For how many nights is Hanukkah celebrated?

Sweet as honey...

There was a bit of an argument at Tansel Castle this week, deep in the heart of Tanselvania. Donna and I don’t argue much, which is really quite a surprise considering how difficult I must be to live with. It can’t be easy for her.

The disagreement this week came about due to the grocery shopping, specifically honey. Before going to get the groceries, Donna asked whether I needed anything. “Honey,” I responded, not calling her a pet name, but indicating we needed some bee vomit.

“We’ve got honey,” she said. “Plenty of honey. A little tub of honey.” She then pointed to the honey.

“I was hoping you could get me some liquid honey,” I said. “That honey is a solid.”

“You just put it in the microwave,” she explained, starting to get impatient.

“I’ve done that. It doesn’t work.”

“Then you need to stir it after you get it out of the microwave,” she firmly stated.

“Or you could just get some honey from the supermarket that is a liquid,” I replied, staying calm despite how irrational she was being about this crucial issue.

“But the honey at the supermarket has chemicals in it.”

And there we had it, the real issue at play here. I know there are chemicals in the honey, and I’m prepared to take that risk because I don’t like chunky, solid, candied honey. I like it to be a thick, smooth liquid. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know of anyone whose cause of death has been pinpointed to the chemicals in honey. Yes, according to some studies traces of neonicotinoids, a common form of insecticide have been found in some honeys, but not to a level that will cause issues for humans. And if they also keep the honey smooth, then count me in.

It’s a no brainer, right. I don’t want people to think that I don’t care about my health. I’ve noticed recently that I’ve actually reached the age where I am making some of my dietary decisions on health reasons, rather than simply on what tastes good. I’ve gone through my life up to now eating food based on whether it is tasty. Health considerations really haven’t come into it. I mean, I’m not silly. I sometimes get a medium chips at a fast food/ takeaway joint, rather than the large. When I order a large pizza, I tend to leave a piece or two as a matter of principle, unless I’m pretty hungry.

Recently though, I’ve been finding that some things I eat are having relatively immediate impact on how I feel. I love fish and chips, but I’ve found some of the places that have always been my favourites, are now too greasey and leave me feeling a bit queasy. They haven’t changed at all; it’s simply my body and what it can handle. Onion rings have also become a dangerous proposition and seem to travel through my body a little quicker than my digestive system used to. This is now factoring into what and how much I eat.

I read an article earlier this week indicating that consumption of a particular spice could take one thousand days off your life span. With my new interest in making healthy decisions (except when it comes to honey) I thought I better have a look. Some of you have probably already guessed that the spice being referred to was salt. Sprinkling salt on your food can shorten your life expectancy by about three years. Anyone who knows me would know that with the way I apply salt, I may well be dead by the middle of next week. As much as I love salt, this has had me thinking hard about whether I need to apply salt to my meals. Thinking about it and then coming to the realisation of how bland the meal will taste without a good covering of salt. This just goes to show how bad reading is.

My age contributing to my decision making is not completely new territory for me. I reached an age about ten years ago where I started factoring in comfort to my decisions when buying shoes, rather than simply how cool they looked, in response to aches and pains in my body from buying shoes that looked sweet but weren’t built for aging knees and legs.

I suspect the next significant age marker for me may be when it starts influencing the furniture I buy. You know, “That couch looks really comfortable but with it being so low and plush, I’m not sure if I have the leg and abdominal strength to get myself up out of it.”

If you like honey as a solid, email me at robbietansel@gmail. com and I’ll introduce you to the concept of honeycomb, the only solid honey that makes sense.