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

....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....

eggless, crunchy rusk with mummified partridge thigh, presented with a sharp, damascus blade to slice the duck fat in which the rusk is fried......and in which the dry thigh is rehydrated.......o.k., Andrew Zimmern? A perfect accompaniment for a hundred year old egg, or...if a century egg is not available......a cave swiftlet's egg will suffice.....

  Fonds d'Artichauts Farcis, Bearnaise craving has drawn this old insomniac into a dark kitchen.......then, on 'second thought'.......I opened a jar of artichoke bottoms in olive oil, terragon and lemon juice.......toasted a couple of slices of sourdough and emptied a glass jar of 'pre-made' Bearnaise Sauce over some leftover poached eggs, from yesterday's b'fast and some sauteed mushroom slices with leftover wine 'dregs'.........Not 'Perfection', perhaps...but, then, it IS 4:30 am! I know there must be some parsley in the fridge, from yesterday's 11PM 'run' to Kroger, for some smoked paprika.....

  when in doubt, just use your fingers.......in 1900, Edith Wharton would have had the 'proper silver implement' to transport this roasted cicada over a almond butter and honey-topped Golgappa puri, filled with lemon custard, to one's 'perhaps, not that eager' palate.....