CCXIV: Halfmoon (Change of Stomach)

Looking up at the sky tonight, I can't help but say that the moon resembles a slice of watermelon. Perhaps this is because we had half of a very sweet watermelon for dessert. A year and a half ago I wouldn't touch watermelon with a [insert instrument here].

It's times like this that I think about how much my tastes have changed since childhood. Child Giosy liked:

• Chef Boyardee and Kraft Dinner (a sin when one's Italian father is an excellent cook)
• Pasta with butter and sage sauce
• Ketchup or Nutella sandwiches (I said OR, not AND) - the ketchup was a short phase, and I often got ridiculed in elementary school for eating "poo sandwiches" since Nutella was not as well known back then
• Eating tons of meat, particularly beef satay at Mui Garden (all 6 skewers with 3 bowls of rice) or an endless amount of Korean bbq beef and rice at Shabusen
• Pizza
• Chinese instant noodles (raw or cooked)
• Prawn tempura
• MILK!

Child Giosy detested:

• Pasta with dad's authentic Italian tomato sauce
• Vegetables
• Fruits, particularly exotic fruits (not bananas) and pears. I would pretend I was allergic to pineapples in order to avoid them in public settings
• Fish - apparently I was fed fish by my nanny a lot as a baby/toddler and was now sick of it
• Congee
• Boneful meat, except for chicken wings
• Sushi
• Probably everything else that was not listed in the "liked" list

Fact: in preschool, Fridays were fruit days. After nap time, we all had to eat fruit that someone (who exactly I can't remember) brought for us. Ergo Friday was my most dreaded day of the week, and since I had to go to quite a few doctor's appointments (could you blame me with my pickiness? I was a skeleton as a child and it worried our principal so much that she called my parents in for a meeting), I would cunningly make my parents schedule them on Fridays if possible. Or I would pretend to continue sleeping after nap time.

My mom says that I would have been in big trouble had I not loved milk so much. I finally started enjoying food after a trip to Italy as a child, and soon after that my body shape changed from thin to chubby. Now I cannot imagine a life devoid of delicious food. For me, it would be a shell of a life. I am someone who lives to eat, not eats to live. Most of my closest friends share this mentality.

Now I actually enjoy salads and can't go more than a few days without tomatoes. I've also cut down drastically on my red meat. However, I still dislike pears, pineapples, and other exotic fruits. And congee. Some things never change.

(Milk, you are my ambrosia, whether heated and mixed with chai or in your delectably naked form. To you I could write an ode or sonnet, and knowing me, I probably will!)