Cardiogirl: 19% body fat 100% fun

nope. i don’t mind trying new things, but when it comes to food, it’s at the bottom of the list. i like knowing beforehand that i will enjoy what i eat.

Picky eater. I don’t even try defending myself any more. I’m just a picky eater. If I don’t recognize it, with my fiance around to test it… NOT going in my hand, and *certainly* not in my mouth.

…Unless it’s chocolate. Then, I’ll negotiate.

Yeah, I’d try it. I like trying new foods. It’s amazing how we can never find anyone to go out to eat sushi with us because everyone is afraid to try it.

Where’s your sense of adventure?! There’s lots of places in that room to hide offending hors d’ouvres!

As long as it wasn’t made from some 3rd World “delicacy” like spiders, bats, or some sort of mish-mash of bizarre internal organs, including the brain, I would try it. You tell me it’s made with goat eyeballs after I’ve tried it, and I make you sit in front of a PC and watch “2 Girls, 1 Cup” over and over again.

Note: Cardio – please – if you haven’t heard of “2 Girls, 1 Cup” – don’t go searching for it. It’s old, so it’s everywhere…you WILL find it. If you do, don’t watch it.

Not at all. Not very interested in new foods. My stomach does not work that way. I would not do well on Fear Factor (is that even on still?) because of the food part.

Meat and potatoes for me.

I have heard of “2 girls, 1 cup”, and know what it is about. DO NOT go looking for it. I almost got sick just hearing the description of it. Seriosly.

Depends what it is made out of. First of all, I am vegetarian, so that would eliminate most things anyway I am pretty much a pain at dinner parties. But, if there wasn’t meat or broccoli (the one veggie I don’t like. Apparently also the one I cannot spell) in it, then sure, I would try it.

I would probably try it. I’m trying to be more adventurous in my eating and trying an appetizer is far less of a commitment than trying a whole entree. When I lived in the TX panhandle, I was coerced into trying a calf fry (a deep fried calf ball, aka rocky monster oyster). Ever since then, trying things hasn’t been too big of a deal. In case you were wondering, since it was deep fried, it was pretty good at first (all that deep fried goodness…lol) but as you chewed it wasn’t as good but it wasn’t horrendous. After I tried that one, then I concentrated on eating the associate french fries. :D

I’m fortunate there’s decent sushi at our local hibachi restaurant. My husband gets the fried rice and steak, etc. and I order sushi. It works well.

I always seek out different things to eat at restaurants. For example, the latest thing was a “Cindy Lauper” cut roll at a Japanese resturant. It had salmon, yellow tail and tuna, plus tropical things like mango and coconut. Plus raspberry sauce. Weird but tasty — like a dessert, really. I still haven’t had ostrich, rabbit, guinea pig, any reptile or amphibian or insect (that I know of). But I’d give it a go, especially the first two.

But the dinner party situation is tricky, because:

1. The cook / chef is most likely amateur.
2. It may not be possible to know what’s in it before trying it.
3. There are some common foods I cannot tolerate (wheat, dairy, corn, soy).

Most likely I will try it if I don’t have anything important to do within the next 24 hours. (The foods I can’t tolerate leave me with a “hangover” effect.)

You crack me up, CG.

1. You pictured the situation different than I did. But I normally waive off the appetizer waiters anyway, unless I eye something with lobster on it. It could secretly have pate on it and then I’d be pissed. Poor little geese. The champagne waiters are who I’m looking for.

2. I immediately thought of the actual dining part of the evening where it’s easy to try a small bite and leave the rest on your plate, though sneaking the bite into your napkin would be incredibly rude. BUT I’m assuming I’d have some wine handy and I could wash it down quickly either way.

And you can always snootily give the rest of your appetizer to the waiter. “This salmon puff is truly unacceptable, please dispose of it.”

Ostrich is delicious, if you like steak.

