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October 27, 2006

Friday Squid Blogging: Greenland Squid Balls

A snack:

These snacks had a cheese puff-like consistency and were a bit larger than your typical cheese balls. They had a somewhat fishy but sweet taste upon first biting in, and then the fishiness got stronger and worse with subsequent bites, with a hot taste also kicking in and then lingering for the aftertaste. Everyone who tried these just hated them. Nobody was able to eat more than one squid ball. The hot flavor on its own might have possibly been good, but we'll never know, because the squid taste was bad, and the combination of flavors just didn't work and tasted awful.

Posted on October 27, 2006 at 4:31 PM23 Comments

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Comments

I did not know that squid had a taste. Let alone balls.

Posted by: merkel cell at October 27, 2006 4:58 PM


Now with 11% Cuttlefish!

Posted by: BLP at October 27, 2006 5:18 PM


Recycle them as pet treats?

Or if they're the right diameter, shoot them at assailants using a paint-ball gun.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 27, 2006 5:37 PM


The snack review says that these snacks are cuttlefish balls - not squid balls. I had no idea what a cuttlefish was so this helped: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlefish. According to Wiki, squid and cuttlefish are both Decapodiformes ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapodiformes ). Never mind the taste; just imagine trying explain the relationship between squid and these snacks to a friend! Crisps are much simpler :)

Posted by: Decapodiformes at October 27, 2006 6:10 PM


Addendum:
In the UK, what we call "crisps" are normally called "potato chips" in the USA.

Posted by: Decapodiformes at October 27, 2006 6:19 PM


Kind of almost related - a popular warm streetside snack here in Osaka is Takoyaki, fried dough balls with a piece of octopus in the middle (think undercooked ball of pankake with a piece of cephalopod). And yes, it is very, very good:

http://www.lucs.lu.se/people/jan.moren/log/...

Posted by: Janne at October 27, 2006 9:26 PM


One of the oddities of Japan was the food vendor situation at public events.
Any given event seemed to have dozens of food stalls each selling the same thing. I don't understand why all stalls sold the same item with no variety.
There were 3 main foods and you better like the one available. Sausage on a stick, roasted corn cob, or octopus balls.
The octopus balls come 4 or 6 to a pack, and look like balls of deep fried corndog batter although actually baked in ball moulds.
Inside the crusty batter is a slimy centre of cooked octopus stuff.
The different vendors would be slightly different taste but I could only tell a difference in the horribleness.
I can't imagine a squid ball would be any better.
By the way, corn is always corn but the sausages varied from pretty edible to biohazard.

Posted by: Canuck at October 27, 2006 9:38 PM


"corn is always corn"

If only that were the case:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ff=/c/...

"Under federal regulations, genetically engineered whole foods and ingredients do not have to be labeled. Certified organic foods are the exceptions."

Ironic then, that the Genetically Engineered plants tend to spread and take over other crops, becoming even harder to identify....

"DNA from GE plants has proven to spread over longer distances than previously expected, and to rapidly contaminate non-GE crops. Wind and pollinators disperse pollen far beyond a field's borders. Animals, birds, and people transport seed across the county and around the world. 'Volunteer' GE plants that unexpectedly sprout one or more years after they were planted contaminate subsequent crops.

[...]

The free-floating DNA of GE canola was conducting its own engineering out in the Canadian fields."

When you eat corn, can you really be sure you aren't eating untested and extreme mutations (like the ProdiGene pig diarrhea vaccine)?

http://ngin.tripod.com/151102a.htm

"U.S. food companies urged the government on Thursday [Nov 14, 2002] to temporarily ban the use of corn, soybeans and other food crops to produce pharmaceuticals after a Texas company accidentally mixed its gene-altered corn with other crops."

Posted by: Davi Ottenheimer at October 28, 2006 12:33 AM


"Let alone balls"

Classic. Reminds me of Marilyn Monroe's question after she was served matzo ball soup for several days: "Isn't there any other part of the matzo you can eat?"

