Saturday, June 11, 2016
Life Post: Animals, Teeth, and Things
A lot of what I said in my last life post holds true now as well. By now, I've more or less settled into a summer break routine, and the days have begun doing that thing where they all blend together. If I didn't use my planner so obsessively, I doubt I'd know what day it is.
That being said, there have been some days that broke the routine. Last week my family and I went to the Indianapolis Zoo. It had been a while since I had been to the zoo, and it was fun. I got to touch a shark and see a baby monkey. Honestly, I think the cutest moment for me was watching the polar bear because it was adorable floating around in the water, but my favorite moment was probably with the birds. I held a parrot on my hand for the first time, and I think the experience kind of made me want one. In the past, parrots were one of the few types of animals that I wasn't too interested in owning, but now it seems so much more appealing.
Other than that, most of the fun stuff that's happened to me has been going out to lunch with my grandma and then one of my best friends and stuff like that.
In less than great news, the fillings that the dentist had to fix about a month ago (and 'fix' as in do it a second time) are hurting me. They've been bothering me on and off since the appointment, but at first, I thought it was temporary. Now, I can't really eat on that side of my mouth, especially if the food is even remotely hard. Brushing my teeth isn't too bad, but flossing almost kills me every night. I always forget about that tooth until the floss is down in there and there's nothing I can do but suffer.
At this point, I feel like I'm going to have to go back to the dentist and get something done with it again, and I am beyond dreading it. Fingers crossed that I don't actually have to have anything done, but I'm not sure how else this would be fixed. I don't think it's normal to not be able to eat on one side of your mouth one month after getting a filling. Let's just hope that, if it gets fixed again, this time it actually gets fixed.
That being said, there have been some days that broke the routine. Last week my family and I went to the Indianapolis Zoo. It had been a while since I had been to the zoo, and it was fun. I got to touch a shark and see a baby monkey. Honestly, I think the cutest moment for me was watching the polar bear because it was adorable floating around in the water, but my favorite moment was probably with the birds. I held a parrot on my hand for the first time, and I think the experience kind of made me want one. In the past, parrots were one of the few types of animals that I wasn't too interested in owning, but now it seems so much more appealing.
Other than that, most of the fun stuff that's happened to me has been going out to lunch with my grandma and then one of my best friends and stuff like that.
In less than great news, the fillings that the dentist had to fix about a month ago (and 'fix' as in do it a second time) are hurting me. They've been bothering me on and off since the appointment, but at first, I thought it was temporary. Now, I can't really eat on that side of my mouth, especially if the food is even remotely hard. Brushing my teeth isn't too bad, but flossing almost kills me every night. I always forget about that tooth until the floss is down in there and there's nothing I can do but suffer.
At this point, I feel like I'm going to have to go back to the dentist and get something done with it again, and I am beyond dreading it. Fingers crossed that I don't actually have to have anything done, but I'm not sure how else this would be fixed. I don't think it's normal to not be able to eat on one side of your mouth one month after getting a filling. Let's just hope that, if it gets fixed again, this time it actually gets fixed.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Fictional Foods I Wish I Could Try
Most books don't include foods that you can't find in the real world, but there are still numerous examples of foods that authors have created for their worlds over the years. Over the years, I've been able to amass a list of fictional foods that I wish I could try, and I imagine the cravings will stay with me for years, since there's no way I can create most of these.
Chocolate frogs from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. As far as fictional foods go, the wizarding world's food could form a list of its own. I'd try it all for the experience, even the cockroach clusters, but chocolate frogs hold the most draw for me. I would have chosen butterbeer, but I debated with myself whether drinks should count for this list and decided that they wouldn't. Plus, you can try butterbeer (and pumpkin juice) in the theme parks, studio tour, etc. that (in my mind at least) tastes a lot like "real" butterbeer (and is delicious).