@Steve, now that’s some pretty serious punishment for not telling you but I understand imagine if they had you eat mountain oysters only to find out it’s buffalo testicles….I guess when you think about it 2 girls 1 cup is the proper punishment carry on!

@Cardio, please heed the warning and just don’t. I’ve seen some narsty things in my life but this sort of took the cake.

Hola CG,

I’m game for trying the appetizer (as long as it’s not pork or beef) of course I like trying new foods (I’ve grown into this appreciation having dated the spectrum and it’s rude to turn down food in cultures outside of the US). Besides I figure I’ll probably have a glass of some scrumptilicous wine or a cup of a tasty alcoholic doda to wash down horribleness if it happens. Always remember to pick up a little napkin in case spitting out is oh so necessary.

Besides what’s a dinner party without a little throw up in the sink…oh wait keg party maybe you should stick to what you know.

You know Michelle, you can rarely go wrong with veggies. No matter how they are cooked. It’s the meats which can be the surprise element. Strange huh!.

Live a little, die a little. Or pretend you are a vegetarian. It is generally the meats which can surprise or shock you. The vegetables or fruits cooked most ways is nearly always palatable. Or pretend the doctor has advised you only cheese. You can barely go wrong with that

I’d be right there next to you. However, it was drummed into me at an early age that leaving the house without a handkerchief was tantamount to treason, so I’d have one in my pocket ready for you to spit the offending morsel into. And then we could just leave it on the bookshelf. It would serve the host right for serving hideous food in the first instance.

The problem for me is not the fact that the food is new, but that I didn’t cook it. I loathe eating out, and I’m fussy as to where I go. Who knows how many people have touched that thing on the plate. Or what is in it for that matter.

I suppose the real question is why you and I are standing? Wouldn’t we rather be sitting? I could snag us a couple of chairs (those wire-backed ones on the right, I think?) and we could sit and people watch. nobody else would be using them, because they don’t lend themselves to group of people sitting together, but I figure that you and I would both be fine sat next to one another. And if anyone was rude to us, I’d snap into bitch-mode and immolate them, while you threw the masticated remains of whatever it was you put in your mouth at them. Actually, I’d probably do that part. And then we’d go back to chatting. And avoiding the hors d’ouvres.

PS, I think you have a typo – “retching would being”.

Ooh I forgot that I tried black pepper ice cream this past weekend. It came as part of a cherry sundae that ha d a variety of ice creams and other stuff in it. The pepper ice cream was pretty good, it actually went really well with the cherry topping. It was very, very peppery so by itself it was a little much but for some reason the cherries cut the pepper to a manageable level.

Also, in Nepal, I ate some sort of unknown meat. My host family had prepared a special meal for my first night with them and it included some sort of meat. My guess is either goat or water buffalo. It was ok but I’m not much of a meat eater. After that we typically had dal-bhat-takari (boiled rice with lentil soup over it and veggies on the side). They also served this spicy chutney/salsay stuff on the side tthat was extremely spicy. I entertained my host family to no end when I tried one particularly spicy batch and nearly died…lol Amid their extensive laughter my host mom gave me a big spoonful of sugar that helped. :)

When do you want to go out for sushi? I love sushi. Where is there a good sushi place out in the burbs? I only know some good places in Chicago and the far north suburbs.

Yes, I’d definitely tried it. When I moved to Chicago I only knew Italian food and Mexican food. That was it. Then a friend I worked with introduced me to all kinds of cuisine. Japanese- Sushi, Indian, Korean, Middle Eastern, Thai, Vietnamese.

Assuming this is a yes/no question, and can’t be qualified, I’d say no way. I’ve got a very low vomiting threshold. I can retch twice, but then it’s coming back, in a big way.

Assuming that I can qualify my answer, I’d go the way of some of your other commenters, and say I’d try anything vegetable in nature. Meat seems to be the iffy element. No bugs or unknown meat for me. Maybe if I was in a foreign country, and it would be considered a mortal insult to not try it, I’d force myself. But that’s it.
Interesting question, I’m enjoying reading the other responses.

