mary eats

Oh, My, God, My computer is infested with ants. Yes, ants. Those six legged shinny black crawlies have made home in the underbelly of my computer, no doubt the post modern home for upper class ants sick of the sand.
“Daaaaaahling, I lust love these hard clean lines,”
“Yes dear, and these flecks of silver and brass, it must have cost a fortune!”
“Wait till the neighbors see it. They are going to die, just die!”

Is this the reason behind my lack of posting? No. I only discovered this last night (PS if you live in a basement or ground floor do not, do not leave your laptop on the floor overnight to charge.) No, the reason behind my lack of school posting is simple. Remember in High School or college, at the beginning of the year? Your nervousness and excitement, determination to be studious, to absorb all the wonderful knowledge? Yeah. Remember how long it seamed to get things going, how gingerly the instructor danced around subjects, and how you either transcribed his or her lectures or found your notebook blank at the end of class. Remember your aching, longing even, for the class to get up to speed? Then one day boom, its midterm time and suddenly all your assignments are due one day, several tests in a day, maybe even an oral report or two. “But,” you plead with your instructors, stomach in a knot, tears welling in your eyes. “This is so unfair, how can you expect me to finish all this work at one time!”
“Buuuhhahahahaha,” they laugh. “Welcome to college.” They reply, a hint of horn protruding out from under their hair.

Last week the bulk of our assignments for both our sanitation class and our theory class were due. For me this meant completing a 16 page HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) paper, my spice assignment, and a research paper (with bibliography) on Konbu. Not to mention a Midterm in both classes. Seeing that I have a husband who is kind enough (now) to make dinners and I don’t work (yet) I spaced my work out pretty evenly. Nonetheless, all these projects take hours, hours to produce, review, and polish. Try, just try, writing a research paper after years of magazine features, restaurant reviews, and blogging. Yikes. My oral report won fans for my employment of the comic (I figure if you give them visuals, they won’t really be paying attention to you).

Now that we have finished week eight, the separation of the class is evident. I am happy to report that over half the class is passionate and dedicated, people that I would be keen to work with on a project or in real working life. There are strong leaders and workhorses, people who can take criticism and instruction at the blink of an eye, with out making it personal, and then there is the other half. The half that stands and leans and grazes, the other half who could care less about the uniformity of their cuts, their technique, and for whom listening is an art form long forgotten.

Back in week three and four, when the two groups became apparent, I really wanted to reach out to these people, I so desired for the class to be strong, a unit to be reckoned with. My mother-in-law was surprised at my compassion. Advising me to look out for myself, upon hearing about my sharing of my hand crafted study aids (my co-teachers at Sanbon SLP can attest to my flashcard making skills). “But it is no good for me if the people I’m working with aren’t up to my speed or at my level. I just want everyone to succeed.” My leftist liberal heat bleed. I blame it on being a teacher. While I had my favorites (every teacher does) I so wanted my whole class to get it. Did you count how many times I used “my” in this paragraph? 9. I’m sure that is a writing voilation.

Now I find my competitive side has taken over, even admitting out loud that, “well it is nice to have people to make you look good.” I’m not proud of it, but that is the rat race, no?

Here is a sampling of what I turned in. K, one of my classmates sent me this video from you tube. My spice tasting was, how should I put it, more refined, thought out? But faces made as a result of the heat, the drying, the bitter, or allover nastiness of eating and smelling over 30 dried spices were pretty much on queue.

Cayenne Pepper
Apperance: ground Fibrous red bath powder
Aroma: Like the inside of a jalapeno with out the acidity. Like the seeds. Now my nose itches.
Taste: Warming peppery. I can’t believe I just licked some cayenne off my finger. My tongue is on fire.
Curry Powder
Apperance: Dark orange fibrous dirt flecked with dark browns, blacks, and whites
Aroma: Indian restaurants the world over.
Taste: Bitter, peppery, astringent
Ginger, ground
Apperance: Vanilla protein powder
Aroma: Warm spice aroma, refreshing, lemony, awakening
Taste: Peppery, burning

My HACCP is far too boring to read, so instead I will entertain you with this fun sanitation fact:

“Norovirus is very contagious and is often transferred to food when infected foodhandlers touch the food with fingers containing feces.” Every sanitation class the word feces is mentioned at least 5 times. Mmmmm. Feces.

Finally from my research paper:
A Dictionary of Japanese Food, notes that, “o-shaburi konbu is chewed, as a traditional alternative to gum” (83) . Watch out Trident.

And the comic: