Blogging Around

Too much chocolate cake? Naaaaaah. Uuuuuugh.

Is it possible to eat too much chocolate cake? Well I found out last week that the answer is yes...and no. This is not your average chocolate cake I'm talking about. This one came from one of those fancy food market bakeries. And it was definitely worth the premium price. After all it was bought to celebrate my daughter's birthday so we wanted something special.They called it a "Mud" cake.

How best to describe it? Well, to start, if you mashed together about 25 of those large brownie squares you see in the stores, the thick chewy ones, kind of like those Sara Lee tray brownies, not the flaky style brownies, you have a good beginning. Then add just a touch of chocolate mousse on the inside. Okay. Next, you cover the whole thing with a thick chocolate shell. Then add some chocolate strips for decoration, and you've got it. Now we can begin.

You have to sneak up on a cake like that. You take a little slice because you know it's rich and you don't want to eat too many calories but of course you absolutely want to celebrate your daughter's birthday. By the way she loved the cake. Who wouldn't? Okay. By now you're happily hooked. But still using your best sense because each slice has endless calories you take a sliver of a sliver and it's still really good. Then another sliver...and another. Now, not only is it excruciating delicious but it's become a game too and it's fun. Finally you manage to stop, not because you want to but because your stomach can't take it anymore. 

For a little while anyway. So in a half hour or so you drift back towards the kitchen and since there's still half a cake left you go back to the sliver technique which has proved so successful previously. Oooooooooooh. It's good. Now, by repeating this process with your other family team members you've reduced the cake to the "Leave the rest for Joslyn." stage. Thank God. You now have an overriding moral reason to stop eating that wonderful chocolate cake.

AFTERMATH.

Now you have to make peace with your body. It only took about 5 hours recovery before I started wondering if there was any cake left, even though I still knew it belonged to the birthday girl. Fortunately though my recovery had begun and my self control had returned. However, thankfully, in God's grace, I was still left with those blissful wistful thoughts of that incredible experience of the time I spent gorging on that delicious chocolate cake. But would I ever do it again? Definitely not tomorrow or even the next day...but maybe the day after that I might be able to, if I tried real hard.

Eating by the Sea

People like eating by the sea. Or by the lake. Or the canal. Or the river. Being close to the water relaxes me and I've always enjoyed it. And there are a lot of people who agree with me. They like it too.

Sometimes it's as simple as eating homemade sandwiches at an old picnic table on the intracoastal or just munching on potato chips leaning on my elbow on a blanket by the beach. And restaurants, of course, from fancy fancy to tuna fish on toast, I always like it. I like the breeze and the smell of freshness in the air by the ocean. I'm getting relaxed just thinking about it.

Years ago, when I used to work near Biscayne Bay in Miami, lunch meant a quick stop at the supermarket then eating and apple and cold cuts sitting in my car just staring out at the water by the park at Morningside Heights. Pretty cool. I loved it and I looked forward to it. You would of thought there'd be dozens of cars there but usually it was just me or once in a while some other sensible person would stop by to do the same thing I was doing.

I like eating by the water for a few reasons. First of all it's always a show. Sometimes quiet and peaceful. Sometimes full of boats and ships and other people just having fun enjoying being by the water, jet skiing or flying their ultralights. Then too, it's relaxing just gazing out at the broad emptiness of the open water and I usually get to daydreaming which is always fun. No strip malls. No traffic lights. Some houses sometimes, sure. And I love the people who live in those houses because they've done something that I'd, at least, like to taste a little bit, not just stare out the window of some hotel but to live and breathe living by the water. And I can absolutely taste it when I eat by the sea.

Also it has a way of taking the steam out of me. I start to drip. I find my whole body gradually sinking into a pile and I don't want to move. It feels so good and comfortable. I love it.

It's the water that does it. That amazing beautiful stuff. Any way you find it, it casts a spell over me, at least for a little while. So do you want to go out for lunch? Where? Anywhere by the water is good for me. That'll work fine.

A very fine wine...

     I have no problem with anyone enjoying what they're doing. I love people who are involved in life. That's what all those spirituality articles keep telling us. The hard thing I have getting my mind around is this hollywoodization of food and especially wine. But I'm not even totally sure of that. It may really have been the vinoization of Hollywood. Anyway, where wine and spirits are concerned the superlatives fly around like starlings in the late afternoon.

     My problem has always been the taste of the stuff, the flavor. And I don't mean to single out only wines. My feelings include all spirits, wines, and beers. And it's this. They all taste like crap and if they didn't get you drunk no one would touch the stuff. Don't get me wrong, I drink. Not so much anymore but I do like a couple of light beers with my lunch when I'm out on the weekends. It makes me feel good. Or maybe at a party I'll drink whatever's available. I'm not too choosy. I usually find something I like.

     When I say I like it I mean that it's sweet enough for me. Again I know that different people have different tastes. But my bet is that the drinking alcohol industry agrees with me by all the fruit flavorings they add to disguise the underlying natural flavor of their products. (I think "natural taste" would be a better word here.) Then they'll add words like "smooth" or "smoky" to their advertising to make the image of the flavoring more attractive. Just like they do with that other wonderfully flavorful product...cigarettes.

     And because we didn't want to stop getting drunk we invented cocktails.

     It's now reaching new heights of practicality. If you've been down the wine aisle at the local supermarket or liquor store you'll see all those beautifully artistic labels on all the wines. I heard on TV that most people use those labels to decide on which wine to buy. I believe it too. On those rare times that I buy wine I have no idea what I'm buying. All I have is a basic idea of the type of wine I'm looking for and if I can, of course, expect it to be sweet enough for me.

     So why am I picking on wine lovers today. I'm not and I hope they don't get mad at me. As I said, I love people who enjoy all parts of life, whatever it is. I love people who are passionate about anything. It's just that this always struck me as an unusual paradox. And that's what I like about blogging. For me it's looking at the personal side of life's paradoxes. And enjoying something that tastes bad is one of them. Bottoms up!