What do you have the most fun eating/drinking as a matter of process?

[tatamagouche]

I'm sure posts like this have done before...they all have.

But I was thinking about how much I love eating peanuts in the shell—cracking them between my fingers & shaking out the contents. I love peanuts in any form, but I buy them in the shell rather than shelled just for the experience. Same goes with pistachios.

Others?

[susancinsf]

When it comes to eating, I like simple pleasures best.

Soft boiled eggs in an egg cup: takes me back to childhood breakfasts at my Grandmother's.

Straus ice cream (any flavor): open carton, insert spoon, eat.

Getting lots of good ideas from this thread though... :-)

[roxlet]

Did anyone mention artichokes? I love pulling the leaves off and scraping them against my teeth.

[tatamagouche]

Good call. And getting at the heart with my fingers. Actually this thread inspired a blogpost about my fave things to eat with my hands. Another one that occurred to me, unchowish as it is—frosting roses. I mean the bad, supermarket ones. The best part of a cake, esp. eaten with fingers.

http://www.denveater.com

[roxlet]

Can't go with you on that! Those taste completely like crisco to me!

[tatamagouche]

That's what they are, generally, I think, jut shortening and sugar! Disgusting, I know, and yet...

[Peg]

I love eating with chopsticks, and I've been known to eat a can of chickpeas with a wooden toothpick (ditto cans of octopus).

[FoodFuser]

Congrats on the controlled pace involved with working your way down a can of chickpeas with a toothpick.

May I humbly suggest a 6 inch yakitori skewer, that will go all the way to the base of the can, without bruising your knuckles?

Just a gift from a fellow garbanzo guy.

[Peg]

I do put them in a bowl first! Usually.
Sometimes I add a dash of sriracha, or crushed garlic.
Ah, simple pleasures....

[FoodFuser]

Yes. Simple pleasures. It's all about how you put the schtick on the stick, whether short or long.

[CindyJ]

I love fresh hull peas... remove the "string," open the pod, and empty the contents right into my mouth.

[Passadumkeg]

Texas Barbaque. "Your fork is at the end of your hands". Brisket, ribs, sausage, white bread I haven't eaten in decades, slice raw onion, jalapenos, a side of beans or cole slaw; even a Shiner Bock tastes good.

[goodhealthgourmet]

- my morning coffee...even more so since i got my beloved Aeropress
- peanuts & pistachios in the shell
- sushi
- any beaten egg dish (scramble, omelet, frittata) - must be eaten with hot sauce & tomato, and each bite assembled *just so* before consuming
- back when i could eat them, a bagel or bialy with cream cheese, nova, sliced red onion, and sliced tomato (and maybe capers). there's an art form to layering the ingredients properly so that they don't slide off the base when you eat it open-faced (which i always did) and you get the proper amount of each ingredient in every bite.
- tail-on shrimp...i always try to slip the tail off with my knife while holding the shrimp in place with my fork without leaving *any* flesh behind in the piece of shell attached to the tail.
- frozen yogurt or gelato - each bite or lick has to be at the perfect temperature/consistency (somewhere between softened & melted) before entering my mouth.

[amyzan]

I adore the ritual of making tea in the winter time, especially. The tinkle of the spoon on the ceramic pot, the sound of the scoop in the dry leaves and the aroma when they first unfurl in the water. Oh, it gets me every time, or I hope I'm paying attention every time...

I also enjoy eating many chaat because it's acceptable to eat with your fingers and when the flavors are well balanced, it's sooo good. Different bites will be a little different depending on whether you get more chile or chutney or green mango, etc. In fact, I'm this way about many foods I can eat with either my fingers or with chopsticks. It slows things down, or is more out of the ordinary enough to make one notice all the interplay of flavors and textures.

Hot pot, bimbimbap, and Vietnamese fish stews or bouillabaisse do this for me, too. Oh, man, a good bouillabaisse, especially one I don't make myself, now that is special!

[RealMenJulienne]

Chicken wings. Buffalo, barbecue, "asian", it doesn't matter. In college I learned how to eat wings one-handed, so I could read and eat at the same time. The drumsticks are easy, but the flats required some real technique. Eventually I got to the point where I could one-handedly stick a flat in my mouth and then draw out the gleaming bare bones, cartoon style.

