Saturday, January 31, 2015
Super Bowl Preparation
While the Seahawks and Patriots have been practicing and reviewing game plans this week, we too have been prepping for the big game on Sunday. Mostly we reviewed "film" from previous games. We spent one evening watching the best of Super Bowl commercials from the past. Of course our favorites are the commercials with the Budweiser Clydesdales. We also found a video showing some of the training that the horses go through for the commercials. So if you are tired of ESPN making such a big deal about Deflategate or Marshawn Lynch avoiding the media, kick back and kill some time before kick off enjoying these clips. Omnia Vincit Amor.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
St. Louis Part Two
We finished part one of our St. Louis series as a sort of defense of my masculinity in spite of my enjoyment of art museums. In this installation, we will actually discuss what I saw while at the museum.
First off, one of my favorite mediums of artistic expression is architecture, and the St. Louis museum, while housing many fine works of art, is indeed an art piece in its own right. The main building was built in anticipation of the 1904 world's fair, and in keeping with the times was inspired by Roman architecture. I arrived about 15 minutes before the museum opened, so I spent that time admiring the columns and sculptures adoring the building's exterior.
The building is somewhat divided by floors and wings. The bottom floor houses a large collection of artifacts from ancient or Non-Western cultures. The collection was so extensive it housed rooms dedicated to artifacts from such specific places as Tibet, Papua New Guinea, Meso-American, and Micronesia. There was a vast amount from the ancient Islamic world, which really had some fascinating ceramics and metalworking. This floor also contains much of the fine furniture work I spoke of in the first part and had a section with medieval weaponry and armor; the detail that went into creating a suit of armor is fascinating to behold. I have been told about how meticulous and painstaking the process of linking chainmail is, but I found that the metal plating along a knight's joint leave so little room for error that it is perhaps more impressive if not so painstaking. A gauntlet (an armored glove) is truly something of mechanical marvel.
The main floor is divided into two wings with a massive domed center dividing them. On one side is a collection of Far to Near East artifacts and a wonderful collection of Western art spanning from the medieval era into the Renaissance. It is fascinating to contemplate the development of technology over time when you realize what so many of these other cultures were capable of well before what we usually consider the cutting-edge Europeans. There was a bronze statue of the Buddha so massive it was cast in separate parts before being placed together, and I could not figure out where the pieces joined. Throw in how his robe appeared to flow, and I don't think anyone in the west was doing anything like until da Vinci a millennia later. It was also in this section that I started to recognize some artists, the first being El Greco. It struck me as increasingly wondrous the more this happened, for not only was I imagining the careful workmanship of some unknown craftsman, I knew something about him.
There were some very well known artists represented in the collection. Moving across the hallway, more and more cropped up, Rodin, Picasso, Cezanne, Monet, Degas (one of Degas's only sculptures, Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, is housed here). Among the American artists were Stuart (including his portrait of Washington that inspires the image on the one dollar bill), Rockwell, Peale, and Remington, which was particularly exciting because his sculpture I saw has been reproduced and made lifesized. That sculpture now resides outside the public library of my hometown.
I did not spend as much time on this side of the hallway because the bottom floor and one wing left roughly an hour and a half for the other wing, a few displays on the third floor (there was far fewer displays on that floor) and the annex where the more modern art was housed. I really just ended up walking through the modern art quickly, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but there were many paintings I didn't get to read the placards to and appreciate that I would have otherwise spent more time admiring. But alas, at the end of my time there I got to go pick up my one of God's own handiwork, the very crown of creation. I am referring, of course, to my lovely wife. By far, she was the most beautiful thing I saw all day. Omnia Vincit Amour.
First off, one of my favorite mediums of artistic expression is architecture, and the St. Louis museum, while housing many fine works of art, is indeed an art piece in its own right. The main building was built in anticipation of the 1904 world's fair, and in keeping with the times was inspired by Roman architecture. I arrived about 15 minutes before the museum opened, so I spent that time admiring the columns and sculptures adoring the building's exterior.
