When we were packing up to leave NYC we decided that since everything would be in storage for more than a year, it would be a good idea to number the boxes and create a list that had the numbers, and a basic idea of what was in each box. If we can manage to remember where we put that list, it should be helpful in terms of unpacking when we return.
Packing sucks. In an attempt to make it suck a little less, Justin and I made a little wager about the number of boxes we thought we’d end up with when it was all said and done. We wrote our numbers down, and sealed them in an envelope.
At the time, we couldn’t think of what the winner would get. Money would be pointless since we share that. A nice dinner cooked for the winner didn’t seem big enough.
Eventually we decided that it wouldn’t be so much what the winner got, but what the loser had to do. We threw around a bunch of ideas, but finally settled on one that seemed perfect…
The loser has to eat one strange or unusual item of the winner’s choice in ever country we visit.
Justin lost.
I’ve been researching all the interesting food items available in Peru – cuy (guinea pig), was high on the list, but so was anticuchos (beef heart on a skewer). Having not run across anything more fascinating, I decided that whatever we came across first would be what he would eat.
The other day we were wandering around Ollantaytambo when we came across a vendor with meat skewers. We asked the woman tending the grill what each skewer was.
Pollo, carne, anticuchos.
So it was settled.
Justin takes the plunge!
As it turns out, anticuchos is very tender, and rather tasty. So tasty in fact that we went back for a second skewer for me.
Delicious!
Justin is convinced that I’m going to be trying all these interesting foods along with him, and for now that’s fine, but I suspect that when we get to Southeast Asia he’ll be on his own…
The Parallel Life 
That was my second guess : ). Nice….
Actually I grew up eating chicken hearts and gizzards. My mother would roll them in flour and fry them, and we’d chew on them happily. Gizzards are sort of rubbery, but delicious if you are a child and don’t have that adult “EEWWWWW” response. So I suspect Beef heart on a stick would be just as tasty.
When you get to Chiang Mai, go to the day market. I guarantee you’ll find something really icky for him to have to eat. There are lots of roasted insects there.
Oh yes, Thailand is going to be fun…all kinds of crunchy bugs!
I recall being present for this wager. Justin needs to go deep on this one. Deep and hard.
Most importantly, what was the final number of boxes and your guesses?
Tragically I can’t remember the exact number, but it was obscene, something like 60. This is what happens when most of your boxes come from a liqueur store… I was 3 under, Justin was 7 over. Price is Right rules all the way, but I would have won no matter what since I was closer.