[Veggo]

When one can tie a knot in a cherry stem without using hands, chicken wings are pretty easy.

[bushwickgirl]

So you use your toes? Actually, I know it's with the tongue...tried it, did not excel.

[FoodFuser]

I thought I too had developed these skills during grad school, but sadly learned never to get into a one-handed-flat-wing eating contest with a Spanish Flamenco guitarist. Those rascals use those long fingernails of their right hand to quickly cut the wing muscles at their point of attachment for quicker dispatch.

I am not qualified to comment on their skills with their tongues. But dang, those nails are like razors.

[RealMenJulienne]

I'm not fast, but I am thorough, and it only takes me one try. How does one even meet a flamenco guitarist, much less challenge one to a wing eating contest?

[chef chicklet]

Yogurt. What? Yeah, I love to just dip my spoon into the yogurt, coat it and then lick the spoon..... I know. oops forgot to mention, I use a demi tasse spoon, so perfect to make it last.

The other one is my baked potato. It takes me 15 minutes to get that ready.I must bake it, now mw. I add butter a slice at a time, and with a fork slowly mix it into the ptotato. Little at a time, until I have the butter/potato ratio just right. Heat it back up in the mw. A every hot potato is required.Then add salt and pepper, taste it. More, and taste it.
Now things will speed up. A spoonful or two of sour cream, chives. more salt and pepper. Probably the most unhealthy thing I've ever eaten. I can't help it. By the time I start to eat my steak, ribs or whatever else it is, I have no room. I never eat anything more than the potato. Sometimes just because, I'll add salsa. mmmmmmm, hot potato, cold salsa. Now that doesn't bother me. I think this is one of my very favorite things to eat.

[Pata_Negra]

as of today -in my household of 2- we have eaten 13kg of exquisite asparagus, plus 2kg of the green variety (no peeling required), both come from near where i am. some people cringe when they imagine all that peeling, which to me is rather therapeutic.

asparagus season has just ended, now it's time to gorge on new herrings! :D [one can buy whole new herrings and clean at home themself. i leave the cleaning to the fishmongers...]

[tatamagouche]

Though I was referring mostly to eating, when it comes to cooking, I do love the process of deveining shrimp...

[bushwickgirl]

"I do love the process of deveining shrimp..".

Only one with the heart of a true chowhound would make a declaration like that, bravo!

[tatamagouche]

It's the nitpicky primate in me, I guess—it's satisfying for the same reasons that I like, say, pulling the lint off the dryer screen.

[linguafood]

That's funny. Deveining shrimp is one of my least favorite cooking activities. Blah.

[Veggo]

I kinda like it, too. It means I have shrimp. Music and wine make the deveining a sort of foreplay.

[FoodFuser]

I don't devein shrimp, as I prefer to commune with the ingested micro-plankton in that simple digestive tube.

A real favorite is breaking down a 5 pound pack of "pork steaks", the sliced sections of a shoulder/butt.

Put on some music, sharpen up the boning knife, and extract the leaner muscles for stir fry or medallion uses. Smaller muscle pieces and connective tissue and fat go to the grinder. And the bones... those lovely bones (with remnant meat and fat) that vary through the vertical cross section of the shoulder... they are a family favorite. Sprinkle with granulated garlic, S n P, and stick under the broiler. No need to holler "Bones!" when they are ready, as the kids are already waiting, to gnaw, extract, and enjoy.

[lrostron]

Either an ice cream cone or a sundae, packing the ice cream just so, with all the mix in ingredients where they should be, within a spoon's reach. I learned how to make shaved ice and use the same packing method for my ice cream cone so everything is right there, and then jut dive in, savoring every bite. Now if it were just a bit warmer here to warrant an ice cream cone!

[Peg]

Eating peas out of the pods.
Eating a huge plateau de fruits de mer with fresh mayo.
Anything that involves dipping dry food into a dip.
Drinking cocktails.
Eating creamy mashed potatoes mixed with petit pois topped with lightly fried egg yolks and eating the liquid yolks almost whole so they ooze and dribble.

