Killing My Tastebuds

Good taste is a delicate thing. The ability to taste the subtle notes in a 10 year old merlot, the interplay of cayenne and coconut in good Thai, or enjoy the homemade greens just like Mom used to make is a special thing.

Sometimes I wonder if I lost my sense of taste. I was at Dixie Tavern with friends last Thursday, and ordered the extra hot wings. Everyone warned me they were heavy duty, but I ignored them. The wings tasted mildy spicy to me, but not at all. Then I accidently touched my eye, and had visions of the drive-by pepperspraying I got in downtown Reykjavik. The intense itching, the sweating, the feeling of capsaicin and salty tears burning its way down my face. Thankfully, the eyes also lose their sensitivity to hot spices over time.

Even though the burning has subsided, it makes me wonder - is it really true you can have too much of a good thing? Would years of traffic cause the yellow brick road to lose its lustre? What a pity if it were possible to pan a well cooked filet or quality Beluga caviar because you've had it so many times before.