Dear Michelangelo:
Was painting the Sistine chapel as painful as having your jaw wired shut? I mean, looking up at the ceiling all the time must have given you one heck of a stiff neck. Still I guess you just kept you "eye on the prize".
Hmmm...what has been the "prize" through all of this. Well, I'm not painting anything so forget that. And I doubt my humble little blog won't go down in infamy as one of the greatest gifts to the artistic world. So I guess my prizes are discovering things about human instinct. Like the art of chewing.
Have you ever thought of how you are chewing when you eat. It's amazing how much of a part it is in the enjoyment of food. Now I'll presume you are well brought up like myself and aren't one of those people that chew with your mouth open so all the world can see as the food is masticated between your teeth. Because folks, that's just wrong! But it occurs to me that through drinking all my meals I am depriving myself of the pleasure of experiencing that which enters my stomach. You have to work really hard to experience the food since essentially you are drinking everything. So I suppose the gift or the prize here for me is that once I am craving something, I have to really slow down and try to let it swirl over my tongue (which I can't access since it is stuck behind the wired teeth!) And in doing so I can't take the time to taste something and see if it actually is the taste I am craving. For instance just now:
I was craving peanut butter, but also prune baby food. And I read online that they make a great combination. I could imagine the taste together in my mouth before I made it. Then I threw it in the blender and TA DA....it was the taste I was imagining. And it's GOOD! I mean, it would be. I've had an appetizer of a medjol date with the pit taken out and a fresh California walnut in the centre and that is YUMMY! So dried fruit and nut is a logical combination. Prunes, being dried plums makes sense. In fact, if you have prunes at home you can try it...just smear some peanut butter on a prune and pop it in. EAT IT WITH YOU MOUTH CLOSED...the really experience the taste. It's quite wonderful.
So tonight's small dinner appetizer was a success. When drinking food, you really can only get so much liquid down the gullet, so I find 8-10 oz. of food at a time works well. Too much liquid and you just feel gross.
Last night my teeth and gums were in agony. I think they are inflamed, and the wires are rubbing on the inside of my mouth. I guess that is why God created Advil. Except I have to take children's liquid Advil, double the dose, and water it down a bit and suck it through as straw. I found a bubble gum flavoured one...oh, its YUMMY! I have to remind myself it's medicine. Just what I need right now, a 911 distress call...."Help! I've overdosed on bubble gum flavored Children's Advil. That's what I need, more humiliation!
I wonder if Michelangelo would use Advil for his stiff neck if he were alive today?
Tonight the Emmy Awards are on. I love them so. Usually I pop big bowls of popcorn and watch the Emmy awards (and similarly the Oscars). It's gonna really suck to watch them without crunch salty snacks. Instead, I'll be dining on more blended soup. All the prunes baby food is gone. I'll appreciate those prunes in the morning. I'll leave you to ponder what that means!