The building is somewhat divided by floors and wings. The bottom floor houses a large collection of artifacts from ancient or Non-Western cultures. The collection was so extensive it housed rooms dedicated to artifacts from such specific places as Tibet, Papua New Guinea, Meso-American, and Micronesia. There was a vast amount from the ancient Islamic world, which really had some fascinating ceramics and metalworking. This floor also contains much of the fine furniture work I spoke of in the first part and had a section with medieval weaponry and armor; the detail that went into creating a suit of armor is fascinating to behold. I have been told about how meticulous and painstaking the process of linking chainmail is, but I found that the metal plating along a knight's joint leave so little room for error that it is perhaps more impressive if not so painstaking. A gauntlet (an armored glove) is truly something of mechanical marvel.
The main floor is divided into two wings with a massive domed center dividing them. On one side is a collection of Far to Near East artifacts and a wonderful collection of Western art spanning from the medieval era into the Renaissance. It is fascinating to contemplate the development of technology over time when you realize what so many of these other cultures were capable of well before what we usually consider the cutting-edge Europeans. There was a bronze statue of the Buddha so massive it was cast in separate parts before being placed together, and I could not figure out where the pieces joined. Throw in how his robe appeared to flow, and I don't think anyone in the west was doing anything like until da Vinci a millennia later. It was also in this section that I started to recognize some artists, the first being El Greco. It struck me as increasingly wondrous the more this happened, for not only was I imagining the careful workmanship of some unknown craftsman, I knew something about him.
There were some very well known artists represented in the collection. Moving across the hallway, more and more cropped up, Rodin, Picasso, Cezanne, Monet, Degas (one of Degas's only sculptures, Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, is housed here). Among the American artists were Stuart (including his portrait of Washington that inspires the image on the one dollar bill), Rockwell, Peale, and Remington, which was particularly exciting because his sculpture I saw has been reproduced and made lifesized. That sculpture now resides outside the public library of my hometown.
I did not spend as much time on this side of the hallway because the bottom floor and one wing left roughly an hour and a half for the other wing, a few displays on the third floor (there was far fewer displays on that floor) and the annex where the more modern art was housed. I really just ended up walking through the modern art quickly, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but there were many paintings I didn't get to read the placards to and appreciate that I would have otherwise spent more time admiring. But alas, at the end of my time there I got to go pick up my one of God's own handiwork, the very crown of creation. I am referring, of course, to my lovely wife. By far, she was the most beautiful thing I saw all day. Omnia Vincit Amour.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
St. Louis Part One
This past weekend, Alex had to go to a training conference, meaning I got to go with her. This was a profitable arrangement for both of us, though admittedly I profited more than my dear wife; Alex had someone to drive her around, and I got to play and explore in a place I had never been before. In this post, I'm going to tell you about day one of my adventures in the big city. Judging from the response of Alex and family members, I chose to spend the day as few would: I was in the St. Louis public art museum from opening to close.
I do not know what exactly the response of our readers will be to this declaration, whether they will balk at the notion of spending that much time in an art museum or accept it as something a rational person would do. I guess I feel some need to justify myself.
Art can invoke some pretty strange images into the minds of different people. Some of that is deserved. I did see some of the weirder art that keeps many people from ever hazarding across the threshold of an art museum; one piece that struck me as having dubious value was four grey panels with a reflective surface, and that's it. There were other pieces I liked less, but that work in particular stands out as a "See? I can just donate my used deodorant dispenser to a museum and they'll call it art" moment.
A quick aside for any potential culturally advanced readers shaking their head at the unenlightened opinions recorded here: perhaps there is an argument to be made that such works have an intrinsic value. Where I take exception with you is in the thought that this value cannot be explained to your average rational being, and if such artists are going to ask for public funding, then they should be willing to produce "accessible" pieces. "The Emperor's New Clothes" from back in elementary school taught me that one should never just accept something as true because a so-called expert says so; there is a halfway decent chance the expert is a fraud.
