iscah meal log 051917

May. 19th, 2017 09:30 am = week 5 begins, bucko! ♥

Breakfast= a bacon, egg, & cheese english muffin, an orange, orange juice, orange spice tea, vanilla Greek yogurt, vanilla Ensure, & vanilla soymilk. A creamsicle-colored breakfast, essentially! ♥ This one is my favorite of the whole week, I think, because of that continuous flavor harmony-- but the omelette days, ESPECIALLY yesterday, are quite the close second! And of course the French toast + eggs breakfast is a sheer blessing, too. Heck, let's forget about favoritism entirely! That just serves to decrease true appreciation, joy, & gratitude. My REAL favorite breakfast is ALL OF THEM, in their own way-- although I must admit I do enjoy eggs the most. Like today! But first, the other foods, starting with orange. I ate the entire orange, literally, as usual, again comparing it to the OJ, appreciating the differences in "vibe height" and color luminosity & hue density. I really love the fresh, bright, clear orange of the fruit, paired wit the chartreuse-tinged citrus-oil bitter "dry rind" white & matte-dull-orange taste of the peel. I cut it up with the knife! Fruit & peel together in lovely little wedges, and the OJ richly color-tasting, "warmer" in contrast. As for the vanilla foods? The yogurt is STILL beautifully "soured," and still clearly sweet-light vanilla! ♥ BUT! Somehow, orange-fruit juice got on the spoon! And so I got an unexpected legit "creamsicle" combo that was AMAZING! The brilliant zip of orange clean citrus and the gentle, docile sweet softness of vanilla, together make this BEAUTIFUL clear, bright, joyous melody! I'm going to try a literal piece of orange with the yogurt next week, see what that's like! ♥ The soymilk was lovely-creamy-smooth as always, more "off white" than the yogurt's blossom-innocent delicateness-- the soy has a hint of taupe? It's just barely "grounded" more, the light dimmed to a soothing glow, like morning sunlight just barely past dawn. Less "flower petal," more "early sunlight." And the Ensure? It DOES have a peculiarly banana-ish taste compared to those! But I think maybe, it tastes like the lattes I used to get at Borders? With how super-creamy it is. Well, I get an Ensure increase tomorrow I think, so we'll have more of it to taste! Lastly, that WONDERFUL MUFFIN. The bread of said muffin was soft & sourdough-bitter sweet, absolutely delicious... the cheese was yellow-orange? Like an amber hue. And that, too, had a sweetness to its lovely cheesey salty-umami richness, pairing perfectly with the muffin. And the EGG!! Dude I have NO IDEA how they make the egg into a patty like that but its GLORIOUS. It's fluffy and the yolk is a little warmer in flavor and it's a bit salty and vaguely crisped at the edges and I LOVE IT. But the big surprise? The BACON! It was a dark, almost purplish brown, like roast beef but not so reddish. And there were a lot of pale-cream-colored wisps of fat through it, all nice. As for the flavor? Like I said last week, the immediate parallel is EASTER HAM, but not so pink, and without the water!! It's VERY salty, but also not as "crisp" as you'd expect-- because it was softened by the steam-warmth of the sandwich! So it had a rich ham flavor, but darkened by cooking with a slightly-smoked edge, and that punch of sodium that really "horizontal-izes" its flavor packet. It's very unique, very much a powerful taste intensity-- it actually reminds me a LOT of those jerky bites the boys get! It's that sort of heat dried & salted" pork taste, specifically the "chunky" softer kind they get in the red & green bags. In any case it's not sweet like those-- they are QUITE salty strips of pork! And that pan-fried oily "soft crispness" is key, too. Nevertheless, that salty punch was VERY unique on the muffin! A tad overwhelming at first, but I'll learn more next week. Last week, WITHOUT it, the muffin was sweeter-- the three softer, subtler ingredients staying rather meek, but beautifully so. But now? There's this BACON POWERHOUSE singing with them, and honestly? I'm excited to hear that new song a second time, to REALLY "hear" it! Bacon & cheese are close, in their salty-fat richness, but they need levity to really fly. Bacon does with egg, the whites a perfect complement, the yolk another similar warm-toned hue. But bacon's BEST match? The MUFFIN. Its subtle sweetness alone would be out of place-- white bread & bacon tend to be out of tune-- but that precious bitter tone? PERFECT. It holds that salty meatiness, AND its own sweetness, in this beautiful interplay of embracing tastes. And all together? Well, let's just say that I'm sure it was magnificent. I just couldn't hear it clearly this morning. But, thanks be to God, there IS an encore performance! ♥

