a needle into my spine, I can't imagine how scary it would be to be aware of what was going on. Luckily, whatever they gave me knocked me out pretty quickly. I woke up in Recovery almost as suddenly as I went out in OR. I was also in excruciating pain. When she asked my how bad it was on a scale of 1-10, I told her 12. They gave me 2 percocet, which take about 30 minutes to kick in, and a dose of something morphine-like in my IV that kicked in quick and didn't last long.

As it turns out, I did not actually tear cartilage in my meniscus. I had still somehow damaged it and had some damage in the front as well. The doctor assured my mom that I really needed to have this done. He shaved down the cartilage where it was damaged and either shaved or polished the backside of my knee cap too. I have a post-op appointment next week and will find out more then. Basically, my doctor wasn't sure he trusted the previous diagnosis and was correct in thinking that he'd find something different when he got in there.

I have been in a lot of pain, taking 2 percocet every 4 or 6 hours. I hate taking prescription pain meds. It helps a lot. I have a super sexy compression sock that I have to wear for the next three weeks or so. Oy. I also have to take an aspirin every morning for a month. I guess there's a big threat of blood clots after this kind of surgery. I also have to keep my dressing on until tomorrow and cannot shower until tomorrow either. Ugh. I just washed my hair in the kitchen sink and took a sponge bath. I am very lucky that I didn't have any nausea after I woke up. I've got some serious drug allergies, so they were worried about that.

Overall, it went well. I'm still in a lot of pain, but can tell it's less pain than a couple days ago. I'm really dopey from the percocet, kind of like the people on Intervention before the intervention. I don't know how long I'll be off my feet right now. It hurts to put weight on it and it's popping like crazy, so it may be a while. I start PT on Monday.

I'm kind of tired right now, so I think I'm done typing for a while. See ya later.

Nomad sweets

My friend, E, was in New York City this weekend. She posted a photo on Facebook of a dessert truck she visited. With a helping hand from Google, I found their website. Now, people who know me well know I love street food. There's something so honest and real about the food you can get from the taco truck or a cart on a Chinatown street. I love the idea of a truck that serves fabulous desserts. Could this be my million dollar State Fair food idea?

New York City's Very Own Dessert Truck

The S Word

I mentioned in my last post that I'm having knee surgery. Many of you have sent warm, kind and concerned thoughts which are so much appreciated. I thought I'd take a second and give you the 411. "That means information, people." (Any Monk fans in the house?)

At the end of January, I slipped and fell on a rubber mat that was turned upside down. Luckily, this happened at work. This means I don't have to pay for anything and I'll ultimately get reimbursed for my time. It also means this whole process has been dragged out 17 times longer than if I had to pay for this. All I'll say about that is...if you have to get hurt at work, don't do it in North Carolina.

It turns out that when I fell I tore my medial meniscus. I've had ice, compression, heat, NSAIDS, a cortisone injection, yoga, physical therapy, x-rays, an MRI and a glucosamine/condrointon supplement (when I can remember to take it). You name it, I've tried it. No dice. Nothing has worked. I'm still in a lot of pain, can't walk far, biking and running are out of the question, and I'm still wearing a knee brace. Without the brace, I feel things moving in ways most unnatural.

At my last doctor's appointment, it was decided that surgery was the next step. It will be arthroscopic surgery and should take about 20 minutes or so. They will go in and look around, take pictures and cut out the torn piece of cartilage. I'll be laid up for a few days and on crutches for a few more. They expect me to be as good as new in 4-5 months. Sadly, my hopes of a robotic knee transplant have been crushed. Perhaps next time. I do however get souvenir photos of the inside of my knee, which is a nice touch. I wonder if they do t-shirts too? "I went to Blue Ridge Surgical Center and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

The surgery is scheduled for May 7. My mom will come stay for a few days. It will then be up to Elvis to care for me. I have three weeks to teach him how to open the fridge and turn on the oven. If that fails, I am certain a few friends will come over to feed me if absolutely necessary.

I appreciate the well wishes. I assure you I will be fine. My 89 year old grandmother always says, "you just don't die as easily as you think you do." In the past 9 years, she's had breast cancer and mastectomy, a broken hip and replacement, an exploding gall bladder, and recently 5 staples in the back of her noggin from a fall. She's never been in the hospital for more than 3 weeks. So, I think she'd know.

Cookies make everything better.

I work with a girl, T., she about 28 or 29. As a coworker, she's merely okay, but as a person, she is a very sweet, soft spoken girl. She has a son, J., who is about 10 or 11. If I have extra goodies, I'll give them to her to pass on to J. because I know he'll eat them. I also do it because T. doesn't cook or bake and really, every kid needs a freshly baked cookie every now and again. I've also passed on goodies that neither she nor he have tried before and have yet to find something that they don't like. I think the last thing I shared with them was red velvet cupcakes. I've only met J. once or twice in the past. He's a super cute, super sweet kid. T is doing an amazing job as a single mother and I have no doubt that J will turn into a fine man someday.

Two mornings ago, T comes up to me and tells me that her son has just learned how to make those slice and bake Toll House cookies and he's going to make some for me. Yesterday, she tells me that J wants me to know that he didn't make the cookies the night before because he had to watch the wrestling draft and he hoped I would understand. I told her to tell him I would have done the same thing. This morning when I got to work, T hands me a little plastic baggie with 4 chocolate chip cookies. I almost cried. Seriously. He made me cookies because I am always sending things home for him.

I was late this morning because I had a doctor's appointment. I found out that I have to have knee surgery in a week or two. Getting cookies that J baked especially for me made my day!

iPhone apps for the foodie

Seafood Watch Guide (Free) Now it's even easier to make sustainable and healthy choices in the market, at the restaurant, or at the sushi bar. If you don't have an iPhone, go here for the online guide.


What's Fresh ($0.99) This app will be great for hitting the farmer's markets this summer. The "local area" is user defined. I entered North Carolina and 200 miles, giving me Virginia and South Carolina as well. A list shows me what fruits and veggies are in season and a calendar shows me a comprehensive list of all fruits and veggies. The calendar even shows me what hothouse produce is in season. Now it's even easier to be a locavore!


Urbanspoon (Free) Can't decide where to go for dinner? Open this app, give the phone a shake and the slot machine will give you recommendations based on your current location. If you need to set a parameter like price or type of food, you can do that too. It makes being indecisive fun!

The Very Good Taste Omnivore's 100 List

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 at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison don't like it
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile does alligator count?
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue hells yeah!
8. Carp
9. Borscht hello, people, I'm Polish!
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 can you believe I hate 'em?
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes I'm not sure
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 are you kidding?
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters ocean boogers
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda No, but I'd love to!
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut I'm Polish, Hungarian, Irish and German, what do you think?
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 I hate goat meat
42. Whole insects hells no!
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala this isn't fair, I love Indian food
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi not a fan
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine can you believe I was in Montreal for three days and didn't have poutine? criminal!
60. Carob chips the work of Satan, I tells ya!
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads I couldn't swallow it
63. Kaolin didn't he live in OJ's guest house?
64. Currywurst like, what?
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake check, check, check, and check
68. Haggis I wouldn't feed that to Elvis
69. Fried plantain Had them before, allergic
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette I'm not going to google this, because I think I know what it is
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill No. No. No.
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail please see #68
79. Lapsang souchong I love it!
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant Damn, I missed it by 1 star!
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 I hate mole
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Wait...only 53? I thought I would have scored higher.