So please, my dear reader, should you be so kind, dispel the initial images often invoked by the word "art." I want you instead to think of going to a car show, or a gun show, or an agricultural equipment show. It is a source of wonder to me that an individual who would yawn at the meticulous etchings of an 18th century silversmith will suddenly become enthralled at the etchwork done to the barrel of a rifle. Examples abound of this sort of distinction. Art, as it has traditionally been defined, is a skill or craft. In my job as a process engineer, I feel comfortable saying that I am practicing my art, and frankly I believe that life is best approached as working on a masterpiece.
There were many fine examples of these crafts; I do not believe I even saw a single painting on the bottom floor of the museum. Instead, there were furniture pieces (I do not know near enough about carpentry or woodworking; it would have been great to have my late grandpa there to tell me all about what I was seeing), glass-blowing pieces, intricately woven mats, ceramics, metal workings, wood carvings, just an incredible menagerie of pieces pointing to the ingenuity of humanity displayed through centuries all across the world.
I am an engineer at heart and I just loved looking at an object and thinking about how it was made. I read almost every display card (I usually don't get to do this when Alex is with me, its one of the reasons I spent so much time doing this while I was alone); I want to know when and where something I'm looking at was made, and if there is any detail describing how the object was made or what to look for to understand the fine craftsmanship achieved when creating the piece I love it even more. I use that information to construct in my mind's eye the noble craftsman lovingly and meticulously forming beauty and order out of the raw product. I find it any inspiration; it makes me want to treat all facets of my life with the same care as the craftsman.
This post is already getting long, so I will add more detail in parts to come. A poem that I memorized several years ago seems very appropriate here which you may read if you wish. Omnia Vincit Amour.
I do not know what exactly the response of our readers will be to this declaration, whether they will balk at the notion of spending that much time in an art museum or accept it as something a rational person would do. I guess I feel some need to justify myself.
Art can invoke some pretty strange images into the minds of different people. Some of that is deserved. I did see some of the weirder art that keeps many people from ever hazarding across the threshold of an art museum; one piece that struck me as having dubious value was four grey panels with a reflective surface, and that's it. There were other pieces I liked less, but that work in particular stands out as a "See? I can just donate my used deodorant dispenser to a museum and they'll call it art" moment.
A quick aside for any potential culturally advanced readers shaking their head at the unenlightened opinions recorded here: perhaps there is an argument to be made that such works have an intrinsic value. Where I take exception with you is in the thought that this value cannot be explained to your average rational being, and if such artists are going to ask for public funding, then they should be willing to produce "accessible" pieces. "The Emperor's New Clothes" from back in elementary school taught me that one should never just accept something as true because a so-called expert says so; there is a halfway decent chance the expert is a fraud.
So please, my dear reader, should you be so kind, dispel the initial images often invoked by the word "art." I want you instead to think of going to a car show, or a gun show, or an agricultural equipment show. It is a source of wonder to me that an individual who would yawn at the meticulous etchings of an 18th century silversmith will suddenly become enthralled at the etchwork done to the barrel of a rifle. Examples abound of this sort of distinction. Art, as it has traditionally been defined, is a skill or craft. In my job as a process engineer, I feel comfortable saying that I am practicing my art, and frankly I believe that life is best approached as working on a masterpiece.
There were many fine examples of these crafts; I do not believe I even saw a single painting on the bottom floor of the museum. Instead, there were furniture pieces (I do not know near enough about carpentry or woodworking; it would have been great to have my late grandpa there to tell me all about what I was seeing), glass-blowing pieces, intricately woven mats, ceramics, metal workings, wood carvings, just an incredible menagerie of pieces pointing to the ingenuity of humanity displayed through centuries all across the world.
I am an engineer at heart and I just loved looking at an object and thinking about how it was made. I read almost every display card (I usually don't get to do this when Alex is with me, its one of the reasons I spent so much time doing this while I was alone); I want to know when and where something I'm looking at was made, and if there is any detail describing how the object was made or what to look for to understand the fine craftsmanship achieved when creating the piece I love it even more. I use that information to construct in my mind's eye the noble craftsman lovingly and meticulously forming beauty and order out of the raw product. I find it any inspiration; it makes me want to treat all facets of my life with the same care as the craftsman.
