Do tell,

What's the grossest or most bizarre thing you've ever eaten?

I was just thinking about this the other day, and thought it'd be fun to find out.

I'll go first. For me, I think maybe fish gas bladder soup. Maybe? Oh, actually, no. But it's a good first example...

Now you go.

Edit: I've been thinking about this, and I think it has good potential as a contest. Hmm, but I've hyped up Contest #4 so. Weeell, whaddya think? I'm thinking that since PricklePoints™ seem to be in demand, I'll give twenty to whomever can impress me the most with their freaky foodstuff or disgusting dish. Ten points to anyone who submits a picture of your actual experience. Let's make THIS one Contest #4 and THAT one Contest #5! Okay? Okay! Go!

... and this is an election year

Here's the track from Nixon in China that has the quote in question.

I find it rather unpleasant to listen to, actually.

Obviously, the remaining PricklePoints™ are now off the table.

Soooooo, Contest #3.1 is closed. Thanks for playing! Sorry if you felt that it was too hard. I guess I was proving to myself that I could make up a contest without a Google-able answer. Congrats to the winner!

Stay tuned for Contest #4, which will be waaaaay more fun and easy to play.

I PricklePromise.

(addendum: i apologize if there is anything obscene on the file host website. believe me, i am looking for a new file host.)

Contest #3.1

Who wants PricklePoints™? Do you?

Contest #4 will be up and running soon. Be on the lookout. It should be pretty exciting. In the meantime, you can still win PricklePoints™. Firstly, there are 75 PricklePoints™ still up for grabs from Contest #3. Secondly, here's Contest #3.1 (same premise, different details):

Name the musical in which the following phrase is sung:

He's spit into the wind before, and will again.

Fifty PricklePoints™ for the name of the musical. An extra ten if you can name its real-life reference (the historical reference, not the meaning). Ninety-nine PricklePoints™ if you can sing it to me.

Good luck. If you get this one, you not only win the PricklePoints™ but you also win a little respect from me.

Addendum: My bad. It's an opera rather than a musical, making this question that much more difficult.

Hard core

Does this happen to everyone, and it's just that I in particular am bothered by it more than others?

I always get the core of the lettuce. Always have.

I pointed this out to CamoDidi when we were younger. Ever since then, each time I got the core of the lettuce in my salad (which was each time we had salad), he would point and laugh while I feigned great exasperation. We thought mom was giving it to me but it would also happen when we went out to eat.

I don't like that core part of the lettuce. It is disproportionately high in the stalky stuff, the xylemy phloemy vascular part. I don't like the stalky part, even on the outside leaves. It squikks against your teeth and it has a bad flavor, like wet anemic dirt. And salad dressing doesn't stick to it either, so there's no covering it up.

One of the first ways I started exercising my freedom as an adult was to stop eating that part of the lettuce. Because I didn't have to, and there was no one around who could make me.

Still, every time I get a salad that someone else has prepared, there it is. It usually appears about halfway through. In the corner, under a lovely leaf or cucumber slice. The core.

Who conspires against me?

Contesting my contests

Dissatisfied with how brief contest #3 was? Heck, I would be. It was won in less than an hour. Although there are still 75 PricklePoints™ up for grabs from it.

Fret not. Contest #4's a-brewin', with opportunities for multiple winners, major pointage, and maybe even some fun for the contestants.

Get your cameras ready...

Oh, and in the future, dogging the design of my contests (RAY), which are designed the way they are for a reason, gets some of your PricklePoints™ taken away, however I see fit.

Contest #3: Equipoise

One thousand PricklePoints™ to the person who points me toward THE right house to buy. Seriously.

No?

Okay. In that case, here's contest #3:

Fifty PricklePoints™ to the first person who can name a major musical in which the word "equipoise" is sung. Ten additional points if you can tell me its real-life reference in that particular song. Ninety-nine PricklePoints™ total (and maximum) if you sing it to me, at least enough of it that I can recognize it.

On your mark... Get set...

Go!

Edit: Ray wins the first 50 PricklePoints™, submitting his answer at 11:05 PM my time. But he sent his answer in to me without posting his answer in a comment. So I'll give 40 to Puffintoad, for being the first to answer in a comment. And she gets 10 for the real-life reference. BUT...

Neither Ray nor Puffintoad could sing it to me, because they both didn't know and Googled it. Which is totally okay and within the rules. Now, singing it to me would still be of high value indeed. So 75 PricklePoints™ if you sing it to me (with deduction because the tune has been named for you). Puffintoad and Ray are no longer eligible to win these 75, because I said so.

Takers?

Pricklepoints™

... whose name I feel like changing to PricklePoints™.

Last night someone said something to the effect of "What do I have to do to get some flurkin' PricklePoints™ around here?"

The answer to that question, to be obnoxiously curt, is "Do what I say to do when I say I'll give you PricklePoints™ to do it." Of course I wouldn't leave it at that but that I can't explain it any better. Oh, yes, there will be more contests for PricklePoints™. Win a contest, and the points are yours.

The bigger question is, "What are my PricklePoints™ worth?"

To be honest, part of that depends on what worth you give them. First of all, there is the glory of simply having PricklePoints™. Then there is the greater glory of having more PricklePoints™ than someone else. It may very well be, however, that you don't care about your PricklePoints™. In that case, feel free to give them to someone who might.

