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Ingredients 2

So, I mentioned last time that I've been put to work as the second in command in the kitchen with the Mild Girlfriend. This has already resulted in a few laughs, and at least a couple of funny social media exchanges with friends of ours. Like I said, it's been fun. Little did I realize, though, there was one other surprise waiting for me.

You know how some people can pick out all the ingredients in their food and then try to recreate the dish? Well, I can't do that. I've got too bad a sense of smell for it, for one. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I've never really had the motivation or the appropriate skills for the task. Other than obvious ingredients like onions or cheese, I don't really play with the underlying items enough to know how they smell or taste by themselves. When you mix them together, it gets even more jumbled up. All I know is that it's "food" and it tastes good.

So, I've always been a little amazed when other folks could do that, but I never really pictured myself in that role. It's a little bit like my take on travel as a kid. I knew that places like Cambodia existed, but I never pictured myself in said places. It's not like I have to analyze every last meal I have (that'd get old, real fast), either. I still want to sit down and just enjoy a random burger at a random diner, you know? I am a simple man of simple tastes, after all (we're going to conveniently ignore the famous Oscar Wilde quote along those lines, "I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best").

Surprisingly, this has started to change a little bit recently. The other day, I asked for a breakfast sandwich at brunch with the Mild Girlfriend. There was something slightly different/tasty in how they cooked it, so I was trying to figure out what was in my food. The Mild Girlfriend also tried a bite, and we eventually figured out that they'd mixed in herbs with the eggs. As we were discussing it, though, I started looking at the sandwich in my hands, and I started to wonder if I could make it myself. It looked like it was reasonable enough to prepare, and it was similar to stuff we'd cooked a few weeks back (that's actually how I knew what to look for) ...

Holy crap. I was doing it. I was picking out the ingredients in my food. Now, I realize that this is quite common to most people, but growing up, I was the one who couldn't tell you the difference between white meat and red meat until I was a teenager. This was a bit of an accomplishment for me, and I was quite amused with myself.

Though perhaps to bring me back down to Earth a little bit, I realized only a few hours later that nutmeg was not sweet. I'd thought it was all my life. My guess was that was the case because it'd always paired with cinnamon in anything I've consumed. Whatever the reason, I'm not about to proclaim victory just quite yet. I still have to work on this whole picking-out-ingredients-in-my-food thing.

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