So I can't sleep, and then I realized, oh hey Ruth is always asking me to write her down a list of food I like and don't like because she can never remember, so if I do a meme on it it will be like sneakily doing something useful, even if only to people who live with me.


What's the last thing you ate? What I've had today: a bar of Ritter Sport very dark chocolate with hazelnuts. a plate of leftover pi pa tofu with rice, and some also leftover cabbage rolls in thin tofu skins, with hot sauce. a scoop of Earl Grey ice cream with hot fudge and chocolate whipped cream. two cranberry English muffins with cream cheese. a bite of peanut butter because I was feeling low-protein. 1.5 Mountain Dews. ... I eat too much sugar.

What's your favorite cheese? Double-cream Brie. Mozzarella di bufalo. But if you're on a budget, Monterey Jack. Especially pepper Jack. I tolerate Cheddar, but would be happy never to have Swiss or Roquefort ever again.

What's your favorite fish? Raw tuna. Unless we are counting water eel as fish. All cooked fish just tastes like cooked fish to me and I can't actually tell a difference; I hated fish until I started eating sushi. Tuna is best, but I will cheerfully eat raw salmon, yellowtail, flounder... I don't think there's a fish I wouldn't eat raw, actually. I have learned to tolerate really, really rare salmon. Oh, and I will eat tuna from a can, but that's not fish, that's sandwich goo.

What's your favorite fruit? Honestly I am not that fond of fruit, but if I have to, stone fruits-- cherries, peaches, plums, apricots. Juicy pears, like Bosch pears. Oh, I actually like starfruit. I hate bananas, they are evil. I hate grapes. I have learned to live with apples, especially Galas. Dried cranberries. Fruit leather, the froofy organic kind. I do not understand why people even eat melons, every so often you get one very good bite but mostly it is not worth the effort. Clementines are the only citrus I tolerate. I liked kaki when we went to Italy but I don't think we can get those here (maybe if we looked under Japanese persimmon?).

When, if ever, did you start liking olives? I have always loved olives. All olives. Ever. You want to dispose of olives, you leave me alone with them. Kindly leave the pimento out of the green olives, though, seriously. And I do like actually having an implement of some kind to remove the pits.

When, if ever, did you start liking beer? I have tried. I have tried and tried and tried. I can drink lambic. Hell, I can drink grappa and sambuca and straight tequila and all sorts of insane alcohol. Beer? Is right out. It's like they took soda and removed all the good points. *sigh* I'm willing to try again. So much of the world seems to care so strongly. But I should just warn you, the last time someone ordered me a Guinness I got three swallows into it and then mixed it with grenadine which at least meant I could get to the bottom of the mug.

When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish? Lobster lobster lobster lobster lobster. Always. Oh, and calamari fritti, and I love octopus but am vaguely worried that it might be sentient. Clams are okay. Oysters-- do you know what they eat? Seriously? It is a measure of how much I love Thrud that I gave up shrimp for environmental reasons after she gave her Shrimp Lecture. I miss it.

What was the best thing your parent/s used to make? My father makes a damn fine strawberry pie. My mother hates to cook and is not good at it. I mean really not.

What's the native specialty of your home town? It is the headquarters of White Castle. I am not condoning that in any way, but it is. It is also the headquarters of Wendy's. I worked there right after high school and am still willing to eat there, which must say something.

What's your comfort food? Bad pepperoni pizza. Nothing else on it, just pepperoni and that peculiarly orange grease. Most pizza is not bad enough to meet my requirements in this area. Also, cookies, although not as much.

What's your favorite type of chocolate? Medium-dark. Vosges, Lindt and Ritter are all fine. Cadbury fails me. Hershey's is right out. Bear in mind that chocolate counts as medicine rather than as food; I do love it, but I use it regularly as a literal hormonal reset and cannot function without it, so I get picky. Mousse or flourless cake is my favorite form of chocolate, but ice cream isn't bad if it's dark enough.

How do you like your steak? Bloody. With garlic salt.

How do you like your burger? Medium rare, fairly thin patty, tomato, mayo, lettuce, ketchup, pickle relish, pickle, sauteed mushrooms, fried egg. Buttered toasted white roll. For God's sake no mustard. Maaaaybe bacon.

How do you like your eggs? Poached. Sunny-side up. Scrambled a la Brillat-Savarin when I actually manage to get off my ass and do it, but in no other way scrambled. I hate omelets.

How do you like your potatoes? Mashed. Whole baby new potatoes boiled with butter and dill in parchment paper. Not baked.

How do you take your coffee? As far away from me as humanly possible. Do not even pass coffee flavoring over the pot of anything I am drinking or eating, because I will know and I will be unhappy.

