Tuesday, June 23, 2009

These Peas Are Killing Me Right Now




While I was watching my nieces/nephews in Logan, one little nephew, Mitch would always say that food was "killing him right now". For example, one night Rhett, RJ and I were eating dinner in the basement apartment we were staying in and we had a frozen pizza. All the kids follow us wherever RJ goes so they were sitting on the couch chatting with us as we ate. Their dinner was being prepared upstairs by their mom. All the sudden, Mitch couldn't take it anymore and interjected in the middle of a conversation: "Man! That pizza is KILLING me right now." We gave him some.

Anytime there was a food he loved and he couldn't eat it right then, it would kill him. I thought it was funny.

Lately, these fresh peas from my mom's garden have been killing me right now and every day since they've been ready. The last couple years I've slowly developed an allergy to them. You may think, big deal, you can't eat peas anymore. You don't understand what they mean to me. As a kid my mom would always ask us in the early spring if there was anything we'd like her to plant in the garden. I would always tell her just to plant the whole garden full of peas. I wasn't the only one in love with the peas. I asked Lynette yesterday if she also had the childhood obsession with the peas and she replied: "Oh ya. I remember waiting for them to be ready, then we'd eat all of ours and go to Grandma's to eat all of hers. Pretty much eat peas for breakfast, peas for lunch, and diarrhea the rest of the day." Totally. Pea season was magical as a kid.


But yesterday I ate 10 pods worth, obviously in quick succession, and immediately my throat started itching like crazy. Rhett was standing there as I lamented my physiological reaction to my favorite childhood food, and intervened as I started opening another pod. "What are you doing? I don't want you do have an anaphylactic reaction. You can't eat peas anymore." Wo is me. It's like going cold turkey on some addictive drug when your illegal peers are harvesting the marijuana or something. Large green, lush piles everywhere! My mom suggested blanching them to cook the allergic enzymes that are evil to me, but it's just not the same. I can eat cooked peas anytime.
These peas are killing me right now!!!!

3 comments:

Natalie said...

Can I have your share of the peas? Great post!

Unknown said...

oh man, I sure love peas from the garden...my absolute fave! such a bummer about your allergy, and to peas none the less. I had no idea people were even allergic to them.

And sorry about not getting together while I was there...I came down with a nasty case of the stomach flu and I didn't really want to share the love. Hopefully it won't be too long before I am there again!

Kassie said...

LITERALLY! Please don't let those peas kill you!