My husband and I had an Austen fest earlier this year. Good times! :-) I think we had cheese, crackers, wine...and there might have been Doritos in there somewhere.

As for odd food, I'm mostly vegetarian, so I've tried all kinds of veggie hot dogs and burgers, which have ranged anywhere from extremely good (Morningstar Farms veggie dogs) to so incredibly bad that I can't think about them without feeling ill. I think the worst ever was a faux hamburger patty made from some dreadful, rubbery combination of potatoes, seaweed, and textured vegetable protein.

Well, I wish my houseboss would let me have a LOTR marathon. It would be ro-tel cheese dip, chips and turbo dog for 10-ll hours. Btw, the good thing about having Ole Silver, Commanche, or Bucephalus for dinner (particularly anywhere in Europe) is no threat of Mad Cow disease. Heh, heh! I believe that sort of meat is called ALPO here in the U.S.

Well, I don't think I've ever eaten anything like horse on accident, but having a Filipino SIL, I check whenever I eat something she cooked. But more often, I accidently slip and eat some seafood.

I'm a tad allergic and, while we need not call an ambulance if I've been slipped some crab, we do need to find the nearest restroom so when the vomiting starts, I'll be there.

I felt so bad for all of you in Jersey when we shared appetizers and I kept asking, "Is there seafood in it? Is there seafood in it? Are you sure that's not crab? No, I mean, ARE YOU SURE?"

Yeah. People don't get tired of that or anything.

I spent a year in S. Korea while in the Army.

Dog

is a delicacy.

I ate stir-fry with ostrich meat in Zimbabwe. Tasted like chicken.

It's not so much the odd things as the odd combinations that I crave that seem to put people off. One of my all time favorites is cottage cheese with wasabi peas on rice cakes.

I don't think any of those would go well with dog, though.

LC Eileen

Alligator. I like to eat them before they can eat me . . .

I've eaten dim sum from Toronto's China Town. Nobody in the restaurant spoke English -- only Chinese. My friend and I pointed, then ate. God only knows what we ate. I know I have no idea.

Oh -- and when I was a kid, my dad dared me to eat frog legs with him. So I did. They weren't bad... a bit chewy.

Kishka, it's a polish blood sausage. YUM!!! I know, I know, but I grew up on the stuff. The worst is Chaninna(probably misspelled), Polish duck blood soup. I could smell that stuff 3 blocks away as we were driving to my Grandmother's house, blech! And they always made us eat it. We had a Lord of the Rings marathon not too long ago. We did pizza and popcorn (alot better than Duck Blood Soup).
Berni

Oh, fine, Alesia. You'll eat alligator, but you won't eat mayonnaise? What if the alligator is touching something else? :-)

LC Eileen

Oh, no. Never, EVER mayonnaise. And the alligator can never touch any other food. Also, Eileen, people think you're such a nice person, but I do notice that you continue to openly mock me . . .

Alesia, I am with you on the anti-mayo campaign. I actually don't like any condiments but mayo would have to be at the top of the list for me.

Lynne - I'm with you on Goddess Jane and the Morningstar veggie products. I can't get them over here, alas :(

Cate - yikes! Super Mum tells me that I'm allergic to peach skins. Not the actual peach, just the skins. I haven't tested the theory in years, though.

Brian and Berni - I love all the additional footage of the making of LOTR nearly as much as the movies, themselves. And that doubles the time of the LOTR fest - yay! (And Berni, we have black pudding in the UK - also made from pig's blood. But I haven't heard of duck's blood sausage, before.)

Cynthia & Chirstina - brave you for trying the frogs legs and Ostrich! I tried them both, too, and they were okay. But I'm not in a hurry to repeat the experience.

Jo - dog? LOL, that's one I don't think I want to try any time soon.)

Alesia - fess up - did you really try alligator sans mayo? Did you lick it (sorry, Eileen, I couldn't resist that one).

So, has anyone tried snake? Or anything insect or arachnid related?

I'm pretty adventurous with trying new foods, but I just can't bring myself to even think of eating snakes or spiders. *Shudders.*

Bear. And I made the best beef (bear) stew from it that I've ever had.

The only spiders that I've tried are sea spiders. Lobster, crab, and shrimp and I like them a lot.

Yep! I've eaten rattle snake, ox tail soup, and turtle soup. The rattle snake has the same taste, texture, and consistency as some gator. Although, what I really crave these days would be some mudbugs and deep fried soft shell crab on the lakefront of Ponchatrain.

LOL, Hollygee - a correction from me - I DO eat some kind of spiders, after all! Who knew? But I've never tried bear.

Brian - I'm still not convinced about the rattle snake or gator, though.

When I was a kid we used to go winkling on the beach...that is, the collection of small sea snails called winkles (and you all thought I meant something else, I bet)! Delicious with vinegar - but you have to boil them and then get them out of their shells with a pin.

I ate horse too when living in the Netherlands. Also didn't know. I got over it, but my friend went through some trauma. I just thought of the horse that kept bucking me off during girl scout camp.
The non LC Eileen (who would never openly mock Alesia, but might later email the LC Eileen and ask about the mayonaise hang up)

Non LC Eileen,

It's really no fun to tease Alesia about mayonnaise over the internet. You don't get to see the shiver of disgust that convulses her entire body at the mere mention of the word.

LC Eileen

I'm still quite traumatized, thank you very much mother!

-Teenager #1 (who is holding out for therapy, or at least a theraputic shopping trip)

Would a cute pair of flats make you feel better T#1? Or maybe a kicky little blouse? You get your mum to go out there and get you something to make you feel better! Maybe there's a cute place in the neigh(pun intended)borhood.

LC Eileen

Nice try, Teenager #1! Ahem, may I Just remind you about the cute sneakers and socks I *ponied* up for earlier this month :-)?

Well. Let's see. Caribou and reindeer I think are the big things. They taste probably a lot like horse. Which means a lot like meat.

I don't have a refined palate.

And Alesia - all the good alligator/mayonnaise/touching/licking jokes are taken - this is what happens when you lurk in deadline all week and don't get on the commenting thing - so all I have to say is, did you at least get a pair of cool boots out of the deal?