Dinner thoughts

So, have you ever planned your dinner menu to avoid down-stream impacts? You may consider chile, with its beans and spices. You might even savor shrimp scampi, with its intense garlic flavors - yum! But have you ever considered -- yes, I must say it -- the wonderful Northwest side dish -- asparagus? Now, not to be indelicate, but the memories of this delectable green vegetable linger long after it is ingested. Why is that? I know there is a chemical and biological reason for the "smell" we experience later, but when one anticipates the texture and flavor that is fresh asparagus, one forgets that it has powers beyond dinner! There is a certain sensation of one-ness with the vegetable while preparing the dish in snapping off the bottom third of the plant's stalk, even shaving off the outer layer to rid us of the -- forbidden-- tough skin. The sweet, semi-crunch of a bite of gently cooked asparagus is lost hours later when getting ready for bed and one is assaulted by the memories that chemically altered asparagus brings to the fore. So, crudely, this musing is enjoying the memory of asparagus for dinner and dreading the morning after.