Particular… | #AtoZ #LetterP #nonfiction

…about a couple of things.

Hi! I know you stopped by looking for an A-Z post of a short story, or perhaps the craft of writing. Perhaps you even looked so far as to see that my theme is “Catching Up.” Well, while I did spending a couple of days “catching up”, so at least on that point I’m on theme, there may actually be no fiction or writing talk.

There are a few things I am particular about. This is not OCD, and I do not always do these things, but it’s often enough to be a personal ritual.

I eat all the broken pieces of chips in the bowl before I eat the whole pieces. This is especially true with Doritos, Poppables, Triscuits, and Wheat Thins. I must eat the broken ones first so I’m not left with a bowl of crumbs. It is very important.

I eat the Cotyledon half of a peanut without the Radicle before the Cotyledon half with the Radicle, then the Radicle itself, then the second half of the Cotyledon. Once those are consumed, I start on the whole peanuts, splitting them in half, eating the half without the nub, then the nub, then the other half. I don’t know when I decided that was the order in which a peanut must be consumed, but I remember doing it as a child while on summer vacation at my grandparent’s house, and that could be as early as 7 or 8 years old.

When eating the altered boiled dinner I make for my family (meat, carrots, and potatoes), I peel each piece of kielbasa before eating the meat. I’ll just nip the skin to break it off, and holding the end of the skin in my teeth, peel the kielbasa. Then the kielbasa can be consumed. This is also one of the few meat sausages (like hot dots) that I enjoy enthusiastically all the time. Sometimes hot dogs crunch, and that is not right.

I always eat my ramen with broth, but I prefer to drink the broth before the noodles.

When eating Grape Nuts, the cereal must be soaked, but not floating, and the sugar must be covering the cereal completely so it cannot be seen. The sugar must also absorb the milk so it becomes a lovely, soggy crust.

I must save all cheese stuffed crusts on cheese stuffed crust pizza until after the pizza wedge has been consumed. Then all the yummy cheese stuffed crusts can be consumed. (Best for last theory again, here. I see that now.)

As a child, I would pour myself the marshmallow cereal and eat all the cereal pieces first, then enjoy all the marshmallows at once. But now, in my 40’s, I don’t have time for that.

For many, many years I would remove the chocolate coating from HoHo’s, Swiss Rolls, and Drakes with my teeth before consuming the remaining cake and whipped filling. I still do, if they are sufficiently cold and I’m not wearing anything that would be ruined by the addition of chocolate ground into the fibers.

I’m wracking my brain to think of other things. There must be other things! But it’s late, and I can’t think of them.

What kind of particular rituals do you have around the way you eat certain things? I’m so interested to hear! I can’t believe I have to wait so many days to hear your answers. Damn you, scheduling ahead! *shakes fist*