[Tripeler]

Oh, yeah! Sounds good to me, minus the mayo.
I have raw eggs for breakfast, over hot rice.

Still, what a great Chowing Portrait.
Thank you, Peg.

[tatamagouche]

Re the mashed potatoes: is that your own creation or a standard I should know about? Sounds fantastic.

[Peg]

The mash is entirely my own gluttonous creation I'm afraid.

[Passadumkeg]

Playing at building tacos; so many combinations of flavors & textures.
Gimme a taco al pastor con cibolla ye cilantro y pico di gallo, por favor.

[Glencora]

cheese fondue
My parents won't make it anymore, for health reasons, but I used to love it. Very sociable and delicious,

[FoodFuser]

There is a beauty in taking in some spareribs and the combinations of connective tissues therein.

Full cut spareribs, over the St Louis cut or the baby backs, because of the peritoneum and the soft cartilage . The peritoneum is that peelable layer of dry superthin tissue that lines the interor cavity side of the ribs, and the cartilage is the knuckbone like series of white stuff at the top, where bone grades to cartilage.

Grabbing the peritoneum by your front incisors and slowly ripping it upward is a joy. Extra pleasure is found when in the company of likeminded folks who compete on how many centimeters they can pull upwards with their teeth without tearing. Contests on the cartilage are simply "who left the cleanest gristle?"

[mariacarmen]

i am a peritoneum destroyer!
sushi - dipped into soy and eaten with fingers, not chopsticks
cheese fondue
bagna cauda!!

[Glam Foodie]

I have to hop on the sushi bandwagon as well - I just love it. I feel rather elegant and highly coordinated when I can successfully and delicately manage a piece of spicy tuna into my mouth with chopsticks.

Conversely, eating messy food with my fingers is so much fun. I always start out cutting up my barbecued ribs very daintily... and then I say, "You know what? Screw it, everyone else getting wild, let's do this thing," and I pick up the ribs and dive right in. And fried spicy chicken legs taste so much better without utensils.

Also, ice cream cones rock. The OCD girl in me likes the idea of catching all the licks and whirling it around my tongue so it stays ~even~ on every area. And then the satisfying crunch once you get to the (waffle!) cone is like a reward for not smearing mint chocolate chip all over your white summer dress. :)

[FrankD]

An ice-cold can of cola - ok, Coke! not that other stuff. - and I mean ice cold. A washtub full of ice with some rock salt thrown in during summer, or pulled out of a snowbank in winter. Right after some hot, sweaty exercise (shoveling the driveway or backyard badminton in 90 degree heat). Pulling back the tab, tilting the head back, and draining half the can in one go. Feeling that burn down my throat while the thirst just disappears. I don't know anyone else who likes that as much as I do.

Bushwickgirl, I'm totally with you on the tomato sandwich, the corn, and the ribs.

[soypower]

Just had a cup of matcha this morning after breakfast. I love using the tiny whisk to stir in the hot (not boiling) water and getting it all frothy. I've noticed I've been feeling much more 'zen' even before I start drinking it. The preparation has a very calming effect.

[melpy]

Anything with chopsticks! Sometimes to eat more slowly at home I'll use them with a non-Asian meal. I even ask for them at the Thai restaurants, even though they normally eat with forks I know they keep them there for rubes so I ask.

Although the other night at the hibachi restaurant there was so much food my hands cramped up from using the chopsticks.

[FoodFuser]

I totally agree that for selected foods chopsticks can add to the sensual experience. That's why I keep a jar of the wooden square disposables near the table, so that if the urge strikes, they are quickly available. They slow down the eating process and can increase the appreciation across a wide range of foods.

Any linear sauced noodle is a candidate, even (and especially) leftover spaghetti.

Also a must-have when approaching that freshly opened can of Chef Boyardee ravioli. With chopsticks, you can easily lift each flaccid square and insert the appropriate amount of added sauce, pecorino, and spices. I would never eat that stuff with a fork.

With 6-7 billion chompers on the planet, disposable chopsticks are presenting a global deforestation problem. Quite simply, they are washable, boil-able and re-usable.

[melpy]

I never throw them away. I should travel with my own plastic pair for restaurants! Our favorite noodle house uses the plastic reusable.