Lunch= potato-encrusted cod, steamed broccoli, rice pilaf, double butter, a dinner roll, a brownie, and chocolate Ensure. I love this lunch! ♥ The brownie is so oily-densely-rich, and there's a substantial SALT taste in all that luxurious chocolate, probably from the butter! The chocolate chips taste cool in contrast, their clean-breaking hardness & matte-smooth texture a wonderful complement to the warmly thick, heavy-soft texture of the oiled & cocoaed flour. And that little bit of light-brown flaky sweet on top is so nice! "Brownie" chocolate tastes different from the other sorts I've identified so far-dairy chocolate, syrup chocolate, biscuit chocolate, cake chocolate, icing chocolate, candy chocolate-- the chips are the candy sort (like the NuGo bars!), and that also reminds me that there's a LOT of other "candy chocolates" but let's not get into that now, haha! Brownie chocolate, compared to all those others, specifically has that oily-flour aspect, AND the salt! SPECIFICALLY butter-salt. That's what makes it RICH. Because cake chocolate with oil wouldn't match, maybe inching a little closer to the biscuit taste... and with just salt, it'd be close, but not dense OR rich! Those qualities come from the butter! So, not only is this a mystery solved, but now I know how to emulate that texture-flavor in OTHER flour-based baked goods-- although, of course, they STILL won't have the gooey density that the COCOA, lends, as a binding agent!! Cinnamon can do the same but that is UNSAFE in large amounts! Possible tapioca or potato or even corn starch could mimic that effect? Dude, we'll have to see! It really is an art form. Edible alchemy. God's creativity given to us like a huge craft box-- here's His bounty of beauty & infinite potential; what shall we make with it? He delights in our playful work; He delights in our childlike joy in participating in His endless creative act... but we MUST be ever conscious of, and ever-grateful to, His Presence in the gifts, as well as in our ability to create, however limitedly, with them-- and, above all, in His Truth AS the Giver AND the Creator-- of every atom of every gift, AND every atom of US!! And if we live WITHIN that awareness, within that joyful gratitude & praise, every moment, every action becomes a prayer. It all becomes praise, becomes sharing, becomes a communicative communion with God, in & through grateful love. And you all know, I want EVERY BITE of EVERY MEAL to be a prayer. And Lord knows I did my best with this one-- with Laurie's constant help in reminding & encouraging me to stay as aware as possible! So! The dinner roll was, as usual, lovely airy-soft but flour-chewy-soft in the mouth, delicately cream-sweet, and with the matching salt-cream goodness of butter? It's a golden-cream colored joy. The rice pilaf actually tastes similar? But it's more starchy, more tacky-soft & less "dense" in the mouth but firmer in bite-resistance... and very buttery warm-gold in taste-color, with that ricey grain-warm offwhite undertone. The broccoli was "mushier" than usual today, less saturated & more olive-hued, but it was still kissed with steam-sweet and little caresses of butter gold mellowness. The water content in the flowery tops is so nice, too-- steamed broccoli has a really serenely joyful green flavor, even when nudged towards yellow like this one-- that just makes the smile warmer! The Ensure-- which I forgot earlier, I apologize-- was interesting to contrast to the brownie, too! It's close to dairy-chocolate, but with a totally different undertone... I'm trying to think of what you'd have to add to melted chocolate soft-serve to make it taste & feel like Ensure! I don't know, dude; I'll have to look at the ingredients for education's sake. Regardless! The last & best bit of this bunch, as always, was the POTATO COD!!! ♥ I LOVE how it LITERALLY tastes like the ocean. Like, FRESH ocean air. It's so light & sweet, so delightfully fishy... it falls apart on your fork! It honestly tastes like-- oh!! No, it's not ocean water; there's no salt-- it tastes like a LAKE!!! FRESH water in the great outdoors!! ♥ You know how natural water tastes like, with life swimmin' in it! THAT'S in the fish, now! ♥ And that potato addition. Dude. It's this perfect golden accent, soft & a bit salty & unusually a tad acrid? But I LOVE IT. And I hope it's OK if I try a bit of it alone next week, to really lock in its individual data. I want to love it ALL the more fully. So, as long as I put that sincere prayerfulness in all my actions & motives & thoughts, God WILL ensure that. ♥

