(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

Awkward Coworker: I have a question for you.
Sam: Shoot.
Awkward Coworker: What...is...

Now, most of the actual business-of-work that he and I talk about centers around either the database we use or Things I Know About The Building That He Doesn't. So I was in no way expecting:

Awkward Coworker: ...the deal with quinoa?

Bless his heart. That's the first time I've laughed in days.

(For the record, he discovered you can't use quinoa in place of couscous, and I informed him that quinoa is not actually edible, it's a trick.)

Comments

[momebie.livejournal.com]

You CAN'T use quinoa in place of couscous? I have misunderstood it this whole time.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

You have, because quinoa is not food!

[sherylyn]

And to think, a friend of mine was singing quinoa's praises when she was visiting a couple years ago. Then again, she lives on a Native American reservation, and gleefully tells about one of her friends tricking her husband into eating buffalo kidney. Raw. As in, just killed a few minutes before. Bleurgh. @.@

[moralimperative.livejournal.com]

(Okay totally know this is the wrong part to focus on, but OMG fresh buffalo meat!)

Also, still better than Rocky Mountain oysters!

[maeritrae.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* I have eaten quinoa? I think? I mean, it wasn't very nice, but I was tired enough that I would take "ultra-nutritious, and also, I have already cooked it" over tasty by then.

But I am glad he made you laugh. I don't like the idea of you not laughing for days. :( *hugs*

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It wasn't nice because it's not really a food. It's a trick! :D

[keestone.livejournal.com]

Of course not. You use it in place of rice.

And having just had some absolutely delicious stuffed peppers in which I did just that, I know whereof I speak. (Last time I made stuffed peppers, Beloved complained about the rice texture. This time he said (I quote verbatim), "yummy!") :p

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

No! It's not a food!:

[foxxydancr.livejournal.com]

I dunno. If you cook quinoa with bacon and feta, it becomes pretty damn edible....

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, but you have to pick the quinoa out first.

[kitaloon.livejournal.com]

Oh man, quinoa and kale pilaf with bulgarian feta and lemon zest. Those little microwavable packets of garlic quinoa and brown rice from Trader Joe's. Quinoa cooked up like oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar and milk. GLORIOUS.

[justice-turtle.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've got to try it like oatmeal now. (I have some quinoa I bought a while back when I couldn't afford meat - I'm a firm proteinatarian - but I never found a recipe I could be bothered to try; spicy isn't my thing.)

Not that I actually eat oatmeal that way. I eat my oatmeal like grits, with butter and salt, because it's OMNOMINOUS. ;-)

[blue_ant]

I've eaten it and found it quite good. But perhaps I'm the only one (aside from my parents, I guess).

[eldarwannabe.livejournal.com]

When I was in the London and attempting to find quinoa in....Tesco, Waitrose?...a grocery store, I couldn't find it. And the dudes at the store had no clue what I was talking about. Even when I spelled it. Even when I pronounced it KEE-NO-AH (just in case it was pronounced differently in the UK). Even when I described it in a variety of different, increasingly creative ways.

So, after making an utter fool of myself for long enough, I gave up. My (also American) roommate found it in one go. IDK.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I can only assume this is because in London they know it's not really a food. :D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

My roommate has a fantastic recipe for quinoa tabbouleh, so in the purely materialistic sense it can be used in place of couscous. Whether or not it is technically 'food,' as a high-protein gluten-free sauce vehicle food substitute it ain't bad!

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

Oo, I just made quinoa tabbouleh last week and it was good but a little off in the spices -- what's your roommate's recipe?

[priscellie.livejournal.com]

Quinoa is awesome! Haters to the left. Couscous contains gluten, and it is therefore my enemy.

[mycatsellsclues.livejournal.com]

Do you require a new tag about your loathing of quinoa? For Café-cross-referencing purposes?

I love quinoa and eat it quite happily. But it isn't to be used in the place of anything. It's its own thing.

Props to Awkward Coworker for giving you a clearly deserved and needed laugh.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I think this is probably the only post I need to make about quinoa. If people attempt to eat it after this, they have only themselves to blame. :D

[kallaneboi.livejournal.com]

Once again I trolled through your origami tag for a craft for a program at my (new!) library. I'm about to put that tag in my "crafts" bookmark on my work computer, because the number of times I've looked through it for something it ridiculous.

[kallaneboi.livejournal.com]

Also, for something completely random, giant googly eyes! http://www.mcphee.com/shop/products/Giant-Googly-Eyes.html

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Not true! I made some extremely yummy feta and quinoa burgers which are quite edible. Also quinoa salad. Also good in multigrain bread.

But not in place of couscous, no.

[midgetgems.livejournal.com]

Sam I will back you up on the quinoa is not a food. It's not even a word according to Chrome so there.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Quinoa is totally edible (and yummy!) but it is indeed a trickster. That spelling is totally misleading. Why would you spell something as if it should be pronounced kwin-oh-ah (at least that's what I think when I see the word) but then say it keen-wah? Fucking English language.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I think that's because it's a Spanish transliteration of an Incan(?) word. See also chihuahua/chiwawa ...

[(Anonymous)]

i make an awesome dish consisting of shrimp, avocado and quinoa :D and chilli and butter and garlic. i have converted many quinoa-haters with this dish!

[(Anonymous)]

Sam's comments are the best part of this post. Also, I fucking love quinoa. I'm not even trolling. Eat it 4 times a week.

[mysid.livejournal.com]

I hope it's a food. My daughter just went vegetarian, and I'm in the market for protein-rich foods for her.

[bright-weavings.livejournal.com]

I am confused...mostly because I'm pretty certain quinoa is in fact a delicious food when mixed with cheese and onions and pan-fried into burgers. Also as salad...

[petranef.livejournal.com]

Quinoa is most excellent for zombie makeup.

[marilla82.livejournal.com]

So, I gather from your post and reading your responses to comments...you're not a fan of quinoa? ;)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I have no feelings about it one way or another, except that it's clearly not a food. :D

[arsenicjade.livejournal.com]

Dude, step off, I love quinoa, and also, it's a fucking lifesaver come Passover.

[(Anonymous)]

But Sam... You CAN be friends with quinoa! http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Quinoa-Grain/100003782899504

(Am slightly surprised that my spur of the moment Facebook search yielded this result, but not complaining.)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

But I don't want to be friends with quinoa! It's a trick!

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

I think quinoa's okay, but I prefer wheat-berries. Though that's a problem if you can't have gluten....

And I think I will probably limit my commenting on this post if it wanders in a healthy eating direction because that inevitably brings in raw foodies and the pseudoscience they try and use makes me Hulk out.

(enzyme. the word does not think what you think it means.)

BUT ANYWAY yeah, I eat quinoa sometimes, but wheat-berries are better, and also I really really like rice, so...there are better things. (referencing above, broccoli's fine, but I maintain that it's actually cauliflower that isn't a food...)

[etharei.livejournal.com]

I adore your interactions with Awkward Coworker!

This post is reminding me of when I Facebook status'd yesterday: I HAVE INADVERTENTLY ACQUIRED GUACAMOLE, SOMEONE PLEASE EAT IT FOR ME because I'm not a fan of avocado. Then I LOL'd at the D: responses. (That said, the guac is still sitting in my fridge, and I really do wish someone would take it because I hate the idea of food going to waste.)