Vibrations of the Third Kind

Well, I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon at the dentist - that makes seven hours in the past two weeks. The first marathon session involved an extraction and the prep work for a permanent bridge, which was installed yesterday, with the surprise inclusion of a root canal treatment. I didn't feel it, so numb was I at that point; all I felt was hammering and the cracking of the temporary bridge as it was removed, and the vibration from the drill. As I've said before here, I really like my dentist so it makes a very unpleasant thing tolerable. He also has a television screen set into the ceiling, so I watched an exciting tennis match and that helped take my mind off what was happening. I have another appointment in a couple more weeks.

Today I can really chew on the left side of my mouth for the first time in ages, and am feeling guardedly optimistic. My teeth are not the best part of my body.

We went out last night for soft Asian food - steamed dumplings and soup - and then woke this morning to incredibly loud drilling that sounded like it was right above our bed: someone in one of the other apartments had a leak in their plumbing and the sound of the repairs was vibrating all the pipes and reverberating throughout the entire building, like a bad joke.

But after getting up, and having a brand new day stretching before me with no appointment to anticipate, I felt like thinking about food again. We went for a shopping run to Adonis, the wonderful Arab supermarket. It was lunchtime when we finished shopping so we stopped at a small Middle Eastern bakery on one of the back streets near Marché Centrale and ordered two of their delicious sandwiches, made somewhat like soft pizza - they're rounds of soft flatbread spread with oil and zaatar, with some cheese, and then baked lightly so they're still pliable enough to roll. You then get to ask for whatever toppings you want: onions, tomatoes, mint, pickled turnips, hot long green peppers, olives - and the whole thing gets rolled up, warmed a little, and wrapped in paper. It's to die for. You can also start with a more pizza-like set of toppings in addition to or instead of the zaatar; I had some sort of spicy chicken, with the same lineup of extras.

Tonight I'm about to read some more in my book of the moment - This is Your Brain on Music, by Daniel Levitin: the neuroscience of musical processing and perception presented in a way that lay people like me can understand. I'll write more about it when I've finished, but it's one of the more fascinating things I've read lately, and as far vibrations go, I will definitely take musical soundwaves vibrating the frequency-selective hair cells of my inner ear over any of these other less pleasant varieties. Right now I'm enjoying a performance of Handel's Israel in Egypt on the radio, recorded Monday night at Eglise St. Jean-Baptiste - it's vaguely Messiah-like but seems to have more choruses - and it's quite happy.

So...what's worth celebrating in your life? And while we're at it, what's the best thing you've eaten this past week?

Comments

[Ivy]

Hi, Beth. Glad your mouth is feeling normal again. Whew!

Best thing... mmm, the banana smoothie I had recently was particularly more-ish. Yum.

Banana smoothie. Serves 4.
4 bananas
500 ml yoghurt
2-4 tsp honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Whizz it all in a food processor.

[Mouse]

I am celebrating spring, the hanging of a picture of Buddha on a wall and the soon-to-be arrival of my son from England

and the best thing I have eaten lately is a home-cooked chicken korma and pilay rice (curry being the National Dish of the British, even in exile)

[Bill]

Pressed cloves of garlic turned golden in a skillet with olive oil. Add tomato paste, hot wilted spinach, pepper, salt. Mix till red and green are evenly distributed, like berries on a yew. Place in bowl with cool fresh avocado on top.

[beth]

Thanks, Ivy! I can't eat bananas so it would have to be another fruit, like strawberries, but smoothies are great.

Mouse - you made me laugh with your "national dish" - and thanks for the comment about what you're doing these days.

Bill - wow, I never would have thought of that recipe, but it sounds great and I love your description of the red and green!

[Fred Garber]

Birria de Chivo at La Providencia. Birria is goat that has been marinated then slow cooked for many hours. It is served in it's own juices and flavored with lots of spices like clove and garlic. You garnish it with fresh onion and cilantro. Then you squeeze fresh lime juice and add some salsa to taste. This is all mopped up with 4 handmade tortillas. Fresh and hot. Agua de pina(pineapple water) to drink. Flan for dessert.

[Jean]

Ooh, I'm salivating at the thought of the goat! I love goat. Had South European and African recipes, but never Latin American.

My sympathies indeed for the dental procedures. My turn for this in due course, as I have a gap on one side and am going to need a bridge. Hammering and cracking - eergh, I think this upsets me as much as the pain.

What's worth celebrating - a new friend. Someone I really love and admire who seems to like me a lot too.

Best thing eaten this week: steak for lunch today. Sorry - not the thing for your new bridge yet! (and I'm not as voraciously carnivorous as I'm sounding here, do love things like goat and steak every now and then)

[Cathy]

I can sympathize with the dentist. I spent an hour getting two teeth filled this morning. Being scared of the dentist finally caught up with me. At least when everything is done, I can truly smile again and not worry about the teeth.

[Kat]

Spring!

Had a hamburger for the first time in about fifteen years last weekend in Bristol. Dee-lish.

[Dick Jones]

An enormous chicken biriani, from which, 36 hours later, I am still recovering. (At least, I hope I am..!)

[MB]

Bread made by my father-in-law. Delicious in its own right. More so because it was made by him.