Dinner= a cheeseburger on a white bun, two lettuce leaves, three tomato slices, 2% milk, cottage cheese, strawberry cream cake, cut peaches in syrup, and strawberry Ensure. I also took ONE ketchup packet to try on the burger AND the cottage cheese-- it's actually far too acidic for the burger WHEN there are ACTUAL tomatoes on it!! ♥ Yes, I ate the WHOLE CHEESEBURGER, quite literally, and I didn't peel off a single scrap of the bread! I'll admit, I did eat the tomato off the last two-bite piece, but it was slipping apart at that point (you gotta squish it to hold it together when there's so little bun left for stability!), so I hope that was okay. I just CAN'T DO THAT when the burger is complete!! I'll tell you what, it feels so good to be eating things as complete units now. It's so peaceful & content. I KNOW I'm doing the right thing, having good manners, setting a good example (I hope-- but I can't "try" or pride sets in!! A TRUE "good example" is the natural result of HUMBLE, CARING OBEDIENCE!), and-- most tangibly of all-- avoiding all DISORDERLY behavior!! My heart, and its Spirit-guided intuition, knows when I'm doing, OR considering, something disorderly... something that, by definition, destroys good structure-- Good structure!-- and harmony, and benevolent purpose. It KNOWS, and it TELLS ME! It's an awful sick feeling. It's what shame & guilt put their roots into, and if not UProoted, turn into choking thorns & weeds!! But I am letting that rotten crop starve. I am feeding & fertilizing & watering my GOOD heart-garden, instead!! Plant those good (Good!) seeds, bucko, and TAKE CARE OF THEM. Which I DID, in as simple an action as properly eating the burger! But that was an act of obedience & discipline, and every little penny added to the "Virtue Bank" adds up! ♥ So does every little act of Love-- which first manifested in this meal through the healing of those LOVELY peaches!! ♥ THAT TEXTURE! That tart bite upon such amber-orange, fresh-water bright but syrupy-sweet flavor! The texture is fibrous but the fibers snap softly? It's firm but it gives with a little resist-push & its so JUICY!! Dude I LOVE peaches. Some bits even had some of that vermilion-tinged fuzzy skin on 'em,and oh man. SO nice. They, too, taste their color-- the mix of amber-orange & light vermilion, and that taste of LIFE that all produce has!! Blissfull. AS WAS THE COTTAGE CHEESE! Compared to sips of milk-- slightly sweet & tasting that same flat-white-- it was AWESOMELY salty. It really was! The texture, all curdled, is blissful, just like those peaches-- and with a bit of ketchup? It's actually REALLY GOOD! The zesty heavy red really complements the cheesy, creamy curds. I think fresh cherry tomatoes would be even better. And THAT'S how bruschetta was invented, kids! Now, speaking of creamy goodness... WHAT A CAKE! I ate THAT whole, too, BUT the cake part is DENSER & moister & "heavier to chew" than the ganache cake on Tuesday! It also tastes like french vanilla, almost. Not buttery, but... richer vanilla. It's NICE! And paired with the PINK-tasting strawberry dessert-jelly filling, AND that silky smooth cream (which has just a touch of cloudy sweet)? It's lovely. It reminds me of the Mother's Day luxury cake I bought last year! And that jell reminds me SO much of something... I'll get back to you. (Do they SELL strawberry-slice jell in containers?? If so, that's it!) But data is still a tad blurry, so next week we go again! HOWEVER! Today, I got SOLID BURGER DATA!!! And I'll tell you what-- adding the lettuce & tomato was a GIFT FROM GOD. Without 'em, the vibe's too horizontal; all warm flat colors & it can get heavy. That's when the ketchup works with it-- it's a matching hue! BUT!!! Add the fresh, water-bright shine of real, live lettuce & tomato? And it gets totally UPLIFTED!!! The cheese sweetens! The bread brightens! The meat richens! It CHANGES, like a song when you add new melody lines, new instruments!! It was SO GOOD. ♥ The sweet white bun, the salty-rich cheese, the meat-- it tastes of LIFE, too, in its own way!!-- brown & strong & literally "meaty," and HAPPY in its robust harmony, respected & treasured-- all together? Yep, another taste of bliss. Another gift from God-- a tiny glimpse, a small sharing, in HIS blissfulness! ♥

Snack= intuition requested the SUN CHIP TRIAD and, yes, it was PERFECT. ♥ They, too, taste their maize color!! What little wonders. ♥