More foodie stuff

You have me on a mission now Cathal!!

Fiona's food to do list:
Huevos rancheros
Steak tartare
Carp
Heirloom tomatoes
Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
Bagna cauda
Wasabi peas - mmm, nobody said this was gonna be easy
Salted lassi
Root beer float
Clotted cream tea
Curried goat
Phaal
Fugu
Umeboshi
Abalone
Dirty gin martini
Poutine
Frogs’ legs
Gjetost, or brunost - Dedicated to Jonna from Sweden (this is really getting tough)
Roadkill - DONE at the Mindil Beach Sunset Market, Darwin.
Baijiu
Hostess Fruit Pie
Lapsang souchong
Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (they have them in Japan now!!)
Kobe beef
Horse
Rose harissa
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
Snake


Ok Cathal, I do as you say!

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare (One to try, deffo)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht (couldn't get away from it in Russia)
10. Baba ghanoush (thank you Drea)
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (God bless Copenhagen)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns (Possibly my no 1 fav snack)
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (grrrr)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (do crúibíní count?)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (yummy - Earwig)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (thank's to Rong)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (do Hostess Twinkies count?)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. (soon, verry soon...)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare87. Goulash88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano (in Edinburgh of all places)
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Oooh! That was fun, lots of Wikipedia needed there! 66/100 isn't too bad. It seems I will have to eat a tomato to finish the list though, I think I'd rather the roadkill. Might have to go to mexico too! Cant wait to do number 84, in Chapter One when it gets three stars :)
I think I'll start completing the list tonight with a Dirty gin martini.

http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

Onwards, upwards, seawards

Booted out of one Singapore hotel to another, tentatively booking boats to Java, getting lost in the world's largest and cleanest shopping malls, attending jewellery and technology expos and pretending to be posh, besieging the Irish Embassy to get what we want, drowning in a lovely midsummer storm and seriously pondering spending a fortune on a "Where the wild things are" t-shirt. Singapore has been...interesting.

And off we go again. Java beckons, our friends in Bali are there for another few weeks, the boat to Darwin is currently in Sumbawa and heading to Flores in the next 3 weeks or so. Pressure is on.

Rushin' through Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore

Bye bye Saigon, bye bye Vietnam after 4 great months. We now have a small but hot fire lit under us and it's time to get a move on.


12 hours on a bus later we're in Siem Reap. Irish breakfast in Molly Malones, off we go again on a 4 hour car and 9 hour train journey to Bangkok. Doing our very best to avoid Khao San Road off we go again on a 32 hour train journey to Butterworth in Malaysia, 4 hours of sleep then another 14 hours on a train to Singapore. Why aren't we using planes again? No matter, Singapore will look after us.

We checked into the Pan Pacific along with a Swedish couple we met getting off the train who had the good sense to book ahead. Plush room, massive TV and stunning view over the city. That'll do me. Next adventure is to sort out Fi's passport, find a giant boat in the harbour belonging to Seamus' doctor's cousin, find a way to Indonesia and on to Flores and try to get some sleep after the hectic couple of weeks since leaving Jungle Beach.


Singapore struck us 4 years ago as a clean, organised, pretty but slightly dull city. Nothing has really changed since, but I think we are appreciating the calmness of it all a bit more. Are we getting old or just weary? Weariness aside, the next month or so until we find our boat will be madness so we're going to make the most out of the plushness and room service while we can.


News from home of small architectural practises shutting down, larger firms letting dozens of people go, and a general stagnation of the building trade, sales and the economy. Hopefully we can stay away for the worst of this and find work in Australia until things start to rebound.

Saigon and onwards

After dragging ourselves away from Jungle Beach after 61 fantastic days, we boarded another train to Saigon.

Gai with Seamus' sand turtle

Saigon is like Hanoi on all sorts of stimulants. Bigger, louder, slightly more bonkers. The people are almost invariably friendly and even the incessant hawkers have a grin for everyone. After a couple of days of hotel-hopping and a good dose of CNN we felt almost ready to face the world.

Our plan for Saigon was to gradually get back up to speed with the real world, eat some fancy food, visit Sheridan's for a bit of pub grub and plan our escape to Cambodia. Buses to Phnom Penh and Siem depart every day, we just have to steel ourselves against the prospect of 12 hours on a bus on Vietnamese and Cambodian roads. Might take a day or two to build up the nerve

In other news, we got a tip to use findacrew.net to look into making the SE Asia-Australia trip on a private boat. A quick registration and search later and we sent off a half dozen emails to boats that might be suitable for us as unskilled but enthusiastic sailors. A couple of days later and an English/Aussie captain gets back to me about a trip from Bali to Dili then onwards to Darwin and Byron Bay, PERFECT! Hopefully this will pan out and we will make it to East Timor in time to meet them.