LAST EDITED ON Dec-03-25 AT 11:52 PM (EST)
 
That title doesn't feel like quite exactly what I want to express here, but it'll have to do.

So, unsurprisingly, the main effect of the surgery I had was to make it physically impossible for me to eat substantial amounts of food at once. At the moment, that's taken to a slightly ridiculous extreme, though they tell me it'll relax a bit within six to twelve months. The upshot of this is that practically every single food item in the world is too big for me to eat in one sitting. Not only restaurant dishes, but most pre-packaged foods as well. Unless I cook absolutely everything in tiny quantities from scratch, which I'm not going to do, I'm going to have a lot of leftovers.

However! Today, on my way home from a doctor's appointment, I swung into Dairy Queen and got a cheese dog. No chili, because I was driving and didn't want to stop to eat; just a hot dog on a bun with cheese on it. (As an aside, one of the reasons I love DQ is because they're the only fast-food chain I know of around here that has hot dogs.) I took it slow, eating small (by my standards, anyway) bites at a time, with a pause in between each one, in the dark, on the Interstate, with the tunes going... and I tell you what, I'm pretty sure that was the best hot dog I've ever eaten.

I mean, objectively it clearly was not; it was just whatever generic kind of dog they have at Dairy Queen. Under normal circumstances that would rack up a score of "OK" at best. They don't hold a candle to, say, the big Nathan's ones they have at Sam's (which would now probably be three meals for me). But under these circumstances--not having had a sausage of any description for more than two months, and taking it very slowly--it was spectacular.

I'm not really going anywhere with this, there's no lesson or anything; it's just an experience I wanted to relate.

I'm sure we're all looking forward to the day when this business is NOT my entire personality, but I ask your patience whilst I under take this voyage of discovery. :)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>I mean, objectively it clearly was not; it was just whatever generic
>kind of dog they have at Dairy Queen. Under normal circumstances that
>would rack up a score of "OK" at best. They don't hold a candle to,
>say, the big Nathan's ones they have at Sam's (which would now
>probably be three meals for me). But under these circumstances--not
>having had a sausage of any description for more than two months, and
>taking it very slowly--it was spectacular.

I'll sound like my grandmother for a brief moment and agree that if you slow down and actually taste what you're eating then you'll get more enjoyment out of it.

>I'm not really going anywhere with this, there's no lesson or
>anything; it's just an experience I wanted to relate.
>
>I'm sure we're all looking forward to the day when this business is
>NOT my entire personality, but I ask your patience whilst I under take
>this voyage of discovery. :)

No offense, but the older I get, the more comfortable I feel hearing the people I know spout off random thoughts because it at least gives me some assurance that they're still converting O2 to CO2.

Where you're at (emotionally/mentally, not physically) has a huge effect on how food tastes.

My eldest swears, the best meal ever had was multiple servings of half-cooked, freeze-dried, beef stroganoff the crew had late one night on the trail during a long, long day at Philmont Scout Ranch.

They've been chasing that high for years and have produced some fantastic meals, but have never captured that lightning in a bottle again.

>Where you're at (emotionally/mentally, not physically) has a huge
>effect on how food tastes.
>
>My eldest swears, the best meal ever had was multiple servings of
>half-cooked, freeze-dried, beef stroganoff the crew had late one night
>on the trail during a long, long day at Philmont Scout Ranch.

It's true. One day years ago, after an arduous dental procedure at the dental clinic up in Canada I used to use, I decided on a whim to drive over into Québec and finally visit a town I had been intrigued about since spotting it on a map as a child: the village of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! It was neat, but it was a much longer drive than it looked like on the map, and the anesthetic wore off on my way back. I was hungry, thirsty, sore, and tired when I finally crossed back into Maine at Madawaska, and the first place I saw where I could fix three (by getting a snack and also a drink to wash down some Tylenol) of those was a Tim Horton's.

And I tell you what, Tim's chocolate glazed donuts are OK at best, but the one I had that day was ambrosial. Like, involuntary-noises-of-surprise-and-pleasure good. Just because of the day I'd had.

(And the best part was, I was only in Madawaska, which, no offense to Madawaskans, is even more back of beyond than where I live. So I was still a good three hours from home... that was a long day.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

When I was a kid, my folks dragged my sister and me across the Atlantic to visit relatives in Italy one summer. For an entire month.

While I could tell many stories about that trip, the relevant detail here was that it was my first extended exposure to European milk, which (at that time, anyway) was not pasteurized. And I had to drink it with breakfast every single morning.

When we finally made it back to the US, one of the first things I did was drink a nice cold glass of Hood's. Greatest milk ever, in my juvenile mind...

Physically sort of counts too; "Hunger is the best spice" isn't an old saw for nothing.

But the emotional shift from cold/miserable/starving to warm/comfortable/fed does more for food than any flavoring that can be purchased.

Peter Eng
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Insert humorous comment here.