Posted by: Davi Ottenheimer at October 28, 2006 1:00 AM


excuse me bruce but what is your sick obbsesion with squid have you any mental problem man , remenber this site is one encryption and security forum ,please dont make the ridicolus with this sort of thing stop now.

Posted by: jose at October 28, 2006 8:09 PM


Well, as in the world of security, one must be aware what one is being served. And in this case, as is sometimes the case in security, we were told we were getting squid, only to later find out we were got scuttlefish. So, there's a lesson there.

Posted by: Marie Carnes at October 29, 2006 1:36 AM


Totally off-topic:
Airport screeners fail to see most test bombs

By Ron Marsico

Newhouse News Service

NEWARK, N.J. — Screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the starting points for the Sept. 11 hijackers, failed 20 of 22 security tests conducted by undercover U.S. agents last week, missing concealed bombs and guns at checkpoints throughout the major air hub's three terminals, according to federal security officials.
(...)

One of the security officials familiar with last week's tests said Newark screeners missed fake explosive devices hidden under bottles of water in carry-on luggage, taped beneath an agent's clothing and concealed under a leg bandage another tester wore.

The official said screeners also failed to use handheld metal-detector wands when required, missed an explosive device during a pat-down and failed to properly hand-check suspicious carry-on bags. Supervisors also were cited for failing to properly monitor checkpoint screeners, the official said. "We just totally missed everything," the official said.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/...

Posted by: brainfart at October 29, 2006 2:42 AM


@jose

LOL.
Not sure if that was sarcasm or not.

@Bruce

What's going on here. How dare you post whatever you want on your own blog!

Posted by: Anon at October 29, 2006 6:24 AM


"What's going on here. How dare you post whatever you want on your own blog!"

Right. I should post what BT wants, now.

Posted by: Bruce Schneier at October 29, 2006 1:02 PM


Has the site been hijacked?

Posted by: DoS at October 30, 2006 6:08 AM


@jose

>this site is one encryption and security forum

Actually, Bruce can post anything he wants as this is his site. You'll be pleased to know though that this message is about encyption, it's just encrypted with a one time pad.

Hope that helps.

Hint:
FRIDAYSQUIDBLOGGINGGREEN...
UTCDZJSXZIJCKMMHMQKEWMYE...

Posted by: Legato at October 30, 2006 9:01 AM


Sorry but I dont lose my time with losers and verify your pad it looks very weak

FRIDAYSQUIDBLOGGINGGREEN... hell


@jose

>this site is one encryption and security forum

Actually, Bruce can post anything he wants as this is his site. You'll be pleased to know though that this message is about encyption, it's just encrypted with a one time pad.

Hope that helps.

Hint:
FRIDAYSQUIDBLOGGINGGREEN...
UTCDZJSXZIJCKMMHMQKEWMYE

Posted by: Anonymous at October 30, 2006 9:57 AM


"Right. I should post what BT wants, now."

I wonder if BT is heavily invested in the squid business...

Posted by: Rich at October 30, 2006 10:57 AM


If you like the squid balls, perhaps you'll enjoy these too:
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2006/10/...

Posted by: scherbi at October 30, 2006 11:27 AM


Watch your back, Bruce. PETA will not take kindly to your promulgation of products based upon the practice of invertibrate castration.

That *is* a secuirty lesson......

Posted by: alabamatoy at October 30, 2006 12:20 PM


Do you want to go back to where you were when I found you? Unemployed... In Greenland... Eating squid balls?

Squid. It isn't just for breakfast any more... try crispy deep-fried squid balls with any meal. They're tenTACular!

Posted by: antibozo at October 30, 2006 10:32 PM


hi mi name is lungan and i am from australia but i am malasian i am in grade 10 and am doing an assingment on greenland and was wondering if you could help. if possible i was wondering if you could send me some good websites on greenlands recipes and if you cant maybe some good websites.
kind regards,
Lungan Doo

Posted by: lungan at March 21, 2007 12:35 AM


Cuttlefish -- is that gonna be the name of your next cipher? :)

Posted by: Benny at July 31, 2009 11:13 AM


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