Wednesday, December 31, 2003

I'm just sitting down to write, and Rosalita the kitten jumps up on the desk. I'm irritated initially, thinking how annoyed I would be if Rosalita the kitten walked on the keyboard, or made me forget what I was thinking about on the way home. And then I realized that nothing would be more important than that moment with Rosa, not some thoughts driving home, that, if they are worthwhile ideas, will surface again. I still wonder about Coleridge's Xanadu, the irony dawning on me just now, that the lost poem is even more magical than the lost city, as imaginary as the words will now always be. Amanda reminded me tonight about my biscuit blog. Which made me very excited again, thinking about biscuits and the art and science of cooking. I wonder if I generated more meaningful, lasting and useful brain connections avoiding my History honors thesis by perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe than I would have by actually finishing the thesis. I think probably so. But as I was driving home to take a peek at CookWise, the best cookbook I think in the world, in how it actually talks about cooking, rather than just recipes, the difference, I guess, between enjoying math as arithematic versus calculus, representations of numbers versus the theorems for their very basis, the basis of how we experience our world, I thought about how fantastic the book would be if I could actually taste the recipes. Which would, in addition to simply being impossible to duplicate, barring use of some sophisticated neuro-electrical devices (which would somehow still need to duplicate the context of those tastes, well beyond the immediacy of flavor), spoil the point of the cooking, and the context of the act, and the well-spring of sensation that comes from the warmth of the hearth alone, let alone the texture of dough, the feel of a well balanced knife, the preparation and thought that goes into preparing food. Imagine if our world were on an evolutionary path divined by gastronomical concerns alone. The entire fusion of flavors, including the ancient spice routes even, going on globally is one of those many hopeful forces for world peace and reconciliation. Not a destruction of culture or diversity, but a celebration, an enhanced quality of life for all. When I  see a bottle of  curry ketchup in  G&W Meats, among all of their imported German specialty items, and find out that the Germans have developed a fondness for this strange Americanization of an English adaptation of Indian chutneys using a "New World" fruit as the base from the Turkish kebob vendors selling on the streets of Deutschland I take heart. I want to say Kofi Annan, married to a Swede himself, we need to get the world to break bread together by getting them to swap recipes for their favorite loaves. If I weren't so hungry write now, I'd do a loaf of Irish Soda bread myself tonight. Only I know I'd stay up and eat the whole thing. If I got past my urge to eat the dough. 1:13:20 AM