Chocolate frogs are available in the theme parks as well, and I've had them along with the Harry Potter Alliance's chocolate frogs and a chocolate frog that was given to me by a woman cosplaying as McGonagall at LeakyCon 2011. They're good, as I would expect them to be, but it can't measure up to the experience of eating a real chocolate frog from the Harry Potter universe. We can make the butterbeer and the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (even if they contain less flavors) and whatnot, but we can't make chocolates that jump around like frogs. Without that, I'm never going to have the experience of eating a chocolate frog, even if I won't complain about getting any Muggle chocolate frogs either.
Fire flakes from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I have more questions about fire flakes than answers. Are they like potato chips, coconut flakes, or something else entirely? In my mind, they look like red coconut flakes, but I can't place their flavor other than "hot". We don't learn what they're made of other than "spices", so it's hard to pinpoint what you'd be eating.
The thing is, I don't like foods that are as spicy as these are implied to be. If this was a food available in grocery stores, I doubt I'd pay it much attention, but after being in my favorite TV show and being unavailable to me, it's created a curiosity that would lead to me buying them if given the chance. Even if I only took one bite and then was done with them forever.
Lembas from the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Who wouldn't enjoy the convenience of having lembas around? I certainly would. It's another one of those foods that we could try to imitate shallowly, but we'd never be able to re-create its magical properties.
Peeta's cheese buns from the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. This choice is different from the others in that we could make a good imitation of it in our world. I'm sure the ingredients are easy to find, and someone somewhere has probably made some of these that are exactly what Peeta was baking. Still, we don't know Peeta's exact recipe, and that's what I'm most curious about. These are Katniss' favorite, which only makes me want to try them more. (Plus, cheese and bread is always a nice combination.)
There are plenty of other fictional foods out there that people crave, whether its something that could never exist in our world or just a specific recipe that you know that you'll never be able to get. What fictional foods do you wish you had the opportunity to try?
Chocolate frogs from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. As far as fictional foods go, the wizarding world's food could form a list of its own. I'd try it all for the experience, even the cockroach clusters, but chocolate frogs hold the most draw for me. I would have chosen butterbeer, but I debated with myself whether drinks should count for this list and decided that they wouldn't. Plus, you can try butterbeer (and pumpkin juice) in the theme parks, studio tour, etc. that (in my mind at least) tastes a lot like "real" butterbeer (and is delicious).
Chocolate frogs are available in the theme parks as well, and I've had them along with the Harry Potter Alliance's chocolate frogs and a chocolate frog that was given to me by a woman cosplaying as McGonagall at LeakyCon 2011. They're good, as I would expect them to be, but it can't measure up to the experience of eating a real chocolate frog from the Harry Potter universe. We can make the butterbeer and the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (even if they contain less flavors) and whatnot, but we can't make chocolates that jump around like frogs. Without that, I'm never going to have the experience of eating a chocolate frog, even if I won't complain about getting any Muggle chocolate frogs either.
Fire flakes from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I have more questions about fire flakes than answers. Are they like potato chips, coconut flakes, or something else entirely? In my mind, they look like red coconut flakes, but I can't place their flavor other than "hot". We don't learn what they're made of other than "spices", so it's hard to pinpoint what you'd be eating.
The thing is, I don't like foods that are as spicy as these are implied to be. If this was a food available in grocery stores, I doubt I'd pay it much attention, but after being in my favorite TV show and being unavailable to me, it's created a curiosity that would lead to me buying them if given the chance. Even if I only took one bite and then was done with them forever.
Lembas from the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Who wouldn't enjoy the convenience of having lembas around? I certainly would. It's another one of those foods that we could try to imitate shallowly, but we'd never be able to re-create its magical properties.
Peeta's cheese buns from the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. This choice is different from the others in that we could make a good imitation of it in our world. I'm sure the ingredients are easy to find, and someone somewhere has probably made some of these that are exactly what Peeta was baking. Still, we don't know Peeta's exact recipe, and that's what I'm most curious about. These are Katniss' favorite, which only makes me want to try them more. (Plus, cheese and bread is always a nice combination.)
There are plenty of other fictional foods out there that people crave, whether its something that could never exist in our world or just a specific recipe that you know that you'll never be able to get. What fictional foods do you wish you had the opportunity to try?
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