04 May 2004
asparagus and dandelions
okay, so here's my discussion for the afternoon. germany is obsessed, and i mean OBSESSED with asparagus. short growing season here, and from the end of april until june 10th or so (yes, there is an END to the spargel-season), the stuff is everywhere, on the cover of every food magazine, on the lips of every housewife and househusband, and the market is just overflowing with white stalks of asparagus-y goodness. the stalks are white here, because they are buried under mounds of earth, don't see the light of day, and therefore taste "earthier" than the green stuff. and i kid you not, people DISCUSS spargel recipes on the street, discuss what wines go with it. when i say obsessed i mean the stuff, the topic, everything, is ubiquitous. and granted, it is tasty, but not THAT tasty.
anywho.
so, there is even a website (more than one) devoted to spargel. and i looked at the FAQs - yes, they have frequently asked questions - because i cooked up a bitter batch of spargel one day and was disappointed. and here i am, browsing through the FAQs, and what strikes my eyes? people asking "why asparagus makes your urine smell funny". what, says i, makes your urine smell funny? they must be whacko. i continue to read - explanation was weak, something about it being unknown and such, probably a chemical reaction - and they inform me that about 50% of people have funky-smelling urine after they eat asparagus. ha, i thought, that's BS, but i'll pay attention the next time, i, uhm, urinate...
and - god, i'll never live this down, why am i writing this - sure enough, uhm, well, you can figure it out. there is a difference. in odor. *can't believe i'm sharing this*. has this happened to anyone else? is it psychosomatic, was i being super-sensitive???
saucy99 asked about why the dland name was chosen. ok. first of all, to make one thing perfectly clear, my name is not dandlioneyes. nosireeebob. the reason i chose it was a) i wanted a diaryland diary and was sitting there and needed to type in a dland name quickly; b) i remembered that i had used it as an old login once, and c) that that old login refered to my eyes. which are blue. but i always think they have a yellow ring around the pupil, e.g. like a dandelion. et voila, c'est ma reponse!
dandlioneyes at 3:46 pm