132 - Some foods simple, some foods complex

Anyone who knows me long enough will know that I love to eat. I don't just guzzle everything real quickly, either, or eat just anything at any hour of the day. I have a lot of rules when it comes to food. For example, I never let any sauce, milk, ice-cream or any other substance get left behind on the periphery of my mouth. It saves me from having to wipe it later, and my fellow diners from an unattractive sight.

One of the major eating principles I hold dear to my heart is the differentiation between foods that have to be simple, and foods that have to be more complicated. Take macaroni and cheese for example. The indulgent, mouth-watering cheesiness of the dish is a delight, while the pasta itself fills your stomach. The same works for cheese and biscuits, and cheesecake. There's no need for a side of ham next to your biscuits, or some raspberry coulis drizzled over it. The cheese speaks for itself.

Examples of other foods that stand well on their own:
 - sashimi and sushi (no wasabi or soy sauce),
 - the classic Coca-Cola,
 - vanilla ice-cream (no other flavor),
 - toast and butter,
 - french fries and ketchup,
 - chicken nuggets,
 - tomato soup,

On the other hand, there are other foods that are better the more complex they are. They deserve to have more flavors, more textures, more colors, more ingredients, all mixed together to make it work. Take a sandwich for example. I never order BLT, or tuna and mayonnaise. It's just a bit plain if you ask me. It has to be a club sandwich - with tomatoes, lettuce, egg, bacon, turkey, cheese, mustard, ham, ketchup, mayonnaise, cucumber and a third piece of bread in between the top and bottom slices. That's what a real sandwich is to me.

Examples of other foods that should shoot for the stars:
 - nachos covered in beef, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and melted cheese,
 - fruit salad with at least six different kinds of fruit,
 - steak, with peas, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy,
 - hotdogs with ketchup, mustard, relish, maybe some mayonnaise, corn, cheese, cole slaw, sauerkraut, onion, lettuce, tomato and chili sauce,
 - a full English breakfast, with eggs, toast, butter, jam, bacon, baked beans, hash browns, fried bread, black pudding, mushrooms, potatoes, sausage, and tea,
 - and the Big Mac, with two beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and three sesame seed buns.

What do you think? Do you agree that tomato soup need not be dressed up? Do you disagree and think that a tuna and mayonnaise sandwich is actually very nice?

130 - Deep thoughts

I enjoy deep thought a lot. The deeper the better. Thinking about thinking about thinking about thinking is like achieving a perfectly cooked steak. (Seriously, try it. Betcha can't get past the third 'thinking'.) As much as I would like to 'live in the moment' and just 'go with it', I find that lying in the subconscious are tons of wonderful things to stimulate the mind and really make you wonder about the purpose of all that's around you and the meaning that lies within your own existence. People always tell me I overthink things too much, but I have to disagree. I think having reasons for every aspect of what I do, what I feel, and what I believe, is important and useful because it gives me justification for my actions, it gives me direction and clarifies my goals, and it helps me improve myself when I focus on what I do wrong exactly.

Today is just a rambling, because my mind is quite tired at the moment from over six hours of this continual thought. I guess deep thought is only good for me in short amounts. Before I wrote these paragraphs, I wanted to talk about a great number of things, which I won't bore myself with now, but a rave is what I've decided to finally publish here, because I just cannot decide on one thing to talk about.

One thing that really saddens me is the fact that not many people out there are willing to get into a deep and meaningful conversation (a phenomenon my ex-classmates used to abbreviate to the term, 'DMC's'). Most people just like to stay with superficial chit-chat, which is not a bad thing at all in my opinion - just not my cup of tea. It doesn't sadden me because I think it's pathetic to discuss things that are shallower, it saddens me because I just don't know how to talk about things like that for prolonged periods of time, and it isolates me, and makes me different from others.

But I think that everybody needs to have DMC's every now and then, and it sort of compensates for my loneliness when people come to me to talk about serious things. I like being the one they can come to, and even rely on to sort out other people's problems. I may lose my usefulness once the conversation topic lightens up, but at least I did my part in bringing them past the thorny parts. And that's all I really want to say today. Goodnight.