This post is already getting long, so I will add more detail in parts to come. A poem that I memorized several years ago seems very appropriate here which you may read if you wish. Omnia Vincit Amour.
The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.
Week in, week out, from morn till night,
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.
His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.
Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.
And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.
He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.
It sounds to him like her mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.
Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.
Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.
And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.
He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter's voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.
It sounds to him like her mother's voice,
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.
Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.
Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Top 14 of 2014
Every day ESPN has the Top Ten plays of the day. On Fridays they also show the Not Top 10 plays of the week which is almost more entertaining. We would like to share our own "Top Ten" list for 2014 but it actually includes 14 items and most are not necessarily the "top plays" of our year but some random highlights. So here goes:
1.Worms-- This year we became worm farmers. The fact that we raise worms in our basement has been a point of conversation several times with different people. One day I was eating lunch with several co-workers and our supervisor. The co-workers were sharing pictures and stories of their kids, grandkids, and pets. My supervisor asked me if we had any pets and I mentioned our worm farm-- I was the subject of office jokes that day. Our worms are named Dennis and are thriving in the basement. We actually "harvested" compost the other evening and there was a lot of worms and even more compost. They live off of our kitchen scraps and a large quantity of the local newspaper that has been shredded up.
2. Gardening-- In addition to the worms I had our inaugural year of gardening. Since we don't have any yard space all of the gardening was done in containers. The outdoor growing season went well and we tried several new recipes to use the piles of produce. We have expanded into using grow lights in the basement to grow salads and start seeds-- the jury is still out on the success of this project.
3. Mother Earth News Conference-- One of our shared interests as a couple is sustainability. We have watched documentaries, read books, and even attended a conference that was held locally. Right now our sustainability practices are limited to recycling and composting but we are dreaming about what we could do in the future. Some of our interests that we attended seminars on at the conference were gardening, energy efficiency, aquaponics, and sustainable home design.
4. Netflix-- As previously mentioned we enjoy a lot of documentaries. We both love learning new things and have watch documentaries on wine tasting, ballet, building Steinway pianos, and Lipizzaner horses. We have also watched several different TV series on Netflix as well. We finally got a TV at the end of the year so have upgraded from huddling around a laptop in the evening.
5. Spurs Basketball-- This one is Arthur's highlight of the year. San Antonio won the NBA Championship and he was a very happy man. Throughout the playoffs he was so excited to watch each game and the "poetry in motion" that is Spurs basketball.
6. Winter Olympics-- My sporting highlight of the year was the winter Olympics. We cuddled up in the basement and watched hours of figure skating, cross country skiing, bobsledding, etc. and marveled at these stellar athletes and what they could accomplish.
7. Triathlon-- We enjoyed watching some of our favorite sports on TV but even participated in some of our own. We trained and competed in our first triathlon. I had to work hard to refine my swimming skills and Arthur worked on his 5K. We met our goals as far as time and were just out of placing in our age groups. But we caught the triathlon bug and will try to compete this next summer as well.
8. Biking-- The leg of the triathlon that we enjoyed training for the most was biking. We got Arthur a bike this year and did several rides on the county roads in our area. We did a long organized ride which still makes my backside ache when I think about it-- our seats were not so plush. My new year resolution for 2014 was to ride 1200 miles on my bike-- equal to the distance around the perimeter of Kansas. I did finally met this goal on Dec. 29-- made it by the skin of my teeth.
9. Arkansas-- We took our belated honeymoon to Arkansas in May. They say Arkansas is one of the best kept secrets as far as states with natural beauty and we would agree with that. We visited an art gallery, a botanical garden, and Hot Springs National Park. We stayed at state parks in cabins which were wonderful. We did some kayaking and also hiked several miles throughout the trip and loved the scenery.
