It all started one night as a nagging thought entered my head and refused to leave. The more I tried to extinguish it, the more it insisted on pushing through. My strange realization: It seems that every time I casually pass by my basil plant I seriously considered taking a bite off of it.
I know. I know. That's just weird, you're thinking.
And it's true. I'm pretty sure that's quite weird.
I've decided it all must have stemmed from this,"You must eat salads" talk that has me so confused and taste buds downright frustrated.
The other night I dined on a barbecued chicken thigh for dinner topped off with a glass of white wine. And it was amazing.
It was a night in which I truly listened to what my body was telling me to eat. Meat and alcohol. It doesn't get much more primitive than that. Perhaps that is the real "caveman diet". What more does one need?
Well, apparently basil. Because as I was washing my face, getting ready for bed, I glanced over my shoulder as one does- just as they do in the commercials, swinging one's hair from side to side. It was then that I saw it. The basil herb plant that was resting ever so peacefully in my bathroom windowsill.
"Go ahead," she beckoned. I'm sure it's a female plant. "Try me. Just one little leaf. No one will know," Mrs. Basil insisted.
I began to feel awkward. My basil plant was taunting me like an adolescent girl with a pack of cigarettes in the bathroom. The pressure was more than I could handle.
Naturally, I did not want to be rude. And yet, it still felt weird to just rip off one of those tiny, succulent leaves and start gnawing away on it.
After this went on for a while, I finally decided enough was enough. I turned my back from my plant and continued to brush my teeth, ignoring the enticements.
No. I would not be eating basil tonight.
That would, after all, just be weird.
However, it was in that moment of clarity that I also concluded that it just may be time to introduce some more "greens" into my life. Perhaps I shall start with spinach. It seems less pushy and a much better personality.