[Passadumkeg]

I have a little bamboo box w/ a sliding lid, for holding chopsticks in the glove bos of my car. It holds a pair of black enamel, mother of pearl inlay chopstick. I was a boy scout: Be Prepared!

[FoodFuser]

Cool box. Do you have a slim interior notched trough down the inside, to carry a P-38 canopener, in case the urge arises to dip those lacquered lovelies into some cold beefaroni?

My glovebox transport bag is my more plebian: A ziplock with several pairs of the square wooden sticks. I just like their grip better. (I've never used vise-grip pliers with lacquered and rounded faces, instead a flat plane with scuffed or notched texture, like rough wood hashi. Try the rice or sweet potato noodle test to see which one more easily picks up the last of those scrumptious squigglies.

[Passadumkeg]

My P-38 is in a box on top of my dresser w/ my dog tags. Out of site, out of mind.
Now that was a process that was sometimes fun, but never enjoyable; eating c-rations in the field. Choose one of many bad choices, or mix and match, make a stove out of empty C-rat cans, open the damn things w/ the P-38, find a fuel source, Trox., C-4, gasoline syphoned from a chopper, (If using C-4 exposive, remembering not to stomp out the fire w/ one's foot.) or eating it cold just to keep the bod goin', and eating the crap and imagining it was something else or what that food really tasted like in the real world, The Big PX in the Sky. All this effort for a can of spaghetti w/ greasy meat sauce.
I think this experience made me the Hound I am today. I swore that if I ever got out of 'Nam, I'd never eat shit again.
Carpe every single frickin diem and the chow that comes with it folks.

[FoodFuser]

P-38 query was admittedly more applicable to earlier days... now the Chef Boyardee offers his product in a zip-top can.

I take many journeys into the hinterlands of western Oklahoma, where grocery stores are few. I am comfortable with a few cans of Da Chef rolling around, as backup where the field work does not allow hot food.

[Passadumkeg]

I carry cans of sardines both in the cah and in my kayak dry bag and in my desk drawer at school.
I love the process of shocking tourist when we take a paddle lunch break, I open my dry bag, take out the can of sardines, rip off the top, stick my fingers in the can and proceed to eat, then tip up the can to my lips, drain the left overs into my maw, turn, go the ocean, rinse the can and nonchalantly toss the empty can into the cockpit of my kayak.
What fun.
Keg the Barbarian

[Veggo]

You sound half human and half otter. In my kayaking days I got so tired of tourists asking to see a roll maneuver that my standard reply was "I only roll for beer". I carried a soft side 6-pack cooler behind the seat and would often fill it up with mixed brands for doing rolls. Payback for my kayak lessons from the AMC on Walden Pond!

[bushwickgirl]

Eating a thickly sliced and salted summer tomato sandwich with extra Hellman's on crappy white bread, while standing over the sink to catch the dribbles running down my arms. It's a summer ritual for me.
Corn on the cob, rolled in the butter stick, salted and peppered, gnawed in circles.
Cracking and eating hickory nuts or walnuts, one by one, while alternately sipping a beer, watching TV and talking to my cats. It's about balance.
BBQ pork ribs, the only bones I'll chew on; hopefully heavily sauced, so I can suck on my fingers after.
Peeling and slicing an apple and eating the slices from the knife blade.

[nooyawka]

Not so much a love of doing so, but rather, more OCD'ish.....in Cantonese dim sum, there are these black sesame dessert gelatinous rice crepe rolls. They're served rolled up like a miniature rug. And usually cut into little inch-wide pieces for ease of consumption. I absolutely must, must pick up a piece by its outermost layer (1 end), then proceed to suck it into my mouth and let the rest of the roll unravel, thereby eating it like a string of spaghetti.

When it comes to Chinese take-out style eggrolls, I bite off the eggroll wrapper at one end, take a fork and scoop out all of its contents, eating that first, and finally scooping the end of the eggroll carefully to ensure that I've eaten all of its contents, before proceeding to eat the rest of the shell of the eggroll, by carefully dipping each biteful into a dollop of duck sauce. Who's strange, me???

