Comfort Food

 

Comfort in small amounts is a good thing, however overindulgence makes it difficult to button one’s pants.

Like all of us, life has a funny way of getting me down sometimes, however, there are certain things that can pick up my spirits.  My top two are chocolate and ice cream.  As I have mentioned in previous articles, I make a homemade shake from chocolate ice cream called a Swavel that makes me feel like a happy camper again.

A word of caution, before we go any further.  Comfort foods, if forced upon another individual, can cause stress rather relieve it.    Once, as a frustrated parent, I tried to make my eldest daughter eat ice cream.  Dumb I know, but I had bought it for her at a baseball game and thought it would be wasteful for her not to finish it.  It only made her cry when I started to raise my voice and give her an ultimatum.  Leave it to me to make comfort food something that can upset you.

Often in my life, I have heard more than one person who mentioned that a bowl of ice cream made them feel better.  It didn’t solve all their problems, but it gave them solace for a few moments and an opportunity to relax and disconnect from the world for a moment. Jennifer Garner, star of the move, Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, offered this piece of advice “The best kind of bad days are the kind that are fixed with chocolate reading a book at night and a bath.”

Which begs the question, “why do certain foods bring us comfort?”  An article written by Adi Kochavi on March 3^rd, 2008, in the Cornell Daily Sun offers some clarity.  In her article she quotes the researcher, Brian Wasnik, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of the book, MINDLESS EATING.

The following are some of those intriguing insights which shed some light on the properties of comfort food:

-The three foods most men considered to be their favorite comfort foods were ice cream, soup and pizza or pasta. “Many [men] said that when they ate these foods they felt ‘spoiled,’ ‘pandered,’ ‘taken care of’ or ‘waited on.’ Generally they associated these foods with being the focus of attention from either their mother or wife,” the book stated.

-For women, snack-like foods — candy, cookies, ice cream, chocolate — were hassle-free. Part of their comfort was to not have to make anything or clean anything up.”

-Overall, it appears that comfort foods are “eaten to either help maintain a positive mood or to repair a negative mood,”

-Past associations with foods are the most common reason a food becomes a comfort food. Some of these associations can be linked to specific individuals or specific events. They also come to be associated with specific feelings that one likes to recall or wants to recapture,” he stated. “In all instances, the general feelings evoked — feelings of safety, love, homecoming, appreciation, control, victory, or empowerment — are ones that pull us to these foods.”

Coincidently, both genders seem to find ice cream as a food that comforts them.  Off the top of my head I don’t know the molecular break down of ice cream, but somehow it just seems to soothe most everybody. With that being said, this article is making me hungry for a chocolate shake.  And why not, life is short and within reason it should be enjoyed more than just tolerated. 

Swavel

 

Grapes Explode

 

Life is usually a lot less painful if we only we paid a bit more attention to it.

Just the other day I heard this interesting fact, grapes explode if you microwave them. A great fact, albeit a little obvious.  Then again when I look at my own life I have done some pretty dumb things myself.

So, I made a list of things I have done and/or things I strongly suggest you not try:

1- Don’t microwave anything containing aluminum foil.  At my first job I tried to microwave a cheesesteak in a brown wrapper, unbeknownst to me, that was lined with aluminum foil. Consequently, it caught on fire and an elderly lady from work stomped on my sandwich till the fire went out.

2- Don’t lock your keys in your car.  Sadly, this just happened to me in the last year or so.  Bottom line is keep your keys on your person at all times or have back-up keys readily accessible.  Also, I learned my car is not that hard to break into, which should alarm me, but does not for some odd reason.

3- Don’t trim weeds where concealed poison ivy might be lurking, especially if you are susceptible to getting it.  This is a lesson I seem to re-visit every few years or so.  Too much of a hurry seems to be at the root of this problematic state.

4- Don’t turn on too many appliances at once, because you will blow a fuse.  The reason behind this problem is forgetting to consider the consequences and I rent an older house.  Should know better.  If the AC, microwave and coffee maker are all on at the same time, you better be ready to run to the cellar and flip the breaker.

