DAREDEVIL EATING PUFFER FISH

When it comes to daredevil adventures, eating a meal probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, people travel to Shimonoseki, Japan to engage in culinary daredeviling of eating a dish that could kill them if not properly prepared by expert chefs. They visit the Blowfish Capital of Japan to taste fugu, also known as the liver of puffer fish, which is considered both a delicacy and a feat of courage to eat.

Eating fugu is risky, because a puffer fish's liver contains a high concentration of deadly poison known as tetrodotoxin. Consuming a tiny amount of tetrodotoxin can result in a paralysis of major organs including the lungs and heart resulting in death. Yet for 2,800 years people here have been consuming this dare-fueled dish for the thrill of adventure and as those who have eaten it have said an appreciation of its un-seafood-like meaty taste.

People can eat fugu and other puffer fish dishes thanks to specially licensed chefs who trained to avoid its toxins. This technique known as “migaki” is a delicate skill acquired from years of training culminating in a license and special distinction. You definitely don't want to catch and cook up a puffer fish on your own to eat!

So, would you dare to eat fugu or any other type of puffer fish dish? Would visiting Shimonoseki to eat puffer fish be a bucket list adventure for you? Or would you rather just stay clear of blow fish? 

For more information on visiting Shimonoseki and all the adventures you can have there, go to setouchifinder.com/en

Going Car Watching: Our Roadtrip to the Woodward Dream Cruise

This year is the 20th anniversary of the WOODWARD DREAM CRUISE, an annual event in Metro Detroit that is like a combining a parade, block party and carnival together to celebrate classic cars and the area's automotive heritage.  This Saturday event gets to be very congested with more than a million people clustering along Woodward Avenue for the day and we normally feel it is a little to hectic to take our young children to, but this year I decided to take the twins over to see the cars the Friday morning before the official event to check out what was going on before all the crowds arrived.  So we took a road trip just a few blocks down the street from our house to go car watching.

I have to say taking a wander along Woodward Avenue the morning before the event was great...we saw lots of classic cars without all of the crowds.  While many of the exhibitor displays were still being setup and not all of the cars were cruising around yet we still saw a lot of cool stuff and had some great experiences.  For example, Chevrolet had just unloaded a few of the cars that were used to portray the Autobots in the movie Transformers: Age of Extinction from a tractor trailer but hadn't set up the exhibit display for them yet.  The Chevy staffers let my son jump in the original car that had been used as the stunt vehicle in the movie to portray my son's favorite Transformer, BUMBLEBEE, and pretend to take it for a spin.

Chevy did have one of its exhibits all set up where we could look at some of their different race car engines and an Indy car.  While walking around this display my kids snagged some really nice car themed color books and Crayola crayons while I got my hands on a t-shirt compliments of Chevrolet.

We also saw a Monster Truck, a few dragsters on display, and some cars drag racing down the strip.

 

You don't always need to drive far away to have a fun and exciting road trip with your kids...sometimes the adventure can just be a few blocks away.  For more information about the Woodward Dream Cruise visit www.woodwarddreamcruise.com