From pearls to stars :My Cosmological Theory

--written by Loulwa K.  

It was a hot summer day , like any day in July.

A pearl was born on the shores of Condwai.

An iridescent pearl.

Her asylum was a nacreous shell.

But Once the sea got raged.

He sent the waves to bring all the shells back.

And so this shell sank deep in the sea.

But it was weak .And It cracked

The pearl fell. For the first time, she was free .

She explored the seven seas,

And dived in the abyss of darkness.

Not caring where the water may lead.

but she got jaded.

She started surfing up.

She breathed air. And she saw the sun.

Till, she once reached the shores. She found the land.

She yearned to go there. To a new place.

And so She ran.

She stayed on the land for a long time.

But she yearned more.

She looked up to the skies.

She gazed to the stars. She counted them.

She saw a moon; She followed it in her car.

She once saw Mars . So, She wondered :" is it that far? "

"I can go there . I will drop by.

I am only waiting for my trip to the moon and the stars."

Though she was born down in a shelled mollusk , a pearl will shine like those stars .

And this is how stars are formed in the universe. :)

Lychee

Sensory lab in Cornell's NY Agricultural Station, NY

I am done from my Sensory evaluation midterm and i remembered an incident .

Three years ago, i participated as a sensory panelist for " Neophobia/Neophilia" .i.e how much we like or hate new food .
They presented to me 6 new foods i never tasted before in my life and i had to taste them 3 days per week. Some were satisfactory , some were tolerable over the two month tasting period, while only one was just unbearable. I used to taste just a milligram from it, and i I used to rush in the tasting.

Thus, it got the worst rating from me. Usually, I don’t like stereotyping food, or even judging food. But this one was the exception to my rule. It had a horrendous texture and taste.

Unfortunately, I didnt know what i was tasting. So, for two months i kept wondering about it , and supposedly i was not allowed to ask anyone about it !

Till I was fed up, I yearned to know why does it taste that bad to me.

I remember that I asked the researcher : “ Madam is this the eye of a cow ?”. I was not joking or mocking. I had a serious look on my face. So her reply was also serious: “ Are you sane? Ofcorse we wont be cooking cow eyes!! I cant believe that you thought that we were giving an eye to taste!”

Well, innocently, It really looked like the eye of something!! It was white, rubbery and covered with a slippery transparent layer and a black thing ( actually it was a seed ) in the middle!!. Yes like the cornea!!

Thanks god the tasting sessions were over. I saw the published results and knew what it was. It was Lychee: a fruit, a tropical berry!!

                   

































I googled everything about this Lychee/lichu . It has a pinkish beautiful skin before it is peeled off. ironically, enough, they stated that it is a fragranced fruit with a sweet taste. Apparently , it didn’t taste like that for me!!

Oh and well , this fruit is used for red tea, cheese cakes, fruit salads, and ice blended drinks!!!

At least now , if I wanted to go Mexico ,southern Africa or china, I will definitely avoid it!

P.S: For list of tropical fruits , you can check this link: http://sonic.net/~alden/Fruittroex.html#litchi

Tala & Dani

It is a story i wrote a couple of years ago. It's a true story though :

Tala a cute brunette girl , a bit shy when she meets new people. But once you tell her your name, she will never forget you.. She holds her mp3 with her and puts her favorite song for Avril Lavigne..( "Hey hey i can be your girlfriend hey")…And starts singing it…..After that, she shifts to another pop song.


She likes teasing me. She even sometimes likes to ignore me when I come, so that I approach her and play with her...

Sometimes, I used to come but she would be sleeping , so i used to watch her in her deep nap calmly, with her blond hair covering her forehead and eyes. You can realize clearly that kids are God's angels when they sleep.

Tala told me about him once, how they played together, and how he gave her his own toys…I sensed her happiness when she talked about him. She smiles and says: “Dani, Yes Dani. He always play with me cards and he always let me win!!"


The first thought that came rushing to my mind was :"Oh Dani lets her win then ! Then, most probably, he’s my age, a grown up, not a six-seven year old boy! ." He was not then a naughty little boy who likes teasing girls of his age. He was not a boy who wants all his toys for himself and nobody else to share them with.


But I wanted to inquire about this “Dani”... .She always talks about him... I felt curious , maybe a bit jealous...So, I asked her: “Tala, does he wear like me, like this blue coat??”.

She replied laughing at my face, as if saying to me you are so wrong: “No, Dani is in the other room!”


I was so struck by this mere idea that he was in the room beside the playroom…Then he was after all a six years old boy…. He suffered like her.


Until one day came and I met him playing with her…..My body shivered and my stomach ached.


They shared the same fate, not just the games…

Friends they were.


The untainted form of friendship…

Friends....& Flavors

Friends are like flavors. (Well am back to relating life to food. I like this relation ).


They are many types and several tastes. Some are sweet.Honey-like.They enter your life in a smooth way and stay there leaving a good after taste. But if there sweetness exceeded, you will get bothered! :P


Others are salty . They are "extractors". They let see you your worst and your best. These friends are good to be around with for sometimes and other times you try to avoid them because they tell you the cutting truth and you dont like to hurt your feelings !


While some friends are bitter. Well, this kind are the nagging type of people, they impose a negative taste in your life. The only good thing about these people is that you can recognize them from the beginning and literally "escape" them during a conversation, a dinner or anytime you spot them near.


Maybe the last flavor, is the sour. At first, they look delicious and sweet but then you have this annoying , sharp biting taste. You realize they are not really nice ! & you realize they are not your friends...or you cant befriend them!




Ofcorse there are other flavors like Umami ( which are the tasty ones) .They make everything in your life great , they boost your morals , your dreams and your hopes)..They are saporific, and are certainly full of flavor (flavorsome)…


There are also the spicy ones. Some of them chill you others just irritate you. You have to choose.


And there are the "astringent" friends! They might be similar to the sour , however, they leave some physical harm .


And yes there are the ZESTY people! They have all the vivid, spicy, piquant, utterly savory ; they are invigorating, stimulating, fresh and reviving. They are never soothing or dull!


We all have these kinds of friends around us!! If we didnt , our life would have been very boring and routine.
Imagine that you are tasting or eating the same plate every single day ! Would you like it that way?


This leads me to the conclusion.Yes. life is all about gustatory experiences !. You have to taste everything but make sure that you are delicate when choosing. Otherwise, you might get a food poisoning or a food allergy! ;)