Cooking And Eating....“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es”

  removed from the cast iron skillet, when an internal temperature of 160F is attained, then served without either a white wine cream sauce or a dijon cream sauce......however, the second breast half was plated with   sautéed onion, garlic and the fond from having deglazed  the skillet  with white wine and having  added some chicken stock and heavy cream 

having cantaloupe with a couple of friends.....I noticed that we three all had a different approach to the cutting and consumption of the melon...... THERE ARE THOSE WHO HOLD A BIG SLICE OF MELON AND LIFT IT TO THEIR MOUTHS; THOSE WHO SLICE THE MELON INTO HALVES, QUADRANTS OR SEXTANTS AND EAT IT FROM THE RIND WITH A SPOON OR KNIFE AND FORK; THOSE WHO FORM MELON BALLS AND EAT THOSE WITH SALAD FORKS OR TOOTHPICKS AND THOSE, LIKE ME, THAT MAKE SPIRALING CUTS WITH AN EXTRA-SHARP BLADE, THEN EAT THIN, SQUARISH SECTIONS WITH A DECORATIVE 'PITCHFORK'......... WHATEVER WORKS......FORTUNATELY I DO HAVE A COUPLE OF MELON BALLERS AND A COLLECTION OF SHARP, DECORATIVE KNIVES AND ARTSY FORKS......AND FRUIT SPOONS WITH A SHARP SIDE, FOR CUTTING, AND A BLUNT SIDE FOR SCOOPING......

another 'take' on Thai-Burmese green curried coconut soup with gluten and egg-free angel hair rice noodles, red peppers, cilantro, parsley and really hot Scotch bonnet peppers....sweet, hot, sour , bitter and edame....full-featured to please all areas of tongue and palate.........with a 'side' of thin-sliced umbrella squash and herb-encrusted miniature potatoes in a sauce of coconut milk, garlic, chilli, dried and ground English peas and ground toasted sunflower seeds, ginger, tumeric, cumin and hammered fenugreek leaves...with some white mushrooms, marinated in lime-pickle juice, white rice-wine vinegar, and honey......

....Each cook makes up a 'chopped basket' and 'secret ingredient list'.......then the 'players' take turns preparing the 'courses'.......no 'judges' , just some delicious...hopefully....interplay of creative cooks..... Today's 'basket' ingredients : Frozen Swai Filets, pomegranates, purple cabbage, aged parmesan cheese, celery and fennel seeds, scallions and a bag of blue lavender flowers, thyme, savory, basil leaves and marjoram ........... Looks like an 'easy' challenge........Parmesan Fish and cabbage slaw! Yet, a really creative, innovator may crank out some Swai custard with roasted pomegranate-cabbage in lavender mayonnaise and cheese points covered with fennel seeds.......... I've found that most folks eat the same few things, with little alterations, for most of their lives........One of my Aunts had a 'menu' for the week.....that was repeated for 50 years.........My cousins, her kids, ...

Phallus impudicus.....better known as Stinkhorn.....smells like rotting road kill......but......is edible........any takers? This, and another cluster, just came to full erection in my next door neighbor's yard...... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpiK9FaX9Ao they're waaay too mucousy to eat without cooking..........still....they're not a favorite of mine........but...I'm all 'in' for dining on wild....and 'free'....edibles......I'm making bamboo-pith iced cream right now......and, brewing  tea with the water in the giant bamboo shoots, while harvesting the tender bamboo that emerged, today, from the ground around the fountain.....to pickle...with the okra..O.K...where's my 'merit badge'? first 'product'.......Stinkhorn eggs, quartered and iron skillet-cooked....without oils...just the slime from the Phallus Impudicus ..into a delicious, radishy omelet on toast rusks......I smeared some pear and apple butters on the rusk to swee...

STILL DROWSY THIS MORNING AT 5AM, I OPTED TO MAKE A SIMPLE OMELET FOR BREAKFAST.......I REACHED FOR THE SQUEEZE BOTTLE OF KETCHUP  TO DRIBBLE OVER THE EGGS; HOWEVER, I GRAPPLED WITH AN IDENTICALLY-SHAPED PLASTIC SQUEEZE BOTTLE OF PICKLE RELISH....AND SQUIRTED IT ONTO THE EGGS.......AND LEFT IT THERE, OUT OF CURIOSITY...THEN RETURNED TO THE REFRIGERATOR FOR THE KETCHUP AND ADDED A GENEROUS SQUEEZE OF THAT, ALSO......I'D NEVER CONSIDERED PICKLE RELISH FOR AN OMELET....BUT, I WAS THINKING OF HOW MUCH I LIKE IT IN 'DEVILED EGGS'.....SO, NOW, I HAVE A NEW CONCOCTION:  DEVILED OMELET......I'LL HAVE IT AGAIN....AND AGAIN, I'M CERTAIN....