I will not eat green eggs and ham!
I will not eat it Sam I am.

Very funny!

You know it’s been a good party when…

YES! Men are supposed to carry hankerchiefs. My husband refuses.

I’m not sure. It would probably depend what it looked like and sounded like. I used to just eat whatever was handed to me. When I stayed with some Salvation Army folks in Brussels, they provided me a meat sandwich for lunch. I did get around to asking what kind of meat it was after I had already eaten most of the sandwich. It was raw hamburger meat. Thankfully, I survived without suffering from Mad Cow Disease. Or did I?

We’re there!! Whoohooo! A sushi buddy!!

This is a no-win situation. What can be gained by trying something that you most likely won’t like? Nothing. So: no thank you. I know my limits. I’m usually pretty good at guessing what I won’t like. And I definitely do NOT like having to spit something out into a napkin.

You know what’s weird? My husband came home and we were celebrating and I threw up in the kitchen sink last night…for the first time ever which is really saying something. Thank the Lord for garbage disposals.

Oh, that makes me sad. My life is so much richer because I say “sure, I”ll try anything!” so often. Plus, as much traveling I do, I’d go hungry an awful lot if I weren’t flexible in my idea of what’s acceptable food.

Okay, then. You can be my life tester, Natural. You can ride the zip line, go bungee jumping and and sky diving to let me know how that is. And then we’ll sit together eating a PB&J.

I fought that title for a good long while. I’m not sure why but then I just embraced it in my mid-30s.

I’m with you on chocolate although I’ve been burned too many times by orange hiding in the chocolate. Yuck.

And I absolutely hate those jelly-filled chocolates that hide out in a box of chocolates. You know what I’m talking about? I don’t know what that is, but I always carefully munch away the outer layer of chocolate and then dump that nasty jelly filling.

Those jelly-filled candies should be outlawed.

(Quietly retches in the corner thinking about her most dreaded type of food — seafood. And then considers the possibility of raw seafood. Promptly vomits up her morning coffee.)

Loved the one-two punch on that comment, Les. Excellent delivery!

You know what? You just earned yourself the Gold Star of the Day, missy.

And on a related note, I always get uptight about the height of the door on that image when I don’t have enough text to fill the left side of it. I’m going to try to let go of that, but really the whole reason for this missive is to fill the space after all.

Success!

@Steve This is exactly like telling someone “Don’t think of elephants!” And of course I see a huge gray trunk poking out from behind the couch now.

However, I have resisted. I’m dying to know what it is, but I am not going to look it up.

@Michelle I’m really surprised that, as a doctor, you were disgusted by the verbal definition of it. Damn.

@Faith Again, I have resisted and will continue to do so, but I can’t even guess what’s so disgusting. However, as stated above, if Dr. Michelle is thoroughly disgusted — by hearing about it — I’m going to follow directions in this case.

There’s plenty of room over there by the books for you to join me and Solomon, sw.

@Michelle Broccoli seems so tame to me, but it certainly isn’t for everyone since it seems to be the flagship of vegetable disdain. Personally, I think brussels sprouts have more than earned that title.

@sanjay I can get behind that that. I’d definitely go for something with just veggies over foreign meat.

p.s. Have you ever seen that SNL skit of Dana Carvey singing “Choppin’ Broccoli?” Most enjoyable.

Just made a massive mental note to avoid everything called rocky monster oyster. And I would have been all over those fries.

Pepper ice cream? Yuck. I’ve heard of — but never tried — garlic ice cream. Now I love garlic just as much as the next guy. Really love it. But in ice cream? No.

I would have been skeletal after a few months in Nepal. Although the dal-bhat-takari sounds safe.

Much as I hate seafood I would love to have a dish named after me!