10. Colorado-- Our other trip was to Colorado to a family camp with my family. Arthur survived his first family vacation with the in-laws. There was more hiking on this trip as we took a day trip up to some mountain lakes that were gorgeous. We also took a jeep excursion to the Great Sand Dunes and explored the Dunes and a nearby waterfall.
11. RV Hall of Fame-- This probably goes more in the random category. I took a road trip with a few friends to a wedding in Indiana. One of the highlights was taking a picture by the RV Hall of Fame just because I love quirky things like that.
12. 1st Anniversary-- Speaking of weddings, a highlight was that we didn't get married or have to plan a wedding this year-- hooray. We did celebrate 1 year of marriage with stargazing and Italian food.
13. Art Class-- In the spring our weekly date nights included attending an intro to drawing class for adults put on by the art council in town. Arthur learned some of the basics of drawing and I fell in love with drawing which I hadn't done much since high school. We learned about lighting, perspective, shading, and shape. This background has come in handy when discussing and appreciating art work at some art museums we have gone to recently.
14. Woodworking-- We also got to learn some new skills when we built our new dining table as a family project. There were several weekends of sanding, construction, and staining. We have then used the table to host some gatherings so far and are looking forward to sharing more time with friends and family around our table.
So there you have it. Hopefully we have enough material next year to come up with "15 Top Plays". Omnia Vincit Amor.
1.Worms-- This year we became worm farmers. The fact that we raise worms in our basement has been a point of conversation several times with different people. One day I was eating lunch with several co-workers and our supervisor. The co-workers were sharing pictures and stories of their kids, grandkids, and pets. My supervisor asked me if we had any pets and I mentioned our worm farm-- I was the subject of office jokes that day. Our worms are named Dennis and are thriving in the basement. We actually "harvested" compost the other evening and there was a lot of worms and even more compost. They live off of our kitchen scraps and a large quantity of the local newspaper that has been shredded up.
2. Gardening-- In addition to the worms I had our inaugural year of gardening. Since we don't have any yard space all of the gardening was done in containers. The outdoor growing season went well and we tried several new recipes to use the piles of produce. We have expanded into using grow lights in the basement to grow salads and start seeds-- the jury is still out on the success of this project.
3. Mother Earth News Conference-- One of our shared interests as a couple is sustainability. We have watched documentaries, read books, and even attended a conference that was held locally. Right now our sustainability practices are limited to recycling and composting but we are dreaming about what we could do in the future. Some of our interests that we attended seminars on at the conference were gardening, energy efficiency, aquaponics, and sustainable home design.
4. Netflix-- As previously mentioned we enjoy a lot of documentaries. We both love learning new things and have watch documentaries on wine tasting, ballet, building Steinway pianos, and Lipizzaner horses. We have also watched several different TV series on Netflix as well. We finally got a TV at the end of the year so have upgraded from huddling around a laptop in the evening.
5. Spurs Basketball-- This one is Arthur's highlight of the year. San Antonio won the NBA Championship and he was a very happy man. Throughout the playoffs he was so excited to watch each game and the "poetry in motion" that is Spurs basketball.
6. Winter Olympics-- My sporting highlight of the year was the winter Olympics. We cuddled up in the basement and watched hours of figure skating, cross country skiing, bobsledding, etc. and marveled at these stellar athletes and what they could accomplish.
7. Triathlon-- We enjoyed watching some of our favorite sports on TV but even participated in some of our own. We trained and competed in our first triathlon. I had to work hard to refine my swimming skills and Arthur worked on his 5K. We met our goals as far as time and were just out of placing in our age groups. But we caught the triathlon bug and will try to compete this next summer as well.
8. Biking-- The leg of the triathlon that we enjoyed training for the most was biking. We got Arthur a bike this year and did several rides on the county roads in our area. We did a long organized ride which still makes my backside ache when I think about it-- our seats were not so plush. My new year resolution for 2014 was to ride 1200 miles on my bike-- equal to the distance around the perimeter of Kansas. I did finally met this goal on Dec. 29-- made it by the skin of my teeth.