[goodhealthgourmet]

back when i *could* have them, i used to eat those NY Chinese egg rolls the exact. same. way.

kindred spirits :)

[FoodFuser]

Oh Wow. This may become a very big thread. I reserve the right to post multiple times as my senses assault me.

For now:

First, the egg. The perfect 6 minute egg, peeled while still warm, so that it's almost too hot to hold. The smaller tip is rolled in a thin matrix of mayo and coarse pepper. The teeth are inserted to hit just above the yolk... albumen only. Bite 2 requires another minimal schmear of the mayo-pepper into the cavity just created by your teeth. Then place mouth over egg, and drill and caress your tongue in the middle of cavity to find where the yolk begins. Now suck gently, to let the unset portion of yolk come forth under pressure. Then move down the oval and bite. Remove face, and review the remnants of your work. There should be about half the egg left, with a reservoir lake of yolk grading from orange soft center to yellower hard-set shoreline. nestled between two jagged peaks. Mayo pepper now applied to the upper slopes of both peaks with finger or with butter knife if more prurient. Bites 3 and 4 attack the two peaks, with attention to the dripping semihard yolk. Bite 5 is the finale, where you finish the deed.

[Passadumkeg]

Good 'un. The whack. Holding the butter knife laterally and hitting the egg just right, not too high, not too low and with just the right force to lope off the top. My wife cheats and uses egg scissors.

[MinkeyMonkey]

Eating a grapefruit. I love to peel carefully, trying not to bruise the fruit and then I spend ages picking all the pith off. I split it half by hand--no knives allowed, again trying not to bruise it or let any juice escape and then spend another age carefully removing all the membrane, one slice at a time. I love when I take a bite and get that rose-scented yumminess.

Eating pancakes. I like to carefully and thoroughly apply gobs and gobs of butter. This might be the only time I actually use butter when I'm not baking! When the butter is all used up, I align the cakes neatly, cut into bite sized squares and eat. When I'm nearly full, I put lots of syrup on and finish what I can. I don't really like syrup except for at the very end.

Bread! Nothing like spending lots of time relaxing with dear friend "good bread" or "rustic baguette". I take my time cutting about half the bread and then, bit by bit, I add something like triple cream brie or Pierre Robert. For the next bite it will be the brie with good dijon mustard. Another bite will have brie and Tapatio or Cholula hot sauce, whichever I have handy. I like to mix it up by doing a crossword or reading a book. A few segments of tangerine here and there are a nice mix-up too. Ohh, now I want a cup of tea and some cheese and bread.

[tatamagouche]

I do the same with pomelos in place of grapefruits...

[shaogo]

I love the texture of Angel Hair pasta or Mei Feng noodles, with a lovely sauce. I also love to de-construct a lasagna slice and eat it piece by piece.

Sadly, my diet of the last 15 months forbids me to eat any pasta -- I can have any other carbs I want, just *not* the pasta I've been hopelessly addicted to for years. Lost over 100 lbs so far this way.

These days, I'm into creative sandwich-making (sometimes using cucumber or daikon radish slices in place of bread) when I want to put something together with my hands. I've also been making some nice salads from the season's bounty.

If one describes fun as pure pleasure, there's something about having anisette and strong coffee after a meal that I just adore. Add a good-quality sfogliatelle pastry, and I'm in heaven!

[Passadumkeg]

This one's for Sam. The proper way to eat a saltena. Hold the seamed tip up. Bite off the end, sip a little scalding liquid, nibble a little crust, chew a little of the filling. Repeat. Spoons are for Gringos.

[mariacarmen]

and if you spill first, you buy the beers.

[Passadumkeg]

Salud!

[Passadumkeg]

A Bolivian/Brazilian charrasco. Soooo many different meats and sooo little room. Udderly delicious.

[torty]

Any food that is "assemble your own"- from Korean BBQ, to the various Vietnamese and other SE Asian dishes that involve wrapping grilled meats in greens with add-ins.

[Midlife]

Shabu Shabu !!!!!

I make it at home a few times a year. It takes quite a bit of prep work, but it's fun, and I include all kinds of things I've been served in this dish here and in Japan. Plus a few fun things, like quail eggs. We have a table-top gas burner and a 'real' Sabu Shabu pot I brought home from Japan years ago.

