Friday, March 22, 2013

This morning I could smell and even taste, a buttery raisin-oatmeal cookie.  Now actually smelling or tasting were really beyond the reaches of the possible because I can still only partly breathe a oozy bit through one nostril, but the taste/smell thing happens in the olfactory lobe of the brain which has already stored the experience, so I didn’t really need to recreate it to relive it.  But that spicy just-baked odor of cinnamon and nutmeg and brown sugar and oatmeal blended with butter and eggs and flour put my craving into overdrive.  I had recently seen a recipe that I was able to find without too much difficulty, and as I read the instruction, I could tell that the creator was much fussier than I.  I mean, “Grease a single cookie sheet and place it in the middle of the oven with the temperature at 350.”  I guess the oven needs to get in the mood with a dry run before it gets the chance to actually bake a cookie.  Anyway, even in my still olfactorally-compromised condition, I mixed together the ingredients  (Peculiar-no nutmeg…..) , and baked the cookies (two trays at once) and they emerged from the oven a beautiful golden brown.  I could hardly wait for a bite.  Good.  But when your sensory apparatus is burdened with the sequellae of disease, stick with the cookies in your brain.  The ones in your mouth are bound to be a disappointment.