Every now and then the Captain and I play the Desert Island Food game, and I’d like to invite you to play…
You’ve played before, right? Imagine that you have been marooned on a dessert island (now that’s being an expatriate). You might be there for a day, a week, or… forever. You are allowed to take only FOUR foods with you. What are they?
No fair saying something like ‘vegetables’ – that’s too broad; narrow it down to which vegetable. Your choices can be raw ingredients or some prepared dish (tuna casserole?) (maybe not). You’ll have unlimited water and a fire for cooking. A beverage counts as ‘food.’ Since you’re on an island it’s not inconceivable that you will be able to catch something from time to time, either in the water or on the ground (I’m hoping for a fish or a clam now and then), but you can’t assume that certain foods will always be available. It’s important to consider your health, physical, mental and emotional – you’re likely to be on that island for a long time.
Submit your desert island foods via comments, and in a month I’ll tally them all up and tell you what the most preferred foods are.
Here are mine (for today, anyway) – I bet some of you will be a lot more imaginative and creative, but here goes:
Brie cheese
oranges
spinach
wheat thins
An Ex-Expatriate 
espresso coffee
prunes
dark chocolate
2 %milk
Assuming greens and fruits to harvest on the island, birds from the sky and fish from the sea…
and I moved up from my favored skim to 2% because it will make better sauces.
My first activity will be to dig rain water trenches and devise a desalination system.
so – is no one else over 65?
This is Louis, not Louise and here is my list:
Spaghettini in tomato/butter/onion/cream/peperoncino sauce
Burritos di Carnitas
Charcoal-grilled New York Strip steaks
Rotisserie-roasted Pork Shank (Lo Stinco allo Spiedo)
But, I could go on and on . . . . And I guess I’ve been able to get 10 ingredients, at least, into my four items.
Yes, I think you’re stretching the ‘rules’ a bit, but because of your close relationship to the contest organizer you will be given amnesty. Mostly because said organizer will no doubt be on the island with you and really loves your spaghettini in tomato/butter/onion/cream/peperoncino sauce!
Hmm, I take
– orange
– instant spicy ramen
– totillas
– coffee
Vitamine C was very important for “Captain Cook.” But problem is, if no water is available, how to prepare my Ramen and coffee? Hmm
You can get your water from Pidge who will be building a desalination plant. Or you can gather the morning dew from little depressions in the rocks on the beach. (?) Can I have one of your oranges?
Sherri – I will happily share my gin spring for some chocolate, but I’m not so keen on sharing with Steve in his potential new medical training. Hey Steve – Saga bleu for ice cream?
Hilary, will you share your gin spring with me, pretty please? If you do, I’ll let you have some chocolate.
My husband’s list is deliciously childish:
1. Ice cream
2. Chocolate
3. Popcorn
4. Tortillas
This from a man who only became a de facto Mexican after marrying me some nine years ago.
My list:
1. Sausages of some sort
2. Monterey Jack cheese
3. Raspberries
4. Asparagus
Note: I am assuming that we can share since we’ll be on the same island.
We usually play “Desert Island” with a more liberal list of 10 items and so, concoct meals from our favored ingredient lists. Four is much more restrictive …….. my four choices will likely change in the coming days, and most certainly would change with the seasons, assuming there are seasons on this island.
I’m off to polish my shrimp-catching net and find a good book listing edible tropical plants. It wouldn’t hurt if Steve could take a quick course in medicine emerging as an apprentice GYN!
So far we’re all together in loving cheese… anyone else?? Rowena, you can put ‘rescue me!’ messages in those adorable Illy tins and hurl them into the sea. Hilary, if you get a gin spring, I get a champagne fountain!
Here’s my list, but it is valid only for today:
1. Roasting chickens
2. Yukon Gold potatoes
3. Saga bleu cheese
4. lemons
This assumes that I can catch a variety of seafood, harvest greens from the island, and that there is a cold gin spring as well.
Yes, I think the gin spring feeds directly into the Lake of Tonic. Nearby runs the Merlot River, which passes through Whiskey Canyon…
I think you are being very generous by allowing us four, so I am forever indebted to you. How could I ever live without cheese?
Mini San Marzano tomatoes
english cheddar
asian sticky rice
coffee (and make that Illy)