When I sit down to eat a meal, I subconsciously prioritize the food items before digging in. I mean, if there are several types of food on the plate, my goal is to have my last bite be of my favorite one – therefore I finish the meal with the best taste in my mouth. This practice involves a certain amount of “pacing” and forethought. Say for example there are three items: corn, mashed taters, and steak. Now, Dave loves steak, and taters, and even corn… but within seconds my brain is taking stock of the grub and spitting out my strategy. One bite of steak, maybe dipped in taters, then two or three bites of corn. The corn should shrink at approximately a 2:1 ratio compared to the steak and taters. It’s hard to decide between the steak and taters for who gets to finish last, but usually the steak will be smaller, so you have to gear ratio them correctly to each other in order to make them finish simultaneously.
Sometimes, however, certain “sleeper” foods require on-the-fly, in-meal, re-prioritization. For instance, let’s pretend I start my three-part meal mentioned above, and dig into the corn. What’s this? There’s some kind of spicy thing in this corn? And it also has little baby potato pieces in it? Man… this corn is awesome! Now the brain takes over and immediately begins running a secondary meal endgame simulation. Is this corn good enough to shake up the current food standings? Now we shift gears, suddenly I begin eating potatoes over corn at a 3:1 ratio. Mind you, this kind of re-prioritization can occur several times during a meal. I mean, it would have to, wouldn’t it? There’s nothing worse than ending a fine meal on a sour note of refried beans or something… you always want that last hunk of chimchanga to be the last thing delights your palette before pushing away from the table, fully satiated. At mealtimes, my brain is just a statistician for my gut, and a pretty accurate one at that.
Last night Ben and I worked on the Halloween display. I “aged” some tombstones using spraypaint, water, and other means. We spread Woolite on the fabric for the flying crank ghost, and we made more progress on the cemetery fencing. I also carved another tombstone epitaph with the Dremel: “Sharaun. She’s gone.” short and sweet. The projects are progressing nicely, and I am on track to have them all set up by next weekend.
OK, that’s enough for me for today. I gotta stop writing so much, blogs are getting long!
Also written on this day...
- reclaimation - 2019
- we're doing this wrong - 2018
- getting my #2 time back - 2008
- whither hast thou gone? - 2006
- no jetlag - 2005
Simple solution: Mix the corn and the mashed potatoes (if the corn is off the cobb), cut an average peice of steak, and pile the tater-corn mixture on to the fork with the steak. Thus eliminating the ´make the last bite your favorite´ delima. EVERY bite is your favorite! Now you just have to spend your time thinking about the steak to tater-corn ratio in each bite. You don´t want to be left with extra tater-corn after the steak is gone, or vice versa.
Note: This technique is only applicable to mash potates, corn (or other small veggie item such as peas), and meat (steak or chicken). There is no gaurantee of tasty-ness for alternate food combinations.
mmmmmm….. tatercornsteak… that sounds awesome… sara, you´re a friggin´ genius. i think i love you.
on another note, "w00t" for me for getting a comment from a reader i didn´t even know i had 😉
dave out.
Hi David, I am listening to oldies but goodies from Time-LiFe now and having a second cup of coffee. I have decided after reading yesterdays blog that you are nuts. No offense. Our family has a long history of very eccentric individuals and you are definitely eccentric some might even say nuts.
sorry john(HOLMES THAT IS)….although i did find your eating query extremely nizeresting..i have to agree with your pops…
you guys can thank i´m crazy all y´allz want… i know i´m the real.
dave #1 sane.