Quadruple Earl Grey

Bergamot orange

When I'm not at work, I've been abstaining from coffee and filling the caffeine void with Earl Grey tea.  The coffee at the DFAC tastes burnt and too hot, the coffee at the 24 hour coffee shop is better but expensive and I know I have quality coffee at the office so I wait.  Ten years ago I was content to drink Lipton tea, thinking that was the height of tea drinking.  When I got to San Antonio, a fellow lieutenant's future wife was excited when I said I liked tea and then fell on the floor crying when I admitted to drinking Lipton.  After smelling salts brought her back to consciousness, she advised me to drink Earl Grey tea.  I've never looked back.

I revisited the 2002 film adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo starring Jim Caviezel.  For some reason I thought the sword fighting was a large part of the film, but it really only lasts a few minutes.  Richard Harris (of pre-Michael Gambon Dumbledore fame) steals the show as the imprisoned priest who educates, trains and mentors Edmond Dantes.  This sets the stage for the soon-to-be-escaping Dantes to claim the supposedly hidden treasure, destroy those who falsely imprisoned him and become his own man.

Even though it isn't necessarily classified as such, I see the film as a Bildungsroman or coming of age story.  Dantes was naive, uneducated and clumsy prior to his imprisonment.  Harris' character changed all that, using Dantes' revenge as fuel for the change.  However, this theme of "guy gets imprisoned-trains while in prison-seeks revenge" is used frequently and audiences buy it.  Films such as "Con Air" and "The Dark Knight Rises" show bare-chested, lean, bearded Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale preparing to return to greatness, while eating prison food and getting little sunlight.  How is your body going to build itself without proper nutrition and vitamin D?  Anyway, without taking too much thunder from Wikipedia's entry on the subject, the Dune, Harry Potter, Andrew Wiggin and The Dark is Rising novels are also treated as coming of age stories, but on a much more "messiah saving the world" scale.  They all give us regular folks the hope that, assuming you are the product of a millennial long breeding program, born into a wizarding family, third or seventh son (of a seventh son), you too, can save the world.

In addition to Earl Grey tea, I supped on breakfast that was an homage to Irish food and a dinner that was eggs on top of beef stew.  Oh, and I demolished a bag of macadamia nuts while watching Guy Pearce get trounced, as mentioned above.

That's cod liver oil on the right.

Butter

Till tomorrow, au revoir.

Sunday Morning

Pretty tired and going to hopefully conk out soon.  These made me laugh.

Goodnight

Smell

I am down to one remaining can of tuna in my drawer at work.  I've been eating them a good bit lately to use them up.  The only can opener at work is the one on my cheap leatherman, which reminds me of a P-38.  Twenty-nine kah-lunks and sprays of tuna juice to open the can lid.  When I was younger and just started going hunting, we carried one of these and used it to open some C rations (Dad, if you are reading this and I'm wrong, let me know.).  My dad must have bought or saved some old chocolate cakes from his time in the service.  They were very dry, not very sweet but pleasant some how.  I'm sure the combination of the cool fall or early winter air, physically connected with something my dad did 30 years prior and the quiet of the woods made everything better.  Not quite the same with my cans of Starkist and a cheap leatherman I bought at the BX while I watch two computer screens, fans noisily blowing around me and large screen projectors show the New England Patriots playing against the Detroit Tigers.

Last night I added some inglehoffer Sweet Hot Pepper mustard to my can of tuna, which was a bad idea.  This is an example of underreported advertising: sweet is when you eat it; hot comes later.  Had I prepared myself better, I would have read "habenero" on the ingredient list yesterday and avoided it.  Try this at your own peril.

Tonight I added some Chicago Fire mustard, which was okay, but I also went back a few years and added some of Huy Fong Foods Sambal Oelek.  When this hit my tongue, I was taken back eight years when I made Ramen noodles topped with tuna and this hot sauce.  I don't eat ramen any more, but this is some delicious hot sauce, much more flavorful than Texas Pete and not as dangerous as anything with habeneros or ghost peppers.  The IT guys at work (who seem to be the most relaxed group at work, with the internet meme, Star Wars and military jokes posted) are hot sauce aficionados and have a smattering of hot sauces.  I have never tried and (probably never will) their ghost pepper bottles.  According to Wikipedia (I'm told it's okay to cite Wikipedia and it is the best source online), Huy Fong Foods is run by eight family members and doesn't advertise.  It's been around since 1980 and relies on world of mouth for its sales.  Sriracha sauce has an almost cult following and you can find many T-shirts and other swag proclaiming how good Sriracha sauce.

Giving up on the pink antibacterial soap and cold water in the bathroom at work, I decided to break down and buy some Palmolive (which surprisingly is made from palms and olives) to wash my coffee mug.  The smell of the green dish soap makes me think of my grandmother since that is all she used.  I prefer Dawn, probably because their advertising is so well spent they convinced my college roommate that Dawn cuts grease, vis a vis, I buy Dawn.

So I fell asleep while reading at the library during the wash cycle.  The laundry building is very hot and stuffy.  Dryer time means I can go eat.  While in line to get my eggs, another mustachioed gentleman who I recognized said hello and complimented my remarkable mustache and plate of buttery goodness below.

Ginger and turmeric tea.

He recognized me from work, but really recognized my mustache (which smells like egg yolks and butter now).  It is interesting how our eyes fixate on certain physical features.  In June a coworker exclaimed, "You shaved your mustache!"  She was correct, but late by three months.  Ever get a haircut and someone not realize it?  So if you ever need to escape town Jason Bourne style, grow or shave off your mustache.