Strawberries, banana, 8-year balsamic

I am so doing this for my next dinner party. Or maybe I'll hog it all to myself. I'm torn between two worlds, sharing and hogging. Sharing/hogging. Sharing/hogging. Sharing/hogging. Sharing/hogging. I don't know, that's a tough one.

Whoever invented aged balsamic must have been insane. They should get a medal -- for excellence in gastronomic insanity. I would like to meet this person and ask them, "Whatever was on your mind?"

And they'll tell me, "Eh, we couldn't sell it so it hung around for a lot longer than we wanted."

I honestly believe the best things to consume were discovered or invented by accident and through enduring hardships. Say for example, garlic. Imagine yourself a primitive person digging around for anything to eat, anything at all. You're willing to try just about anything, even willing to experiment with doing everything you can possibly do to every aspect of every single thing you uncover. For any given plant you carefully examine its leaves, its buds, its flowers, its fruit, stems, and roots. You try every part of every plant you encounter raw, boiled in water like tea, roasted on a stick above the fire, toasted near the fire, in the fire, cooked in a pot, cooked with other vegetables and meats, aged, dried, chopped, sliced, crushed, everything you can think of. Then one day you and a friend come across garlic your friend says, "Oh, no. Not that. Put that down immediately," and runs to the river to get the smell off their hands. But you're sitting there thinking, "You know, sautéed with a little yak butter this probably isn't all that bad. I bet these could even make those snails palatable. "