PricklePoints™ shall be redeemable for things. You know, like the prize case at Chuck E. Cheese's. You will have to get lots of them indeed though. You really ought to save for something big.

You've caught me on the fact that I hadn't decided on what things PricklePoints™ can get you. Hmm...

(the following list is tentative and subject to change)

100 PricklePoints™: you win a pineapple. A real, regular pineapple, not one made of diamonds or anything. Go to the grocery store and buy a pineapple. Send me an unaltered copy/image of the receipt and I'll send you a rebate for the cost. (This item redeemable only for residents of the United States.)

What, not exciting enough? Very well.

250 PricklePoints™: you win a poem about you, written by me. Either that, or a chocolate orange. Your choice.

500 PricklePoints™: you win a CamoBunny. That is, an official knitted CamoBunny mascot. Or if you already have or are getting a bunny, another knitted object of equal value.

750 PricklePoints™: you win a pineapple hat. I don't know how to make one of these yet but I think the picture is hilarious.

Gosh, these stakes are getting high.

1,000 PricklePoints™: you win a kiss from me. What sort of kiss is up to my choosing, whether it be peck, continental, blown, 'eskimo' (they really ought to come up with a better name for that one), 'of death', french, butterfly, goodbye, doggiestyle, Hershey's, or whatever I decide.

Edit: due to lack of interest, the prize at this point level has been changed to a BoRSCHT. Not the soup, but a bag-o-random-stuff-collected-from-here-and-there.

I haven't any ideas for more PricklePoints™ contests at present. If you want to submit contest ideas, you may. Just be aware that if you submit the idea, you may not eligible to win the particular contest that you submit unless the idea is fairly non-specific (just to be fair). And, that you would not feel discouraged, you may also submit ideas about items for which you'd like to redeem your PricklePoints™.

Good luck everyone.

Today's featured artist

In keeping with our tradition of bringing you the finest in food and music experiences, the Prickly Pineapple is proud to present today's featured artist: das Gemüseorchester.


I can't decide whether I like their old stuff or their newer stuff better.

In any case, enjoy!

Bizarre gastronomy

My ears perked up at the topic of this week's "To the Best of Our Knowledge": food. The first segment was an enjoyable listen, and I wanted to share it with you. You can try this link, although I don't know if it will work.

Searching the web for this program yielded the following description:

Stefan Gates is the author of and a self-described "Gastronaut"— someone who'll stop at nothing to experience a transcendent moment through food, no matter how bizarre. Gates tells Steve Paulson how to stage a backyard barbecue that takes about a week and feeds 60 and what to serve at an orgy.

I am disappointed with their synopsis. What of the aftershave-marinated meat? And the quote about "golden poo" (spoken in a British accent)? What were they thinking?

I didn't get to hear the entire show. You can tell me what you think.

Best. Coffee. Ever.

Some photos

These are posted primarily for SuoMies, who probably won't see them unless Saara tells him to look. These photos are of the two chandelier sculptures by Dale Chihuly that hang in Benaroya Symphony Hall in Seattle. The sculptures are entitled Crystal Cascade.

Anyway, straying from my usual best-for-last tendencies, I felt compelled to open with the spiral detail above. That was the best one. In general, my shots were limited by the fact that the pieces were hanging way up above me and in front of giant windows.

Now let's back up a little for some more detail shots. Click on them to see better.

I like the color on that last one but I took it in a hurry and so the composition is a bit off. All of these were taken at the same time of day and in the same lighting. It's amazing how different things look depending on your camera settings.

I didn't get good detail shots of the second chandelier, but the details look so different between the chandeliers I want to show you anyway.

And now we back up some more so that you can see the general shape of the two sculptures. I wish there had been a better vantage point from which to take these.

The first:


The second:

Here is a link to some professional photos taken of the pieces, just so you know what they truly look like. Click through, forward and back, for some cool images.

The end.

Contest #2

Contest #2 is now closed.

Don't remember the contest? Yes, it has been a long, long time. I've been waiting for someone to come up with the perfect caption for the hilarious angry baby picture.

The winner is Puffintoad. She only gets half the Pricklepoints™, though, because I kind of helped her come up with it a tiny bit (while we were talking about something, she said, "there's your caption for that one picture") and then I appended the subtitle.

The caption?

Surprised by Gas: the face of my early life

Twenty-five Pricklepoints™ to you if you can name one of the two references for this caption.

Today I am feeling ...

... delightfully prickly!

Big ol' pie

... which serves as further proof that quantity is by no means indicative of quality.

Puffintoad and I were delighted by the sheer enormity of the pie. It was large. Large and in charge. It commanded our attention and demanded that we order a slice. Each. We couldn't think clearly under its influences, so we did.

No photos could do it justice. It was like trying to take a picture of the Eiffel tower; how can you take a picture of something that big when you're up that close? I tried taking a shot with a dime balanced on the edge of the plate for size reference.

As far as flavor was concerned, it just tasted like cream that had been whipped up with some cocoa. I opted not to finish mine and brought it home. Puffintoad bravely ate the whole thing and then proceeded to feel ill and lose sleep because of it.

So was it good? Not really. But it was big.