Free Rice

'Tis the season for giving, so this is a good time to give food to the needy. In the vocabulary game known as "free rice," rice is donated to the Third World for each correct match of word and definition. The game is free on the internet and the rice is paid for by the banner ad. I can't stop playing this. It's got me hooked.

My foodie co-conspirator Leanboy 2000 E-mailed me the link one day and within hours I was hearing about it on the radio, on TV -- seemingly everywhere -- proving once again that Leanboy is one step behind the zeitgeist and two steps ahead of me!

He predicted I would be good at this multiple choice game, and he was right.

Arbalest means:
1 fluid
2 province
3 crossbow
4 low body temperature

Yes, indeed, it is a crossbow! As usual, the more useless the knowledge, the more sure my grasp of it.

Piccalilli means:
1 friendliness
2 lyric poem
3 relish
4 moral philosophy

You guessed it: relish. Equally useless. Had I never lived in England, I would never have known.

I know what you're thinking: this has nothing to do with food and doesn't belong on a food blog. That's what Colonel Mustard said about my grammarian rant on the commonly used non-word "restauranteur"! Well, a restaurant is certainly food-related, and now we've all learned about piccalilli, haven't we?

Play the game yourself and you'll also learn about lekvar, eructation and other food-related topics. I really can't stop playing this game. Thanks, Leanboy, for ruining my life!