So a delectable edible Christmas present from Wist. (Wistmas present?)

Insects.

Edible insects.

Salt and vinegar grasshoppers and a chocolate covered scorpion to be exact.

The grasshoppers were dusty and crunchy.
Not a snack you’d eat willngly, but I’m glad I can tick them off the list.
I’ve read they’re nice in stir frys.
I’m not so sure.

It was quite hard to figure out what the scorpion actually tasted like – as the chocolate was rather overpowering. I’m not too sure that’s a bad thing, if the crickets are anything to go by.

Brilliant Christmas present nonetheless.

Merry Christmas!

UPDATE
1. Jellied Eels
2. Pig Cheeks
3. Sweet Meats
4. Bubble tea
5. Dried Insects
6. Quails egg
7. Foie Gras
8. Frogs legs
9. Snails
10. Kangaroo
11. Nettle tea
12. Oysters
13. Steak Tartare
14. Dandelion Wine
15. Gazpacho
16. Pea Soup
17. Root beer float
18. Gnocchi
19. Ox Heart
20. Squirrel
21. Spotted Dick
22. Souffle
23. Kumquat

Quick trip to Cambridge – brilliant fun.
The colleges there are beautiful – it must be such an inspiring place to study.
And I managed to tick Souffle off the list…

So that leaves Sweet Meats, Dried Insects, Foie Gras (I might swap this one out – I actually don’t WANT to eat it), frogs legs, snails, oysters, dandelion wine, ox heart, squirrel (where the fuck am I going to find squirrel!?) and kumquat. 11 in total. And six months to go…

UPDATE
1. Jellied Eels
2. Pig Cheeks
3. Sweet Meats
4. Bubble tea
5. Dried Insects
6. Quails egg
7. Foie Gras
8. Frogs legs
9. Snails
10. Kangaroo
11. Nettle tea
12. Oysters
13. Steak Tartare
14. Dandelion Wine
15. Gazpacho
16. Pea Soup
17. Root beer float
18. Gnocchi
19. Ox Heart
20. Squirrel
21. Spotted Dick
22. Souffle
23. Kumquat

A beautiful day in Borough market.
Beautiful not least because we found two of the food challenges.
Kangaroo (we had meatballs) and Dandelion Wine.

The kangaroo we bought immediately – an easy decision for dinner.
It made the centrepiece of a beautiful pasta dish, and tasted delicious.
Kangaroo meat is like a tastier beef – rich and almost nutty.

Tempting fate a little though, we left the dandelion wine at the market.
A risky move – as it’s not the easiest thing to find in the world – but it gives me another excuse to hop south of the river!

I’m almost half way on 23:eat.

UPDATE
1. Jellied Eels
2. Pig Cheeks
3. Sweet Meats
4. Bubble tea
5. Dried Insects
6. Quails egg
7. Foie Gras
8. Frogs legs
9. Snails
10. Kangaroo
11. Nettle tea
12. Oysters
13. Steak Tartare
14. Dandelion Wine
15. Gazpacho
16. Pea Soup
17. Root beer float
18. Gnocchi
19. Ox Heart
20. Squirrel
21. Spotted Dick
22. Souffle
23. Kumquat

So I’ve got a couple more entries for 23:Eat… and what a mixed bag it was!
First up:

1. Jellied Eels
Oh dear god – these are disgusting.
Disgusting.
The eels themselves taste a little bit like kipper. Most bites are littered with bones.
And then lovingly covered in unsweetened jelly (think pork pie casing)…
Just horrible.
The shop we visited for them was great though – a snapshot of East London past.

UPDATE
1. Jellied Eels
2. Pig Cheeks
3. Sweet Meats
4. Bubble tea
5. Dried Insects
6. Quails egg
7. Foie Gras
8. Frogs legs
9. Snails
10. Kangaroo
11. Nettle tea
12. Oysters
13. Steak Tartare
14. Dandelion Wine
15. Gazpacho
16. Pea Soup
17. Root beer float
18. Gnocchi
19. Ox Heart
20. Squirrel
21. Spotted Dick
22. Souffle
23. Kumquat

So it’s been a little while since I last posted, but I’m ticking them off (albeit the easy ones.)

