Category Archives: Ramblings

A Fork in the Road

Today I stand with two clear choices to make for the direction of my life. Do I take path A or B? This is what I must decide. Everyday of our lives we make these simple decisions, but every once in a while that choice is more defined, and has more far reaching affects.

Being at this point is a rather peculiar feeling, the clear possibilities in front of me are tantalizing and frightening, and feels like I’m at the precipice of choice. I can see both paths, and travelling down either one is tempting. Perhaps this is because both options before me are good choices. They have their down sides to be sure, but each offers me a great deal to look forward to.

No matter what I decide I think I will always wonder what was down the other path. At this moment I feel like I can see them both plainly, but that may change in time. The mists of my own indecision are clearing, and I look forward to what may come.

On Food and Traditions

A couple of years ago my mother mentioned to me that she worried that we never had any traditions growing up. At the time I thought she was being silly, and listed off a number of things that I considered to be our family traditions. What I noticed was that as I continued to sort through my memories, that I could nearly smell and taste the food. In a lot of ways this little chat with my mother was us recalling the food and atmosphere of our past.

Since that time I have been slowly building up a list of recipes that I consider to be our families recipes. We had lost a number of them over time, and it has been difficult to get some of them ‘just right’. These recipes are some of my favourite foods, however I wonder how much of that has to do with the happy memories that I associate with the smell. Would the food taste as good in future if I received a distressing phone call while eating it?

I can think of a number of people who can’t eat certain types of food simply because they had a bad reaction to it once. To what extent do our memories impact taste? I can imagine an old couple sitting together over a meal, and sharing a small knowing smile as they take the first bite, each remembering events and times that they shared with this food.

Perhaps I’m just being silly, but I wonder what foods hold the most memories, and whether food will taste better over time when it is often shared with good company.