Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Of Mackerel Tails, Banana Fries and Octopai Eyes... And a little sanity as well

What could that be, swimming in the cooking pot?
Just a continuation of the cooking habits of my sister's family...Not to blame Laurie, of course, but that truly was the inspiration behind a tasty dish of octopai.
The menu for the evening (with renowned chefs, Boyar-Curt and Ruthie Crocker):
  • Fried mackerel --the "only redeeming feature of the meal" --Mom
  • Melon/Papaya smoothie (spiked with plenty of vodka to drown out the papaya taste)
  • Rice with fresh melon salsa
  • Boiled octopai avec les onions et les tomates
  • Fried plantain banana with coconut milk (optional)


Just thought I'd warn you to look closely at your next plate of salad served up at the VD household --we've found a nice recipe for tarantula.

And speaking of tarantula, I've got some more relevant news. Matt is back on the blogging world, reporting from Honduras. Be sure to check up his update.

Also, my bestest friend Louise has a blog as well :)

10 comments:

Matt said...

Great post, Ruth! Wish I could have been there to try out the fancy cuisine. I liked your Orangeville saga as well (and the pictures!). I hope your essaying at essaying is going well. Lord willing, I will see you soon.

Kevin and Carole said...

RUTHIE hi this is probably a stupid question but i've got to ask it, did you REAALLY eat octopus?? i can't figure out what else it would be...and knowing curt is involved, maybe it actually COULD be...but that is SICK!!! eeeeew!! i'm off to matt's blog :) (great pictures & story on the last post, btw, i had a great laugh about it!! :) )

Ruth said...

Matt, the ASSAYING at essaying is indeed going well --thanks for the kind wishes and can't WAIT to see you soon!
Carole, LOL, we cleaned, cooked and ATE the octopus :) In fact, we made everyone in the family try some --even poor little Phillip. Would you like us to come over and cook it for you some time? :D

Michele said...

Ruth,

I am frightened. That display could've used a little more color-the pickles(?) were a nice touch of green, but I think a few orange slices would have added a little kick.

Just my advice. :)

Seriously, if it wasn't you I wouldn't believe it was true!

Matt said...

Hello again, my dear post-English sister-student,

Once again (refering to past experiences of this sort), I'm afraid I have to say that 'essaying' is the proper word for it. Assaying is an archaic form of essaying. Essay is taken from the French verb essayer.

References:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/essaying

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assaying

:)

Matt.

Curt and Jen said...

Ruth,
What Matt is saying is that assaying is different than essaying, although I'm not sure that is saying much.

Oh, and thanks for letting me in on the cookout. And for all those octopus critics: octopai are a healthy staple food among the commoners of Japan, and add a great flavor(though very mild) and texture(not so mild) to any meal. I would recommend it be added to BoerKole and Hotsput. I'm hardly Dutch so I don't know how to spell those words. Curt

Anonymous said...

Ruth, I'm impressed! How did they taste, exactly? I wonder if dried seaweed would taste well with them - add a bit of saltiness, you know. Also, I hate to break it to you, but the plural of octopus is octopuses. You see, despite the deceptive -us ending, octopus comes from Greek, not Latin, and -pus is from pos/podus, which means "foot". Thus, the plural does really go to -es. (I know, I know, I've done WAY too much studying and it's addled my brain...)
-Rachel

Ruth said...

Wow, what a lot of English/ Greek/ Dutch/ Latin scholars on here! Matt, I concede --remember that because you won't hear it again any time soon :) Rachel, I'm so disappointed it's not octopai! "Octupuses" doesn't have the foreign ring to it, and rhymes with, well, nothing...
But pussies or not, they tasted OK --pretty mild, like Curt says. It's their texture that sucks--with all those suction cups, of course :D Still, Chef BoyarCurtee speaks well: they'd do excellently in a hearty pot of hutspot...

Laurie said...

Wow, I gotta say you guys are... brave and fearless. I'm kind of glad I wasn't there for that one :) I guess the best test of its edibility (?) would be whether Jen could stomach it in her present state?

Anonymous said...

Hey Ruthie!
The Octopus looks quite disgusting I must say... so isn't it time for another post? :)