List Item: Try half of the combined 1001 food books
Like I said before, there has been a bit of a slowdown when it comes to the food lists. Things have started to become a bit less available and a bit more expensive. Since it is Christmas (okay, it is currently May) I am feeling a bit more free to get some of these foods.
However, these will not be as expensive as a £90 Bourbon Red turkey from Fortnum & Mason.
Food item: Lardo Di Colonnata
I love it when a delicatessen has an offcuts bin. I managed to find this chunk of Lardo di Colonnata in the same offcuts section that I previously found the Culatello Di Zibello. Maybe one day I will find some Coppa Piacentina – for now I have this seasoned lump of fat.
In the end, that is what lardo is. It’s a seasoned lump of fat that Italians apparently serve on bruschetta in thin slices. In the case of Lardo Di Colonnata the dominant flavours are salt and rosemary. Also fat. It is pretty obvious you are eating fat when you are handling, cutting and eating this.
Since it is just, you know, fat I was not able to eat too much of this. It was not particularly nice to eat to be honest. I thinly sliced is onto bread as stipulated in the book, but this was not worth the calories – or the incredibly greasy mouthfeel.
Food item: Mulled Wine and Star Anise
I love the smell of mulled wine, especially if is being cooked by a stall in a Christmas market. This is where my love of mulled wine stops though. In many ways I do wonder if trying the alcoholic drinks is waste of time. Since I don’t otherwise drink it is hard for me to get past the actual alcoholic taste.
But that smell. That’s Christmas right there.
Food item: Christmas Pudding and (not pictured) Roast Turkey
Hands up time. I forgot to take a picture of my mum’s delicious roast turkey. Since it is not beyond the realms of possibility that I had roast turkey as part of a Christmas dinner I thought I would still count it despite the lack of a photo. It also made for a good Boxing Day nasi goreng. It’s weird what traditions you unknowingly start, isn’t it?
Speaking of tradition, Christmas pudding! We didn’t have brandy to light it on fire, so we doused it with amaretto and hoped for the best. It wasn’t world class pyrotechnics, but the flame was a nice blue. Christmas pudding is, for me, one of those weird acquired taste things. Never liked it much as a child, would not actively seek it out as an adult and yet it wouldn’t be Christmas without it.
There will be more food in the run up to New Year, but we’ll visit that in a future post.
Progress: 812/933
Before I Kick 
