It's nice to be special...
So tonight, we had a favorite family dinner in the Park-Hagiwara household - roast vegetables, with pasta and feta cheese. Well, it is a favorite of mine, Seiko can't be arsed making it, and Akira tends to eat just the pasta.
Tonight I was determined to have it, since we'd harvested beetroot from the garden, and there was a courgette which was big enough to eat as well. Plus we didn't have the makings of anything else - better go to the shops tomorrow. But Seiko objected so much to chopping up half a dozen root vegetables that she volunteered to mix four bags of concrete instead. She had to give up after three, and ended up finishing the cooking anyway while I mixed the last bag (and laid the concrete). I'd forgotten how hard mixing conrete is on the back. But I don't think Seiko will for a while...
I've only recently been converted to beetroot. It was always something to be avoided when I was a child. It only ever came in jars in a purple liquid; I don't ever remember eating it but I know I didn't like it. It would have been different if I'd been told back then that it turns your wee pink. That's what we tell Alex anyway, and she eats it with relish. That is, with enjoyment, not any pickle type substance. I'm sure you understood.
So anyway, it is a lie. Well, it might really turn your wee pink, but I reckon you'd have to eats loads. Orange is more like it. Which leads on to Asparagus, which leaves your wee the same colour, but changes the smell. I thought I was ill, I was considering taking a sample to the doctor for an expert odour opinion, until Seiko mentioned the same phenomenon, and we tracked it down to incidences of eating asparagus.
It is actually slightly coincidental that we both experience the effect. Apparently only about 40% of people metabolise asparagus such that the effect occurs, and only 40% of people have the necessary nasal receptors to perceive the odour (see asparagus on wikipedia). That means that there is only a 1 in 5 chance that any individual would notice this effect in themselves, and only 1 in 25 couples would both notice it.
Isn't it nice to be special?
Tonight I was determined to have it, since we'd harvested beetroot from the garden, and there was a courgette which was big enough to eat as well. Plus we didn't have the makings of anything else - better go to the shops tomorrow. But Seiko objected so much to chopping up half a dozen root vegetables that she volunteered to mix four bags of concrete instead. She had to give up after three, and ended up finishing the cooking anyway while I mixed the last bag (and laid the concrete). I'd forgotten how hard mixing conrete is on the back. But I don't think Seiko will for a while...
I've only recently been converted to beetroot. It was always something to be avoided when I was a child. It only ever came in jars in a purple liquid; I don't ever remember eating it but I know I didn't like it. It would have been different if I'd been told back then that it turns your wee pink. That's what we tell Alex anyway, and she eats it with relish. That is, with enjoyment, not any pickle type substance. I'm sure you understood.
So anyway, it is a lie. Well, it might really turn your wee pink, but I reckon you'd have to eats loads. Orange is more like it. Which leads on to Asparagus, which leaves your wee the same colour, but changes the smell. I thought I was ill, I was considering taking a sample to the doctor for an expert odour opinion, until Seiko mentioned the same phenomenon, and we tracked it down to incidences of eating asparagus.
It is actually slightly coincidental that we both experience the effect. Apparently only about 40% of people metabolise asparagus such that the effect occurs, and only 40% of people have the necessary nasal receptors to perceive the odour (see asparagus on wikipedia). That means that there is only a 1 in 5 chance that any individual would notice this effect in themselves, and only 1 in 25 couples would both notice it.
Isn't it nice to be special?
posted by Tony @ 00:32
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