It seems like the bottled sauces are the most expensive part of this great experience though. I've tried making my own, but just haven't found the right recipes I guess. I recall being served a version where one of the sauces was raw egg, and I enjoy that too, but my family is too texture-sensitive to join me.

My version makes it almost impossible to have this dish at a restaurant.

[BeeZee]

Pomegranate...love sitting with a big bowl, towel tucked in my shirt to protect against the juice stains, popping each seed out.
Shelling and eating fresh green peas...I used to help my Grandmother prepare them for Sunday dinner when I was a little kid and loved eating those fresh green peas right out of the pod...kind of press the pod so it splits on the seam, put my thumb in to open it the rest of the way and scrape out the peas. Yum, those fresh baby peas were so sweet!

[sparkareno]

Wonderful NY pizza--I love to fold the slice in half and have the grease drip down my arms. Also a honeybaked ham---I've lost count of how many parties ended with me & friends standing around the ham on the buffet table picking slices off the bone. And artichokes.

[ipsedixit]

BBQ ribs (gnawing on the ribs is probably 90% of the fun of eating ribs; if it wasn't for gnawing on the bone, I could care less about BBQ)

Fish heads (love sucking and cleaning out the carcass)

Shucking oysters

Endamame in the pod

Chewing on sugarcane stalks

[tatamagouche]

Yes, agreed, and that goes for Thanksgiving turkey too—half the fun is tearing at the meat still left on the bones.

[Passadumkeg]

Annnd, creating a turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green chile and mayo sandwich!

[jhopp217]

It's so funny, it's the exact reason I'm not crazy about ribs.

[jhopp217]

The first thing that came to mind was digging into a cold seafood platter and digging clams out of the shell or maybe even a bowl of hot steamers and dipping them in clarified butter. But my fave is a simple pleasure. A nice pile of corned beef hash. An over-easy egg atop. Cutting into the egg and letting the yolk mix with the hash creating a binding sauce. Heaven in every mouthful.

[luckyfatima]

Korean BBQ, eating lau (Vietnamese hotpot), eating goi cuon or banh hoi with beef bay mon 'roll your own', eating pho as Southern Italian described above, having a thali, having dim sum...

[soypower]

I also love all things that are wrap/roll yourself...Korean BBQ, banh xeo, goi cuon, etc. really do it for me.

Also enjoy getting dolsot bibimbap perfectly mixed (I'm slightly OCD, so this takes a -long- time for me). Then enjoying a bite of bibimbap and then a slurp of hot broth. Also like it when some korean joints bring plain rice in the stone pots and then pour hot tea over to enjoy the crispy rice left in the pot.

Lao sticky rice - I've been eating this for years w/ close friends but still am trying to get the hang of squishing the rice into a little scoop to pick up the other saucy sides. Same with indian food. Still trying to figure out how to use my naan to eat the assorted curries and other dishes.

Oh and I still love eating spaghetti by rolling it around the fork by using the spoon. Also getting jajangmyun evenly mixed makes me happy.

[JungMann]

Oh yes, the perfect bowl of dolsot bibimbap! How frustrating when you can't get it as crisp as you want and yet how divine when it's all perfect! Spaghetti on the other hand all too often ends up on my shirts or cuffs for me to give it the joy it deserves.

[tatamagouche]

Of course, this brings up dining Ethopian style. If I could scoop up everything with injera, I probably would.

[EWSflash]

Dim sum- very much so.

[JungMann]

Korean BBQ. I love seeing the table crowded with so many different tastes and textures and the option of having my dinner the way I want it.

[Passadumkeg]

good 'un; lettuce leaf, pork in leaf,garlic and chile slice in leaf, roll and eat!!! Don't forget the shoot of so ju!

[Pata_Negra]

which reminds me... how could i forget hotpot?! an absolute favourite any time of year. i've also done dumpling only hotpot which is equally fun.

[amyzan]

Me too! Especially when it's that style where you dip the freshly grilled meat and then make a little wrap with salad or rice paper, et al. It tastes a little different each time.

[linguafood]

Super-fresh corn on the cob, slathered in butter, and covered in salt.