 5- Don’t wear a good shirt when you are brushing your teeth.  Combination of not planning ahead and not caring till it’s too late results in a pesky stain on my shirt.  The temporary solution is to change the shirt or hope it washes out, which it seldom does.

6- Don’t wear a good shirt and then drink coffee. Same solution as # 5.  You would think that I would learn. The lousy part about coffee stains is that they hurt a little as well, not to mention it is a little embarrassing trying to dry your shirt at work with a hand dryer.

 

7- Don’t leave ball point pens or markers in your pants’ pockets when they go through the washer.  This is a serious point of contention with the family and I understand why they feel this way.  Reason being is that I have an obsession with always carrying writing utensils with me at all times.

8- Don’t drop electronic devices or else you might break them.  Aka Tom Brady.  I added this one to make myself feel better.  If a pro athlete can ruin his phone, than we all should feel a little bit better when we do something a little klutzy.

9- Don’t forget to check the oil in your car on a regular basis.  Sadly, this is lesson I have derived from personal experience while dating my wife.  What can I say, I missed the automotive gene in my family, but there is still no good excuse for that one.

10- Don’t step on LEGOS in your bare feet.  When you do step on a LEGO without protection, and I have, it is like stepping on shards of glass.  Automatically you feel an uncontrollable urge to utter bad words.

Therefore what should one take away from observing such mishaps?  The answer is simple: be more compassionate. As a result, when I see other people stumble in life or get poison ivy, which I currently have, I need to give them the benefit of the doubt and not pass judgment on them.  But, for the grace of God there go I.

We laugh when we hear that grapes explode in a microwave, yet many of us are making a mess of our own lives by making similar nonsensical choices.

Swavel

 

Rusty Cable Wire

It is good to remember what was, learn from it and continue moving forward.

There it was, treetop height above my head, an old rusty cable wire stretched from one side of the river bank to the other.  It hung in the air like a well loved memory, begging for its story to be told.  So, here goes.

  

Just the other week my family and I went to a picnic on the Lehigh River, about seven walking miles from Easton.  It was there that we were generously offered the opportunity to take a speed boat tour of the river,  As my wife and two girls were enjoying the ride we drove under a strange, rusty cable wire.  So, my wife asked the driver what it was dangling ominously over our heads.  He replied that it was the only remaining object left from a onetime amusement park called Island Park that had been abandoned years ago.

Island Park, located near Easton, Pennsylvania is a fascinating story.  Built in 1894 it was a quaint little amusement park that captured the early twentieth century imagination. It was quite the charming amusement park for its day.  A trolley company built the park on an island, spanning up to 100 acres.  To get to the park the trolleys would run from Easton, then along the scenic Lehigh river and then finally over a trestle onto the island.

The park’s notable rides consisted of a roller coaster, merry-go round, Ferris wheel, and a miniature Black Diamond train.  There was also a dance pavilion, picnic grooves as well and an outdoor amphitheater, where John Philip Sousa performed on more than one occasion.  Quite the place for the young and old alike to relax and enjoy a little bit of heaven for a day.

Sadly, the ill-conceived park gave way to Mother Nature when numerous ice flows during the winters decimated the trolley trestle more than once.  Consequently, in 1919 the park had its last season and then closed selling off all their rides. Hard to believe something so wonderful had an expiration date, but life is funny that way.

As we continued cruising on our boat ride, it seemed sad that what sounded like a  once magical place now lay hidden by an over gown mass of greenery.  As if had never been inhabited at all. A tree shrouded island with secrets waiting to be told had fallen victim to here today and gone tomorrow.

 

All of us, like Island Park, follow this premise: we are created, we exist, and then we ultimately meet our end.   Which leads me to this major burning question - will you leave a lasting impression with your life?

May all our lives be remembered for more than just a rusty cable wire.   

Swavel

Author’s Note: Information about Island Park was taken form an article in the Morning Call written  on Sept 11^th, 1994 by Denise Reaman