However, the Cardiogirl Roll would probably consist of rice wrapped in romaine lettuce with a glass of water.

Damn, I should have focused on the champagne waiters.

It probably is the meal at the dinner table that we’re talking about. And then I’d really be screwed.

[...] Last week when I was refusing new food at the hypothetical dinner party [...]

@Faith Isn’t it funny how custom dictates tradition. I’ve heard the same as well — it’s rude to refuse food outside the US.

But in the same vein, it’s tradition to vomit at a keg party. And in the US I do follow tradition :)

@Liz That is weird. What were you eating? Fried calf balls?

I never heard of the cheese defense, but I like it. I am definitely more apt to try vegetable or fruit only dishes.

Meat definitely can be dicey.

@Solomon And this is why I love you so much.

I missed that second chair over there. Yes, we are definitely sitting, settling in for a long night. And I absolutely love the idea of you setting your radar to bitch-mode. And I also like the idea of the separate chairs since we can decide how close or far apart we need to sit from each other.

And thanks for the hanky and the typo alert. Grr I hate typos but I have chased down the misplaced g.

@Liz I never did know that was a male requirement and my husband is like yours. Except it’s not an issue of refusal, it’s one of ignorance (both mine and his.)

Alright Sarah, another person to hang with me, strugglingwriter and Solomon at the party.

It really is fun hearing other people’s opinions on this. I hadn’t isolated it before the comments came in, but I have to agree — I’ll try vegetables and fruit. But no strange meat for me.

Hmm, I’m not sure if eggs fall into my refusal of meat stance. Eggs can be nasty, too and they are the early stages of meat, right? Think chicken.

Although chicken is always a safe bet. So I’ll refuse that ham but will give the green eggs a bite.

AUUUGGHHH~!~

~!~

I remember that disgusting item that you ate overseas that involved a half hatched egg. And now raw hamburger. Dang girl.

What’s the culinary name for raw hamburger? Melissa mentioned it a long time ago and so did Liz. It’s on the dip of my tongue, but I can’t remember what it’s called.

Absolutely a no-win JD.

We’re going to have to get a couch to sit on now that our group of dissenters is growing.

That must be the difference between you and me. I do not travel and haven’t actually been out of this state for at least ten years. Isn’t that crazy?

I LOVE garlic. At our local Garlic restraunt, I did try the infamous garlic ice cream. It was pretty good but it doesn’t satisfy that after dinner sweet craving of mine. So I guess my official taste test result would be “tastes good but just not a dessert”. :)

I did lose around 20-30 pounds in my 3-4 week stay in Nepal. However, that was most likely due to the excessive amount of walking I had to do on a daily basis, much of it at an incline, as well as my limited access to snack foods.

I did google it. When I read this (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_eating_raw_beef_harmful) it made me wonder if the parasite I thought I caught in the Philippines was really contracted while eating that sandwich in Brussels. It says the culinary name is “steak tartare”. The wikipedia page for steak tartare does say that it is especially popular in Belgium.

Never doin’ that again. You can count on it.

CG: It’s going to take a while for you to get over the calf fry isn’t it??? lol ;)

Nola – Great point. I’ve been purposely trying to open myself up to new foods and experiences for that very reason. I realized how much I was limiting myself and wanted to break free.

CG: That’s crazy and sad. Now I must swoop into the Motor City and kidnap you and your family and at least make you venture into Ohio! CP here we come!!

I mixed wine and JD. You’d think I’d learn.

I can’t say I’ve ever had the calf ball, but fried oysters taste disgusting to me, so I think even I’ll pass on that one. I do like raw oysters. One of those life mysteries.

It’s a dying tradition, I just carry my own now. It would thoroughly gross you out, CG.

Thanks! I’m looking forward to trying ostrich if I see it somewhere at a good restaurant. I think Whole Foods sells it, but I don’t want to cook it wrong and ruin it.

