Prunes and cashew nuts

Writing this a few hours after a desperate rummage around the kitchen looking for food. I must have been asleep the other week to miss these two very easy to surf and chew items.

Though I don't feel too good just now, I can also report that prunes not only take a while to acquire a taste for, they take a day before they kick in and make the viscera churn.

(This is either because they're preserved with paraffin oil but that their syrupy indigestible sugars hold water and create bulk - just like roughage). Another anomally concerns the reason why these 'dried' prunes are so morish. It's not taste at all - it is their weird and juicy texture.

Similiarly, on some future occasion, I'm sure I'll enjoy a bag of soft dried apricots and again it'll not be because of their taste at all. It is because they remind one of chewing on someone's earlobe. Nibbling as we call this, was something people would do in the evenings, long ago before Broadband Internet caught on.


Caution on Cashew nuts -

As you're not bothered about taste while your surfing, get the cheaper cooking cashew in bulk. Forget the expensive unshelled type used to occupy guest's hands at dinner parties. The cashew nuts should not be eaten with prunes. Eaten together they form the explosive cocktail I experienced later that day. It reminded of the time when we were eating curry at home - we're just a couple of miles from the city - and a bomb went off in Bishopsgate. We didn't realise what the muffled noise was at the time, so we just carried on eating thinking it was the curry.


How to kill a little time

Visit technology stores like Technomatic - whose web sites not only allow you to check prices and delivery terms but they also tell you what is in stock. In this way you can make very precise buying decisions based on whether you're going to be in tomorrow. Next, fill your basket with a few items, click to checkout and wait a day or so to see if they really have it in stock or they were just enticing you to buy. You can then have fun exchanging emails with customer support. If you've time spare, check the shopping sites and compare the amount of detail they provide about the products being sold. The little said says lots.

Pic: Prunes in cute resealable bag: deliciously wet and chewy. Don't mix with cashew nuts.