Fried half chicken at Henne in Berlin. Goal is to leave all but a clean carcass (and I even eat the wing bone cuz it's fried to a crisp).

Any pasta dish with long pasta shapes. Twirling and slurping up the noodles.... lovely.

Nigiri at Yasuda. Popping them in my mouth -- I could do that for days.

[tatamagouche]

No matter how much sushi I eat, I'm always sad when it's gone. I've been known to pack away 30 pieces in a sitting, which probably horrifies most real connoisseurs.

In fact, you reminded me of another one—which will also gross connoisseurs out and probably everyone else—I have a great deal of fun drinking the little container of soy sauce mixed with wasabi afterward. It's a little masochistic ritual of mine.

[linguafood]

I also just remembered another one: slurping fresh oysters on the half shell. I could do that for days as well.

Count me out on the soy sauce wasabi slush.... much as I like it with my nigiri (not at Yasuda, of course, lest you wish to incur the chef's rage), no need to drink the leftovers.

Curiously enough, I used to drink the salad dressing/vinaigrette after the salad was gone, straight outta the bowl. It's a family habit. Now I don't anymore b/c of the extra calories. >sigh<

[onceadaylily]

I was wondering when someone was going to say oysters!

Oysters, ribs, sushi, lightly boiled edamame still in the pods, and my favorite chinese noodle dish (I love deciding which bits of meat and veggies to scoop up next). I actually hated using chopsticks until I started getting noodle dishes, instead of rice.

[tatamagouche]

Edamame—good one.

[onceadaylily]

During a movie, I prefer it to popcorn. It satisfies my restless self.

[lexpatti]

yes, yes, sushi is another one for me. hubby and I split everything, so I like to play follow the leader, what he picks up, I pick up, etc. Although I'm very finicky about what shall be my last bite so towards the end, I start strategizing and go off course. love a great jap beer.

[jeanmarieok]

Omelet assembly - potatoes, onions, spinach, cheese, topped with salsa, with whole grain toast and jam. Specific order to eat, bite of omelet (savory) bite of toast (sweet) - repeat. Have to make the toast last thru the omelet.

[southernitalian]

Pho comes to mind. I usually have a few spoonfulls of soup and then add some cilantro, jalapeno slices and squeezes of lime. Then I sip more soup. Then I put some chili garlic sauce in a little dish and use my chopsticks to take out a few slices of flank steak or meatballs or whatever I've ordered and dip them in the sauce. Then more soup. This goes on until the bowl has cooled enough so I can take a big bite of noodles. I usually have small spots of soup and chili garlic sauce all over whatever I'm wearing by the time I'm done.

[anonymouse1935]

Savoring really good grits, since I can't make them at home.

Working at a 48 oz. container of ice cream until it's all gone in two sittings, knowing I'm not really eating 48 oz. It's never good ice cream, but in a pinch cheap ice cream suffices.

Of course, making my own ice cream and then trying not to eat 1-1/2 quarts in one sitting.

Putting jelly in the peanut butter, JIF of course, and then eating the peanut butter so the next person doesn't know I had jelly in it.

A perfect martini or manhattan. Trying to find another place that makes the same perfect sidecar I had at one restaurant in Yonkers, NY.

Alcohol and dessert. It don't get any better.

[luckyfatima]

Yum. Ditto for me and this process.

[roro1831]

Crawfish, from setting up the equipment to boil them, buying all the supplies, the process of the boil itself, having beers while waiting, putting the newspaper on the tables, dumping the crawfish out.
Detaching the tail from the body, sucking the head, sticking your thumb into the cavity to get the fat and other good stuff and then pealing the tail and eating the meat, repeat all day. Break up the monotony with a potato or mushroom or piece of corn, maybe some asparagus depending on what I decided to boil with the crawfish.

[NellyNel]

I've never had a crawfish!

[roro1831]

Nelly, I promise next year when I have a boil you will be invited.

Had any good fried chicken lately?

[NellyNel]

OOOOhhhh - sounds good!
Where do you get the crawfish from in our area?

Nah - I never made it to any of the chiken dinner places in nyc....
One of these days!!!

[roro1831]

I will have two or three sacks (about 90-100 pounds) shipped up from home, it's cheaper that way.

