Saturday, May 29, 2010

doing the hurly burly




perhaps its the can of creamed corn i had for lunch today, but as the time for dinner draws nearer, my belly’s beginning to bubble and rumble and i’m overcome with memories. 


there was a morning many years ago, when my loving mother made me a papaya milk shake. ever had one? if you have and managed to keep it down, i salute you. mine parted company with me about two sips down, much to my mother’s disappointment. she told me that i was an ungrateful brat and that my bowels would remain clogged up forever if i didn’t eat more papaya. then she held my hair back while i puked all over her sparkling sofa.

there was also the time i went shopping with the folks at takashimaya in tokyo. my folks were always wary of tasting anything handed to them in the japanese food marts. you really never know when they'll hand you an octopus on a toothpick. that afternoon, however, i’d been having a feast at the chocolate and wine aisles. then i turned a corner and found myself holding a small platter of what looked like chopped fruit. ick, i thought and looked around for the nearest bin. but the little white uniformed lady who’d handed me the platter stood in my way smiling expectantly. cursing myself for getting cornered into eating fruit, i speared a couple of yellow and orange chunks on my toothpick and popped them into my mouth. the next minute i vomited exorcist style all over the pristine little lady. chocolate and wine and erm, all the sushi i've ever eaten.

a few years later, my friend K and i staggered into a bar in berlin. we were traveling on a student traineeship and perpetually poor and hungry as beggars. the strategy we’d evolved then was to eat a bun for breakfast, a slice of ‘happy meal’ pizza for lunch and the biggest and cheapest thing we could find on the bar menu for dinner. this evening, the cheapest and biggest thing happened to be blutwurst, the fattest sausage we’d ever seen. until we were about half way through, it was also the tastiest. then K – while flirting with the bartender – made the cardinal mistake of asking what it was we were eating. blood sausage, the good man beamed back, pig meat and rice cooked in pig blood and wrapped up in a sausage specially for you! that’s when K nipped her german romance in the bud and came to the loo to be sick with me instead.

perhaps the worst of my memories is the time my dear polish friend basia served me a bowl of her grandmother’s chicken soup. it was a secret family recipe that had taken her 90 year old grandmum all day to make. for you, the most special bowl, she beamed toothlessly at me. ooh look, it has the neck and leg in it, basia said and showed me. yup, i blew it all over that sweet old woman’s kitchen floor.

ufff. now if you’ll excuse me, i believe my belly would like to have another word.

image source: www.popartuk.com

18 comments:

Anupama said...

Awww...I hope you're well now Mentalie and your tummy is at peace.

Aside from that, absolutely enjoyed reading this bunch of memories although it involved a lot of throwing up. Very well narrated :)

Take lots of care!

-Anu

NIM said...

wow! it stomach is psychologically sensitive :p mine is the complete opposite! except when it comes to lizards and snakes! hope I never have to eat one of those!

Mathangi said...

Exactly the pukey fare my jetlagged head needed:)....bleeeyugh. Ok, send me your co-ordinates now; email maadi.

Soin said...

my body is simple.i puke if i see someone else puking. otherwise i dont. so i puke in every drinking ceremony we have. not my fault.i wouldnt have puked about the pig blood thing until the one next to me had puked.free

Anonymous said...

OH! To think that I liked you!!!
You made me read about puking(something that I thought I was the reigning Queen of), first thing after I wake up on a Saturday morn erm afternoon...I know I coulda stopped reading midway... before you started talking abut sweet piggies cooked in their own red blood....But damn woman! You write too bloody well...I could not stop myself...Now excuse me whilst I go and hurl into..well on the floor..Don't think I can make it to the loo...

Choco

Eveline said...

Dudette, sorry about the barf. It takes me days to settle down when I have a bad stomach... which i rarely you do. Dont read the next few lines, if you feeling queasy.
I probably can put anything in my mouth as long as it's fried. Yes, FRIED being the key word. Once a friend's mum made boiled bees. Yup, that didnt go down very well. Hope the Vomit Fairy stays away! I'll keep my fingers crossed that the puke doesn't return. :P

Ire said...

Papaya milkshake? Yuck...sorry. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this post...don't know why but I did!

Nice blog. Hope your tummy is good.

Blunt Edges said...

i can understand the other stuff...but what's wrong with "pig meat and rice cooked in pig blood and wrapped up in a sausage specially for you!"...that sure sounds yum! :D

Flickering Cursor said...

Pabulous post.

Sangfroid said...

What goes around, comes back around. What goes in. comes back out.

Just that you seem to be choosing the alternate outlet quite often :D

Gia Fernandes said...

Is it weird that I find all the things you've listed here yummy? Papaya milkshake, blood sausage, chicken soup (with neck & feet.. that's how u get the flavour) - what's not to love?
Btw I puked all the way from babyhood to adolescence, thanx to motion sickness (that included walking!).

ani_aset said...

Gawd eww i feel so bad for you. what else is left to eat now for you :)?

R said...

This could be freaky but my grandmother tried papaya milk shake on me as well. I turned into the least favourite of all her grandkids, as the rest of them were seen enjoying it endlessly, followed by chocolates. To think that it was my favourite chocolate then.

Punvati said...

Oh dear, poor old lady :D

Cynic in Wonderland said...

This might actually be one of the most well written TMI post I have read. Pig Blood is making me feel very, VERY queasy now - so I kinda hate you.
(Hope you are better tho!)

Y? said...

hahahaha sorry this is funny.

Jil Jil Ramamani said...

<< Vomit free since 2003 \m/ :D

:P said...

Carry plastic bag. Always.

last word by the acp

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