Say Cheese..!

In keeping with the title/theme, or whatever flavor this blog might be or become, it is only fair to comment on the discovery I happened upon recently of a distant artful blogger and his experiments with “The 100% Cheese, Grilled Cheese Sandwich.”

 

Unfortunately, the specific curd product combo mentioned in his description (Carr Valley Cheese) is not readily available in my neck of the woods and so I will have to wait a while before I make effort to replicate his masterpiece. But thanks to the marketing moguls at Amazon.com even that minor miracle, sans CBSA confiscation, is only a few days away.

And, as I pondered the sandwich’s potential for sheer genius, my only hesitation in ordering the item was not for personal concern regarding any medical issues even close to lactose intolerance, but rather for whether or not my already palpitating heart would be able to handle such a magnificent creation, considering the sheer caloric intake involved.

However, the fact that someone was so inspired in their culinary endeavors to even think that such a possibility could exist, illuminated the article, and the overall blog site, to one of particular fascination for me. It is just not how my own delegated portion of grey matter works… and so encountering this ability in another is almost like chancing upon buried treasure.

Temporary aside: I think that’s what I find most intriguing and exhilarating about the Internet. Not only are it’s participants presented with a gamut of fact or fanciful information on just about every subject on, in, around and under the earth, we are also sparked within our own imaginations by the digitally induced flavors, senses and colors that inherently make some of the data so unique and of notable merit.

This may all add up to simply being trivia absorption at best… but it is amazing trivia, akin to the hypnotic effect of Ripley’s “Believe it, or Not! 

In this particular case, my ignorance was inadvertently and thankfully diminished (even if only by a smidgeon) with the discovery that not only is there such a thing as “Bread Cheese”, but also that it has been around for over 200 years, having originated in northern Finland and Sweden as something called Juustoleipa. Apparently it’s unique flavor and texture characteristics come from the fact that it is traditionally made from Reindeer milk and can be dried to an almost brick-like consistency, permitting it to be stored without refrigeration for many years. The necessity of grilling the sandwich simply softens the product appropriately and increases it’s overall flavor, lending it the necessary practicality in sharing berth as a 100% Cheese, Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

Whether or not it ends up being classified as the “Perfect” one… the taste of time can only tell, but I certainly appreciate Nick of DudeFoods.com for toasting it!

Encore, encore! 

And if you just want to know more about cheese in general, check this out.  

 

That's probably enough Cheesy advertising for one day, even though it is a tasty subject.  J.

Article Copyright J. Michael Lyffe - 2014

Mello Jell-O... Quite Rightly!!

Being “In The Moment” is one of those Zen-like concepts that seems readily expressed these days, for the promotion and enhancement of personal awareness, in relationship to just about anything. However, like most philosophical insights it’s real nature is about as difficult to grasp as it is to nail Jell-O to a tree... in a forest where no one is present, to hear whether or not the potential timber yells “ouch!”

 

For anyone who has ever been “on stage” for a theatrical performance, act, speaking assignment, skit, solo, concert, or similar event being presented to an audience, the heightened levels of sensory consciousness generally experienced bear vivid testimony of a very tangible, and keenly focused vitality that is frequently generated. This ethereal essence augments the particular talents being utilized for the event and assists in conveying the artist’s message more powerfully across the footlights. The performer, if skilled sufficiently in harnessing the dynamic, becomes “the moment” with each note, gesture, word, or flourish; and onlookers, willing to temporarily suspend their personal realities for the cost of admission, vicariously embrace the magic.

 

The performer captures the moment; the moment becomes enchanting; and those of us in the plush velvets are caught up in the bubble of emotional euphoria being generated. This is the invisible, sparkling opiate that hooks thespians to the boards and seals their common kinship with each other.

 

In a separate form, a master archer is able to envision an arrow piercing a target’s center mark within the same instant he or she withdraws it from a quiver and notches it in a fluid, full draw and release motion of the bow. Years of self-discipline and keenly focused practice permit the warrior to become “one” with the event; having compressed the individual coarser segments of the act into a singularly perfect, combined moment of purest thought and movement.

 

In the wisdom of Yoda and early 80’s Cinemasophy this would translate as “Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.”

 

During circumstances of extreme external stress or trauma, either our perceptions, or the properties of time itself seem to change dramatically. The shift occasionally permits us to view and experience otherwise instantly occurring events as slow motion, drawn out, and intimately inspectable, micro-second slices, which give the illusion and overall effect of being “in the moment!”

 

Can you imagine then, if our awareness was somehow “quickened” to the point where time ceased entirely?

 

Actions and their consequences would be generated within identical points of existence, while a paralleled decision to initiate the action in the first place would be correctly determined WHILE the button is being pushed.  Talk about being “In THE Moment!!”

 

This non-time fictionality could then be easily extrapolated backwards from our reference point to the specific nano-fraction flash of existence; when the so called “Big Bang” may, or may not, have taken place. Within that slivered wafer of potential eternity, all possibilities of reality both in advance of, and post advent of the mega-boom would co-exist in some mystical realm or another. And, of course… the fact that you and I are currently able to experience any of this, in whatever rippled status we have somehow been caught up, must mean we are part of the whole shebang.

 

Are we perhaps then, not only “IN The Moment,” but also co-equal witnesses OF it?  Somewhere off in the distant expanse of possibilities do we have the potential of not only being the actors, but also the audience of the plays we are currently producing?

 

And now that my brain is in synaptic hyper-drive, I believe I could really enjoy a bowl full of Jell-O.   J.



Article Copyright J. Michael Lyffe - 2014

Deception as Perception...



While any good will that may have come from the recent Russian hosted Olympics is quickly being funnelled out of the country almost as quickly as their troops have been poised to enter the Ukraine, earlier today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at U.N. meetings in Geneva, explained the reasoning behind Russia's military invasion of Crimea.

 

"This is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights, especially the right to life," he said.

 

And of course, none of this has anything to do with oil and gas pipelines that happen to run through the country. J.

 

'Nuff Said...

Where have all the flowers gone?