9. Arkansas-- We took our belated honeymoon to Arkansas in May. They say Arkansas is one of the best kept secrets as far as states with natural beauty and we would agree with that. We visited an art gallery, a botanical garden, and Hot Springs National Park. We stayed at state parks in cabins which were wonderful. We did some kayaking and also hiked several miles throughout the trip and loved the scenery.
10. Colorado-- Our other trip was to Colorado to a family camp with my family. Arthur survived his first family vacation with the in-laws. There was more hiking on this trip as we took a day trip up to some mountain lakes that were gorgeous. We also took a jeep excursion to the Great Sand Dunes and explored the Dunes and a nearby waterfall.
11. RV Hall of Fame-- This probably goes more in the random category. I took a road trip with a few friends to a wedding in Indiana. One of the highlights was taking a picture by the RV Hall of Fame just because I love quirky things like that.
12. 1st Anniversary-- Speaking of weddings, a highlight was that we didn't get married or have to plan a wedding this year-- hooray. We did celebrate 1 year of marriage with stargazing and Italian food.
13. Art Class-- In the spring our weekly date nights included attending an intro to drawing class for adults put on by the art council in town. Arthur learned some of the basics of drawing and I fell in love with drawing which I hadn't done much since high school. We learned about lighting, perspective, shading, and shape. This background has come in handy when discussing and appreciating art work at some art museums we have gone to recently.
14. Woodworking-- We also got to learn some new skills when we built our new dining table as a family project. There were several weekends of sanding, construction, and staining. We have then used the table to host some gatherings so far and are looking forward to sharing more time with friends and family around our table.
So there you have it. Hopefully we have enough material next year to come up with "15 Top Plays". Omnia Vincit Amor.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Hot and Spicy
Our New Year's Day was spent puttering around the house and it was
wonderful. I frankly love puttering. My objective for the day was to
put away Christmas decorations and do some general organization as well
as getting rid of things we don't need or aren't using. The kitchen was
the main priority. I reorganized the Tupperware drawer, went through
the cabinets to determine what needed to be used, and reorganized stuff
so it actually fit in the cabinet. This process led to a counter of
random items that needed used and some opportunity to be creative. I
decided to make a trail mix with the handful of cheerios, the almost
empty bag of broken pretzels, 2 chunks of almond bark leftover from the
holidays, and a half used bag of M&M. I melted the almond bark and
mixed in the trail mix and it was wonderful. I think I will use the
random box of mac and cheese with the random can of SPAM together
sometime next week for some concoction.
Arthur loves Asian food so I thought I would whip up some Peanut
Pad Thai for him since cooking is a sure-fire way to a man's heart. At
one of the white elephant gift exchanges this year we received a jar of
spicy peanut butter. I have never seen this before and thought it might
had a little kick in the peanut sauce I was making for the Pad Thai.
It turned out to be more of a Walker Texas Ranger roundhouse kick to the
mouth. We are both feather weights when it comes to spicy food so this
was out of our league. I think Arthur made it through 3 bites and I
handled about 7 or 8 before we threw in the towel. We also consumed
about a 1/2 gallon of milk in the process. Even my gums were on fire.
Further investigation showed that the label on the jar read "The Heat is
On"-- no false advertising here. The ingredients included cayenne
peppers, chili powder,and red pepper flakes. We decided to toss out the
whole kit-and-caboodle which was difficult since we hate to waste food
but realized the alternative plan of consuming it ourselves could lead
to third degree burns in our mouths. Then Arthur called in and ordered a
pizza which was great. The one silver lining is that I have had a cold
and stuffed up sinuses this past week but a few bites of Peanut Pad
Thai cleared it up for several hours. I'm pretty sure that Arthur would
have persevered and eaten the entire bowl if necessary as to not insult
my cooking. Of course if I can't eat my own cooking then it isn't an
insult--right? His comment was that I once drank a large oatmeal
smoothie that was the consistency of liquid plywood once just because he
made it for me (it was truly awful) and he was willing to suffer equally. Sometimes love does require
suffering for one another but I think there are limits and eating spicy
Pad Thai is one of those. Omnia Vincit Amor.
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