2. Pig Cheeks
First up and supremely delicious – I had a starter of crispy pig cheeks (with piccalilli and a chive & lambs lettuce salad) at Jamie Oliver’s St Paul’s meat-shack ‘Barbecoa’. A lovely treat from Wist for my birthday. Alas I forgot to take a photograph.

Luckily – someone has already written about them and posted a photo (thanks www.tomeatsjencooks.com)

11. Nettle tea
Next up – Nettle tea.
Sampled in Cornwall – a little like Green Tea.
I don’t think it will be replacing my morning coffee unfortunately.

16. Pea Soup
Slightly off-piste, but nevertheless a tick in the box – I had a beautiful dinner of Pea, Lovage and Rocket Soup whilst in Cornwall. Lovage is apparently the latest ‘cool’ herb. The soup was a delicious summer soup for a wet and windy August holiday.

17. Root beer float
Okay this was pretty gross.
I think it was actually worse than the butterbeer I tasted at the Warner Bros Harry Potter Tour. Sickly sweet icecream on a fizzy artificial-tasting base. Crazy it’s so close to the coke float really – a world apart in taste.

4. Bubble tea
First glance – urgh. First sip – mmm interesting, I like it. Third sip – urgh.
Sucking up a tapioca ball is pretty surprising at first – I quite liked it. Until I had to chew it.
The tea itself tastes a bit like a cold nettle tea… Could’ve ticked off two birds with one stone (or two cups with one tea bag).

6. Quails egg
Scotched – I tell you. Outside the famous Eagle on City Road.
Beautifully cooked, surrounded by a warm meaty base – with picallili dip.
Would recommend!

15. Gazpacho
I loved this. It was like a cucumber and tomato salad. But blended.
I’d definitely have it again. In fact, I did. I had Wist’s.

UPDATE
1. Jellied Eels
2. Pig Cheeks
3. Sweet Meats
4. Bubble tea
5. Dried Insects
6. Quails egg
7. Foie Gras
8. Frogs legs
9. Snails
10. Kangaroo
11. Nettle tea
12. Oysters
13. Steak Tartare
14. Dandelion Wine
15. Gazpacho
16. Pea Soup
17. Root beer float
18. Gnocchi
19. Ox Heart
20. Squirrel
21. Spotted Dick
22. Souffle
23. Kumquat

So Project 22 has finished.
And I’ve decided to start a couple of bits to have fun with between 23 and 24 years old.
Not all about numbers this year, which is nice.

23:Eat
No chef, I’ve never tried the foods/drinks on the below list.
And this year – I aim to eat and drink all of them.
(not at the same time.)

1. Jellied Eels
2. Pig Cheeks
3. Sweet Meats
4. Bubble tea
5. Dried Insects
6. Quails egg
7. Foie Gras
8. Frogs legs
9. Snails
10. Kangaroo
11. Nettle tea
12. Oysters
13. Steak Tartare
14. Dandelion Wine
15. Gazpacho
16. Pea Soup
17. Root beer float
18. Gnocchi
19. Ox Heart
20. Squirrel
21. Spotted Dick
22. Souffle
23. Kumquat

2. Ad Ramble
A little while ago, Andy H and I were talking about how we both explored London’s ad agencies before we got places on the Publicis grad scheme.
I think it would be a nice idea to organise a walking tour of a bunch of agencies for prospective and first year grads, with a stop, look and listen-to-a-talk at each one.
This year – I want to organise an Ad Ramble.

3. Take more photos
Russell Davies did a thing a little while ago where he took a photo every day for a couple of years.
It’s not possible for me to do that. Because I’ll forget. Almost every other day.
But I do want to take more photos. And all being well, at the end of the year, I’ll choose 23 photos to summarise my year.
Fingers crossed it’s not 23 photos of my desk at work.

4. Take a first-aid course
I’ve never done one.
And I’d quite like to.

I think that’s quite enough to be getting on with.
In a years time – I’ll most likely be uploading 16 blurry photos and writing about how, whilst I may not have taken that first aid course, I have learnt an awful lot from watching the E.R omnibus.

AJ. x