Getting my tonsils removed has ushered in a culinary suicide of sorts. For the first four days of my recovery anything I drank went up my nose which, though an unpleasant sensation, was almost preferable to having it go down my massacred throat. Never has something I love so much--eating--been so painful and so utterly uninteresting. Vegetables and fruit must be cooked or blended to within and inch of their lives and left to discolor so they'll reach a luke-warm temperature that won't offend my violated wind-pipes. Over the past three days I've come to incoorporate more substantial forms of mush such as Stouffer's mac and cheese ("freshly made pasta in a 100% real cheddar cheese sauce"!!!!!!!) but must be careful to load up on pain medication and narcotics before attacking my throat with much-needed calories.
There has been one genius discovery, however, which is to blend watermelon, and pour it into Popsicle or ice-cube molds. The Ice cubes are wonderful with iced tea (I've been using the "first flush" blend from this year's harvest at the American Tea Plantation outside of Charleston, S.C.--it's the only tea farm in the states and my mom and I visited it driving cross-country--the tea is remarkably fragrant for being nothing but good ole tea leaves. It was made from the first young leaves that sprout in May and which supposedly have had the opportunity to store up the most flavor and vitamins of any of the tea processed all season. Of course, I paid too much for it.)
