2006-03-23
Dear Taste Buds
Dear Taste Buds,
I got your letter!
I totally miss you, too!!!!!!!!! This fight is sort of stupid. I hope while I am sick and you can't come home because of the "poor conditions for flying", you'll think about what I have to say here. I really miss you guys.
What you said about tomatoes and my texture argument is right. If I blame my stong dislike of raw tomatoes on the slime factor, I'm a total hypocrite - you're totally right, Taste Buds.
The real culprit IS the taste of raw tomatoes! Now that I have gone several days without tasting anything, I can see by looking back at my recent food choices that the consistency of certain foods doesn't bug me, so much as the actual taste of those foods!
Raw tomatoes are no more slimy than the Goetze's Caramel Cr�mes that I warm up in my hand before eating, no more slimy than the over-cooked Kraft Mac and Cheese that was breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday (Hey! I loaded up on the pepper for you guys - I TOTALLY had your back on that one!), and definitely, raw tomatoes are not slimier than those mashed potatoes with string cheese melted in them that I brought for lunch today.
My bad, you guys, my b-a-d.
You do deserve better; it's totally true that I've neglected you for too long and with no regard to your feelings.
We should make a deal. We should each promise to do something for the other.
Okay, here goes:
You say I don't like spicy food, food that you have to chew or how did you put it, "Grown-up foods?"
I disagree and would like to point out that I love sweet chili sauce on my eggs, that I always add black pepper to everything, and that I am one of the few people to complain about or avoid cilantro.
Now, looking over the list of the last few days' "meals" without you guys, since you fled in the face of my grave sinus/respiratory/bacterial/feverish illness, then yes, it does look like I have a rather pedestrian palate. I can see where we need to make some compromises and I am willing to go pretty far because.... that's how much I miss you guys. It's not right that I could bite into a white onion right now and taste nothing, it's not right.
I see your point.
And I raise you, as you'll see.
I am prepared to prove that I do like complicated, aromatic foods and that I know how to cook them on the cheap.
After I finish off those potatoes tonight for dinner (yes, I'll add some sweet chili sauce to them!), I offer that I will make, or order, four meals every week that don't have anything mushy, bland, or marketed to eleven year olds.
Your side of the bargain will be to give me a break on my dearly beloved Lima Beans, lay off when I have a Mac and Cheese Attack, and finally let me (maybe) start (try) to enjoy raw tomatoes. I'm tired of being a freak show when I go out to eat and start crying if my request to the wait staff is dishonored and the food that I WANT to eat is infected with raw tomoato ooze. It's embarrassing, and I'm not just talkin' about for me!
And... you know...
Lying to the wait staff by telling them that I am allergic is bull crap and we both know it.
Let me know what you think!
Sincerely,
Sarah.
arizonasarah at 1:22 p.m.