one to file under: don't do that

I recently have had a pretty bad cold that made it very painful to chew and swallow anything. In order to psych myself into eating something, I would have to make it seem like it would not require a lot of chewing. Unfortunately, pretty much all foods require chewing and, swallowing, too, is rather important in the eating process. I choose to have the positive outlook that will say that once I am all better, I will eat all of the french fries and ice cream that I want to gain the weight back... wait, how is that different from my usual eating habits? Hahahaha! Genetics are kind.

I somehow rationalized that soup doesn't require chewing. That is true to some degree, but add anything like noodles or vegetables and you are done for. Also, if you're just eating broth, you just sip it, but if you can't control your mouth, holding in liquidy substances while swallowing can be very difficult. Last night, eating applesauce was extremely painful because, 1)I like to chew the little apple granules, 2) it was hard to keep it in my mouth, and 3)swallowing, argh!

Anyhow, getting back on track after digression #4, a few days ago I decided that I would make myself split pea soup. (This one's special because it includes frozen peas for an added layer of flavor.) I had wanted to make it for awhile and had stocked up on the necessary supplies for it. I didn't have ham hocks, but I had ham. I think that would have been ok, except somehow I missed reading the part in the recipe that said to cook the split peas with the carrots and other vegetables and put the ham in for the final simmer. I ended up having a not very flavorful soup, which was ok with the addition of salt and pepper, but had chunks of flavorless, leathery ham bits.

I've made this soup before and remember it being extremely tasty, so now I have to say: if at all possible, don't substitute ham for ham hocks and definitely only put the ham meat into the pea mixture at the end like the recipe says! Otherwise, you will have flavorless leathery chunks that you can't chew and you will be a sad, sad sandia.