[Passadumkeg]

NellyNel, I've caught crayfish in New Mexico, Finland, Maine and New Jersey! I used to catch them on the west fork of the Raritan River in Ken Lockwood Gorge at High Bridge as a child. Very easy to do.

[NellyNel]

Jersey??!!
Wow - I've not heard of that!!

I'm, funny tho - I have a thing about catching things to eat - Just can't do it...not even fish!

I went crabbing once and caught a HUGE guy - was so excited for my dinner, but after five minutes I made friends with him and had to let him go!..Oh well ..
I leave that part up to someone else!

Roro-
100 POUNDS??

Holy smokes!
You better invite me!!! lol!

[roro1831]

Yep, whenever I boil it's a minimum 1 sack, otherwise it's not the worth the effort. 100 qt pot comes in handy for things like that.

[lexpatti]

OMG, I'm with you - Crawfish is the best process ever and I just never want to stop, soooo good!!

Oysters too, love that process of raw oysters.

and smoked salmon on crackers with crm cheese, red onion, capers, lemon and dill.

[Passadumkeg]

Is shucking the oysters part of your process too. I swear, the bivalve that I struggle to open tastes better than the ones served to me on a plate of ice.
The fruits of labor.

[Tripeler]

Sort of like...
He who cuts his own wood
Warms himself twice.

I have struggled with oysters myself, at times....
It makes me appreciate eating them unadorned, with just the sea water they are packed in.

[lexpatti]

I am learning to shuck although it's going slow but yes, shucking is part of that wonderful process if not me shucking, I do enjoying watching my oysters being shucked too.

[Claudette]

I love playing with food! Peanuts in shell, crab in shell, artichokes, pomegranates...doesn't hurt to use up a few calories up while downing them.

[Sal Vanilla]

Risotto,filled dumplings, tamales, martinis, my fried sin sandwiches.

[tatamagouche]

Not sure I get the details on this one regarding the process/tactile aspect of eating these...do elaborate! (*Cooking* risotto I get...)

[Sal Vanilla]

You are right - I misread it. Please do not call the police on me.

[tatamagouche]

Ha, no, I just thought you meant you had some elaborate eating ritual involving tamales and risotto...and especially re your sin sandwiches. No?

[Pata_Negra]

sunflower seeds. i crack them fast and with precision!

crabs. every part until all flesh is extracted and i really take my time. it's rather nice when i'm home alone.

chocolate. never chew or touch it with my teeth as i only eat 99% or 100% dark chocolate. it simply melts on my tongue slowly, to be washed down with many a strong espresso.

not sure if this one qualifies... beer. always smell it, sip it, take my time marvelling at it. i love my regular pubs :)

[mpjmph]

oooh.... I eat crabs at home alone all the time. I sit on the couch with a beach towel on my lap and a platter for my "work surface". I keep a bowl at my feet for the shells - drives the cat crazy!

[Veggo]

A frosty chilada and a crispy delgado chicharron "hat", and I'm a happy campista.

[Passadumkeg]

Lobster. Claws first, then tail, body and finally suck the meat out of the legs.
Assembling stacked enchiladas. Fry tortilla, dip in chile, ladle chile, cover w/ a handful of cheese, then onion. Repeat and the grand finale, the coup de grace, the fried egg sizzling in the too hot grease. Yum.

[Sal Vanilla]

MMMM... A fried egg on top. That made my mouth water.

I like to roll the meat out of lobster legs with a rolling pin.

[melpy]

I eat my lobster the opposite way! Legs, body, claws then tail. Maryland crabs is a similar experience. I enjoy it all except the "mustard". When I younger I didn't like the taste of crab but would still help people pick them.

[smartie]

ok don't think I'm weird but I love a smoothie with a straw then I put my finger on top of the straw allowing some smoothie to be forced into the straw then I keep my finger on top and drizzle the smoothie into my mouth. Capillary action at it's best!

[NellyNel]

I used to LOVE the process of eating a pomegranate, but as I grew older I grew tired of the whole thing!

Now, I really love the ritual of sushi..

[small h]

Artichokes. Edamame. And chirashi - I like pretending I have my own buffet.