Eat! Eat! It's good for you!

Now if you aren't Albanian, my title will mean nothing. If you are Albanian and translate my title, well I apologize for being rude! You see what happened was this. . . I was still learning the language. I was having dinner at a good friend's house, she happened to be pregnant. The husband taught me the phrase, which directly translated to "eat!eat! its good for you". knowing how mischievous the husband was i translated the phrase before using it. It seemed innocent enough.

He told me it was a phrase you say to pregnant women over a meal, like a blessing/encouragement so that baby grows strong. So I used the phrase and was amused to watch the wife immediately turn around and severely scold the husband. As innocent as the words are, the mean behind it was completely different. And of course, once you have learnt a bad phrase in a different language it somehow sticks with you forever.

But seriously, don't you think we should be grateful not just for food, but the ability to taste and enjoy it? Many times when i am eating something really delicious i think, "Thank God for taste buds!". He could have simplified the issue, and created a tablet we pop once or twice a day that is tasteless but provides us with all the nutrition a body needs. But in His goodness He created us with the ability to enjoy food. Not out of necessity but simply out of His goodness. He literally was telling us to eat, and [originally] ALL of it was good for us.

Have you ever not been able to taste food? I have had it happen to me. it was horrible. I vaguely remember not tasting my breakfast one morning,, but didn't think too much of it.  Later that morning, at work i ordered my favorite coffee. i remember phoning the barrister and complaining because it had no taste. The guy was gracious enough to make me a second cup, same thing, i couldn't taste it at all. He looked at me, seriously for a minute, and then said, "I think you need to see a doctor, your face is drooping on the one side." true as anything, it was. It turns out i had Bells Palsy. not the worst thing to happen but not nice by any means and for over a month i had no sense of taste, and half my face didn't move as the nerves were attacked. I can say that i took some really funny selfies during that time, and that was long before selfies were even popular. [let me embarrass myself and share a few - excuse the bed head....and the fact that only half my face moved - keep in mind this was many years ago.]

I cant tell you how grateful i was when my sense of taste returned. it was phenomenal.it was like tasting everything for the first time again. YUMMY!

I am a walking contradiction in the area of food. I am incredibly fussy. I don't like the texture of bread or cake or biscuits/cookies. I don't really like chocolate, unless it has nuts in it or mint. I don't like spicey stuff. I don't like slimey textures like avocado. I'm not a huge fan of chicken. The list goes on and on. and if its just me, and i am cooking for myself, then all of these rules apply. [though i find sometimes my taste changes as i get older]....here comes the contradiction....

despite being super fussy and not liking a lot of things, i have the ability to eat anything! its a great help on the mission field, where i have eaten many things i wouldn't normally eat, and eaten other people's portions as well. I can stomach a lot!  possibly this comes from a childhood where we weren't allowed to complain about not liking certain food. truthfully if you complained you got double. so you learnt to eat even stuff you didn't like and that has served me well as a missionary. Also as a child i grew up eating things that might not be considered normal. We often ate snails as our starter, when dining out.  My sister taught me to eat and enjoy double salted liquorice...so good.

Also i have a theory, that developed as i grew older, was that i couldn't say i don't like something unless i have tried it. [pertaining to food]. this has lead to trying many interesting dishes...here are a few.
- Pilaf [cooked rice dish] - I have eaten this for breakfast, served with fresh natural yoghurt - again its something i really enjoy. in fact i miss eating yoghurt with my rice now.
- Haggis - i really like this! glad i tried it!
- Frogs legs - again really yummy. sadly a bit like chicken but if i could choose between the two, i'd go for frogs legs.
- Plantains - also very yummy.  i was informed, on my third helping of them in Uganda, that they were good in helping prevent constipation....OOOPS!
- Sheep's head - everything but the eyeballs - the brain would be great spread on toast.

the list really could go on and on.... but i think to date, my strangest thing i ever ate was.....
raw, chilled prawns, they had been soaked in Sambucca [liquorice flavoured alcohol], and were served with chocolate shavings.... it actually was very nice.