avoid notes.

I just treated myself to a game of "Poop or Hairball" in the kitchen. No, I'm not talking about this picture above, I'm talking about that awesome feeling of waking up groggy and disoriented, scratching a bit, stumbling to the coffeemaker, fumbling around a bit, getting the brew going, standing around waiting for it to finish, finally pouring a cup, smelling it, saying "ahhhh", then turning to leave so you can go enjoy your coffee, and immediately stepping in something cold and wet and gross on the floor. Fortunately, today's winner was Hairball.

It's not a game we have to play very often, thankfully, and it's almost always Hairball. But still, there's that moment where you're not sure. Anyway, I eventually recovered, and as a tribute to the cats, I wanted to eat something that looked like a hairball for breakfast and the resulting food was something really unexpectedly good. It started out as this:

















Which is a typically expensive Tampopo purchase. It's "Vegetarian Beef Jerky" made from dehydrated mushrooms, star anise, and chili. That's what the picture at the top of the post is as well. For some reason, the French description of what it is says that it's "chili cheese of vegetarian soy", I think, of which it is exactly one of those things.

Eating it straight from the bag is not something I can wholeheartedly recommend: it's really salty and chewy, which I guess also describes non-vegetarian jerky, but this is chewy in a "not for children under 3" kind of way.

That's right, it tastes like you're eating toys. But if you rehydrate it, it's much less freaky. I did our standard breakfast bulgur this morning (a little butter and soy sauce) and put about a cup of this stuff in there. When I came back 3o minutes later, the mushrooms had soaked up all of the liquid and the saltiness had been defused/diffused. The result was quite addictive eating that Mara wouldn't have liked at all. She's one of The Texture People.

And BTW, I'm pretty sure Poop and Hairball are two avoid notes in food writing. Learn from my mistakes.

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Speaking of things to avoid, I just found the Marine Conservation Society's updated lists of fish to avoid buying and fish that I should be buying. I haven't been doing too badly other than the salmon and marlin. And tuna. I'll try to do better. At least pangafilet is not on the list.

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