How do you take your tea? Lukewarm. Ridiculously weak. With milk. Except fruit teas, which should be plain, hot, and very very strong. Please, no green teas.

What's your favorite mug? Thrud's mug of every Disney villain standing together.

What's your cookie of choice? How much chocolate can you get into one cookie? Oh, and peanut butter are all right too.

What's your ideal breakfast? Lunch. At lunchtime.

What's your ideal sandwich? Egg salad, chopped sweet gherkins, chopped black olives, pizza sauce on focaccia.

What's your ideal pizza (topping and base)? Thick crust. Bad pepperoni, or else load it with all the meat it can carry. I like potato rosemary okay, too. And the egg asparagus we've been having lately is very convincing. I wish pizza margherita had better mozzarella usually, or I would order it all the time. I also wish everyone I know didn't like pineapple so.

What's your ideal pie (sweet or savory)? Pecan dark chocolate. But why have pie when you could have the same thing as custard or cake or something reasonable?

What's your ideal salad? Mixed bitter greens, olive oil, coarse salt, coarse pepper, kalamata olives, sliced mandarin oranges WHICH I HATE BUT THEY GO HERE. Or seaweed salad, either way. Oh, or egg salad. Or sliced heirloom tomatoes with olive oil.

What food do you always like to have in the fridge? Pepperoni. Cold cooked chicken. Sweet pickles. Some variant of cheese I like. Eggs, butter, milk, garlic, Thai chili-garlic paste, mirin, tamari, ketchup. Raspberry jam, strawberry-rhubarb jam. Bell peppers. Shallots. Potatoes.

What food do you always like to have in the freezer? Some variant chocolate ice cream. Whatever drippings or stock are most recent. Some bread in case we ever need bread. At least one unexpected Japanese frozen dessert in case of sudden company. Sausages.

What food do you always like to have in the cupboard? Well, the soda lives on the table. Chickpeas. Several variants olives. Sushi rice, seaweed. Canned green chiles. Several kinds broth, vegetarian and not. Canned clam chowder. Black beans. Creamed corn. I will forget to eat most of this if not reminded, but I am delighted when I am reminded. Alfredo sauce. Tomato paste. Six kinds sugar. Three kinds flour. Baking powder, soda, three kinds salt. Cocoa powder, baking chocolate. Dried apricots. Dried cranberries. Some kind of protein bar I can pretend is lunch.

What spices can you not live without? Cumin, savory, good salt in several kinds, mustard seeds, turmeric, fresh basil, garlic is a staple not a spice, red pepper flakes, cinnamon not cassia, real vanilla, rosewater.

What sauces can you not live without? Tamari, Thai chili-garlic paste, mirin, ketchup, at restaurants I will eat Ranch dressing or honey mustard on fries but they aren't worth stocking.

Where do you buy most of your food? Shaw's and the Japanese market.

How often do you go food shopping? Somebody goes weekly. I seem to wind up going for something small every few days.

What's the most you've spent on a single food item? Not a clue.

What's the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own? Either the Cuisinart or the Le Creuset frying pan.

What's the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen? Me personally, the knife sharpener. In general, Thrud bought some new shelves recently.

What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without? The stockpot. And the wooden spoons.

How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients? I try for at least twice a week. Sometimes I don't achieve that. Sometimes I wind up cooking multiple meals a day for a long time. I have no idea how it averages out.

What's the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients? I failed to soft-boil some eggs a few days ago. Hard-boiled instead. It was fine.

What's your favorite thing to make for yourself? I do not cook for myself. I cook for myself and. If there is no and, I forage.

What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig, chicken and turkey? Duck, venison, quail, lamb, goat, rabbit, frog. Might have forgotten one or two.

What's the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor? If it has a peel on or a shell on, I will. Otherwise no.

What's the last time you ate something you'd picked in the wild? Last spring there were wild strawberries near B.'s.

Place the following cuisines in order of preference (greatest to least): sushi, Indian, Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Italian, French.

Place the following boozes in order of preference (greatest to least): tequila, brandy, whiskey, vodka, gin, rum.

Place the following flavors in order of preference (greatest to least): aniseed, lime, garlic, basil, ginger. I like them all, though.

Bread and spread: Crusty baguette and garlic butter.

What's your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order? Wendy's, Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Or Popeye's, spicy chicken anything.

What's your choice of tipple at the end of a long day? Bailey's and hot chocolate. Warm milk with honey and brandy.

Favorite cookbook/s? Madhur Jaffrey. Taught me really everything I know about Indian food.

Got any favorite food blogs? Tigers and Strawberries. Syllabub. I don't like the Chocolate and Zucchini blog, but the cookbook is very good.

What's the next thing you'll eat? Dark chocolate bar as hormone reset on the way to work in the morning.