This week I’m doing exotic meats dinners: kangaroo, llama, ostrich, red deer, and yak. Just because I want to try them!

I tasted the kangaroo last night and have to say I was pretty damn impressed. It has the incredibly soft texture of fillet and a very hamburgery taste. There’s no gamey flavor. I would certainly eat it again and am beginning to wonder why it isn’t a staple food in more than just australia. Normally for Americans it’s the gamey flavor that turns all but deer hunters off to new meats, but there was none. It’s incredibly beef like, and much healthier: less than half the fat, most of which is CLA (healthy fat, kangaroos contain the highest concentration), less cholesterol, etc etc.

The cost? $18/lb. A bit high, although ont really that bad if comparing to beef tenderloin. But I wonder what beef cost if it was only produced in the same volume as kangaroo?

I went to see jon mclaughlin last night at the rave bar. It was a great show, only about 40 people there, so it was like having a private concert. Anyway, I think this guy is going to be huge. He plays piano like ben folds/billy joel/bruce hornsby but his band sounds much fuller very U2 like. Great show. Phenomenal venue — I will be bookmarking it and chacking back often!

My Alinea cookbook came in the mail last week. It’s gorgeous. I want to rip pages out, frame them, and put them on my wall.

I like that they disclose everything. Every little compenent of every recipe, every technique, every substitution, everything. No secrets. But they also mention that with the publishing of this book, they will never serve any of these dishes again. So I guess there is little value in these secrets now!

My 2009 resolution is going to be to freakin suck it up already and go eat there. Maybe it would be a good use of my tax return

It’s been a long time since my dogs have destroyed anything. I think I lost about $500 in shoes raising two puppies, but now they are much better. Until yesterday. I’m trying to let catawba our of her crate more, so that eventually she can have the run of the house like bacchus. Well, in her day of freedom while I was at work yesterday, she decided the tv remote was tasty. Sweet….