CAFFEINE AND CAPSAICIN

We were discussing King Arthur and his magic sword outside The Tower when a coyote trotted past and crossed the intersection. Three other people also saw it. At two thirty in the morning, wild animals are not unusual in San Francisco, even this neighborhood. There are parks, there are garbage cans, and there are chihuahuas to eat.

Given a choice between coyotes and chihuahuas, befriend the coyote.
It's more intelligent, and altogether more loveable.
Chihuahuas come with dingbats.

I had taken a long nap after my rice and curry wurst last night. Woke up after midnight, needed people. Which meant wandering down for a drink and a smoke, to a familiar haunt where the crowds had already started dissipating. A mixture of Virginia tobaccos, dark and light. Mostly rubbed blonde.

An ancient perfume in the air; wild herbs on nearby Nob Hill.
The smokiness from the Butte fire having faded.
Fog, and a cold breeze.



I really should have added some coconut milk to the curry wurst.
It would have mellowed and made unctuous the sauce.
Plus I may have used far too much sambal.
I also added petis and nutmeg.
A squeeze of lime.

This curry wurst is not the curry wurst they do in Hamburg or Bremen.
Better. Spicier. Complex. And more savoury.
Sambal is essential.


蘑菇豬扒飯

On a day off one craves a decent bite to eat. Both at the place where I went for early lunch, and at the bakery where I ended up at tea time, they recognize me. Which is good, because I meet too many strangers and queer fish during my working days that I do not relish having to clarify things. The questions "nei sik mat ye?" and "naai cha?" are more friendly and more direct.
And, at the chop place, they automatically bring the hot sauce.

你食乜嘢？ 奶茶？

I honestly do NOT understand how my mother survived Northern California when she was a child growing up. Food here was boring (inedible) then, and there were no chilies, sambals, Sriracha, Tabasco, Crystal, or Tapatio.
Everything I like to eat, she would have disapproved of.
We ended up very far apart culinarily.
Strange.


Also, she only drank tea because my father did so.
A weekend custom, in late afternoon.
An Anglo affectation.


Coffee and tea are constants.
Multiple doses daily.



Here's something interesting: "The present study is aimed to measure the effect of caffeine and capsaicin on the blood glucose level of obese/diabetic model mice. The blood glucose level of KK-A(y) obese/diabetic mice decreased significantly after dietary supplementations with less than 0.031% caffeine and less than 0.0042% capsaicin, while both food ingredients and the combination had little effect on body weight gain and abdominal white adipose tissue (WAT) weight at this dose."

[SOURCE: Effect of caffeine and capsaicin on the blood glucose levels of obese/diabetic KK-A(y) mice.]

In short, it's good for you.





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