The closest I’ve seen is a roll with cucumber, rice and seaweed. I’m guessing the seaweed would be a deal-breaker for you.

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/sushiroll/r/cucumberroll.htm

One step up from that is one with cooked crab meat, cucumber, avocado, rice and seaweed.

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

That’s the reason I don’t carry one. Snot in my pocket all day long just doesn’t jive with me. Ick.

Sorry that was a typo it’s Rocky Mountain Oysters not monster…lol

Buf, I have to admit, now that you’ve given a description of the garlic ice cream I might be willing to take three bites of Mr. C’s ice cream (don’t want to commit to anything.)

The, um, recipe sounds like the name of that dish could go either way — Rocky Monster Oyster OR Rocky Mountain Oyster.

But I shall avoid all connotations of that dish regardless of the name.

SPG you are correct that the seaweed is a deal breaker. I have no idea what they would wrap my roll in. Maybe they could deep fry it. Now that sounds pretty good — cucumber and rice deep fried.

Isn’t the seaweed sort of hard to chew, turgid, like bamboo shoots?

I wonder if they serve ostrich drum sticks? Those things would be huge.

@Buf Yes. Yes it is.

@Liz Yuck. Did you literally mix those two together or did you have a drink of wine. Then a shot of whiskey. Then another glass of wine?

Aren’t raw oysters slimy as hell? And if you just swallow it down without chewing what’s the point? Can you even taste it.

Gah, I have to stop or I will begin dry heaving any minute.

Gross.

To both of you.

(jumps up and down) Yes! It’s steak tartare! That’s what I was thinking of. Ain’t that a stretch calling raw HAMBURGER steak?

AUUGGHHH! This story has many disgusting layers, Wendy. I didn’t know you had a PARASITE after this experience. Gross.

Snaps to you Buf. But I’m still not trying the calf fry.

Man that would be fun going to Cedar Point with you!

No, I had a few glasses of wine before Jeff got home. And then we had a few beers with a shot of JD, and I immediately threw up. I felt like a freshman.

I’m not going to explain raw oysters fully considering your aversion to seafood, but there’s lemon juice and tabasco involved.

Men carried them because they wore suits and hats and it was hot, so they had something to wipe their brow when necessary and you only offered it to a lady in a certain situation and she kept the hankerchief and at the end of the day they were washed.

I keep one because my nose runs and then you use a Kleenex and it ends up back in your purse anyway. Equate your underarms with my nose.

Don’t tempt me..lol I should really do a Sandusky trip soon and DTW is usually cheaper than CLE…lol and CP does do Halloweekends through Halloween.

Ostrich legs can be like the six foot sandwiches you buy for parties. Awesome idea.

Turgid? No most seaweed you don’t even notice, and not all rolls are wrapped in it, some are deep fried.

It would be wild, wouldn’t it? I wonder what the packaging would look like.

I think I could get behind a deep fried non-seafood sushi item. That California roll deep fried. Now that sounds downright tasty.

You know California rolls have crab, right? they do have assortments of veggies rolls. Will you eat imitation crab?

Whoa gingah. No I did not. No deep fried sushi for me unless it’s totally vegetarian.

Well that makes more sense that it was in stages and independent of each other. Have seen/tried one of those drinks where they put beer in a mug and then drop a shot glass of liquor in the center?

Does that taste good? I hate beer so I guess the answer is no.

I wonder how many marriages started out with a man giving a woman a hanky to keep for a day.

It sounds like a handy way to meet up because it requires a second meeting to return the clean hanky.

I was thinking about those Halloweekends too!

Yes, it’s called an Irish car bomb or a sake bomb.

Half a guiness with a shot of irish whiskey, you have to chug it or it kind of curdles. It’s really hard to describe the taste, not bad but I drink heavily.

Then there’s the Asian beer, Saporo or something like that with a shot of sake dropped in sometimes there’re chopsticks and banging on the bar involved. Those are delicious.