Small Bites

To those who love the taste of chocolate but, due to weight or other considerations, are constrained from eating chocolate, I have long ago proposed a method of eating chocolate that allows those sufferers to get the pleasure of that taste without the negative consequences. (Caveat: this method is not for those that desire to eat chocolate as a meal or until their stomach tells them that it is time to stop eating.) The secret is to take small bites. Obtain three M&Ms for this exercise. Hold one piece and take a one-third bite from it. Using the the front teeth crack the hard shell into small pieces. Using the tongue, spread the chocolate around in the mouth. Savor the chocolate flavor as it moves through the mouth and slowly dissolves. This is the flavor that chocolate lovers crave and now it is present. After the first bite has completely gone take another one-third bite and repeat the sequence. It will take about a minute and a half to eat each piece, four and a half minutes to eat all three pieces. It is possible to enjoy chocolate every single day with this method.

The feedback from this exercise has been discouraging. Many report that they just continue to consume more M&Ms, they cannot stop with just three. Some report that their method is better, placing about seven M&Ms in the mouth, crunching them down and then swallowing the mass, repeating this exercise over and over. The return to the basic habit of chocolate consumption does not conform to "eating your chocolate and having good health too."

It has been my habit recently to get a half cup of coffee and two Pecan Sandie cookies as an inter-meal treat. Remembering my method of eating M&Ms I experimented with eating only one cookie, taking smaller bites while sipping the coffee. I found the one cookie tastes just as good as it is savored with the coffee. Why do I need two? I don't. So, from now on it is only one cookie.

Last night as I watched a movie, a person in a bar was drinking the double Scotch he had ordered. He took it down in two gulps. When he did this my mouth fell open and I wondered why did he do that? What is the point of missing the actual flavor of the whisky? Of course I have seen similar bar scenes in other movies and you have also. This gulping is not restricted to a sudden need to leave the bar and finishing the drink. It is a method of drinking. I am still amazed when someone consumes a full glass of water in one tilt of the head. Many years ago, a friend showed me a trick he had mastered. He took a full bottle of beer, tilted his head back and slowly drank the whole bottle without stop. He said it was just a matter of relaxing his throat and pouring it directly into the stomach. It was a trick, but he did not do it as a habit.

I have been told that girls, when they go to a bar, will order one drink (they are expensive) and make it last the whole night. Or, until someone offers to buy them another drink. They are crafty.

My drink of choice is wine and I mostly like the taste. It is sipped, and in some circumstances one glass can last the whole night. While eating steak, a sip just of wine before eating a piece of meat will enhance the flavor of the meat. Gulping wine while eating is completely lost on me, it is the sipping that enhances the meal. Small bites of steak, small sips of wine, what could be better?