Sunday, January 21, 2007

It's Just A Pool of Mushy Goo, Like Spaghetti-O's

Over my break, between working on a novel and working on a syllabus, I've had occassion to snack. Just a little. That's also why I haven't been posting much later. My brain, by the end of most days, is drained of words and expanding like a nebulae. It's like the face-scraper that Elisabeth Shue's character in Adventures in Babysitting describes as a making his victims into a "pool of mushy goo." My brain is often pool-like, mushy, and gooey.

That is not to complain. It's so fun to work on a novel and I love how the one I'm working on is turning out. And working on a syllabus is, um, fun. A different kind of fun. Like reading wikipedia-fun, or checking the friends section on Netflix-fun.

Anyway, all this fun requires some sort of brain food. And, contrary to what the title might have you believe, it's not spaghetti-O's. Although I do have some very happy memories involving spaghetti-O's, my sister, and table wars. But my perfect brain food these last few weeks has been Salsa Especial and Tortillas Salsa, both from Trader Joes. The tortillas are organic white corn, dusted with some sort of perfect spice (think Doritos), and in a bag that lasts for multiple weeks of snacking pleasure. You have to have a strong constitution for spicy and a non-aversion to cruddy fingertips, but if you can hack it, you have hours of snacking fun ahead of you.

I like the salsa so much that I talk to people at Trader Joe's about it, recommending that they try it. I usually have a policy of non-engagement with others at Trader Joe's, but really, when a combination of tomatoes, garlic, salts, and chiles is so good, there's nothing to do except act like a slightly crazy person in public.

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