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August 3, 2006
The Secret Lives of Butterflies!!
And why, apparently, I resemble an insect of the Order Lepidoptera...
I hardly ever use salt when I cook, or add it to my food afterwards (although I am a huge ground pepper freak). So every now and then (especially when it is hot - something scientific to do with sweating and osmosis, I suspect) I feel the need to eat something salty. I have to have something salty. And that something salty is usually a delicious chunk of Stilton cheese. Or some potato chips.
"Yes, yes, Michelle, that's all very well, we get that you don't like salt very much. But what does this have to do with butterflies?" I hear you all cry. Well, last night, The Teenagers and I decided to have a movie night, and this is what happened...
Me: "I need salty potato chips, right now," I tell The Teenagers. "I also need a volunteer to go get them for me. How much is it going to cost me to bribe one of you?"
The Teenagers (in unison, identical angelic expression on faces): "You don't need to bribe us, we'll both go because we lurve you." And then, because while I think that they are perfect beings, they can still spot a good bribe opportunity when it hits them in the face, "But we could use some potato chips and popcorn, too. You know - because then it will feel like a real movie night."
So then we haggled for a bit and came to a mutually satisfactory bribe, and then...
Teenager No 1: "Actually, Mum, did you know that you are like a butterfly?"
Me (flattered, imagining that I am being compared to a gorgeously patterned specimen with fairy wings): "Why is that, my darlingest, most beloved offspring?"
Teenager No 1 has such a way with similes and metaphors, as I discovered when she compared me to a rainforest. So I really am expecting something fabulous...
Teenager No 1 (in a matter-of-fact tone of voice): "Because butterflies don't always get enough salt from nectar, so they sometimes have to find an alternative source. Just like you. That's why they land on humans sometimes - it's the salt on our skin."
And, you know? I've always wondered why butterflies never land on me. It's just one of those life mysteries that has mystified me. Now I know. I am a salt vampire.
In the meantime, to celebrate my new two-book deal for my young adult series The Fabulous Ms. Fizz, I have a little contest for you, chickadees. I have a gorgeous sleeping T-shirt emblazoned with the cover of Confessions of a Serial Dater, and if you would like to win it, just email me at mjcunnah@yahoo.com and I will draw a name out of a magic hat next Thursday and announce it right here. Go on. You know you want to. *Winks.*
Michelle :-)
Posted by Michelle at 12:12 PM | Comments (14)
Comments
Michelle, did you know that in Japan they believe that butterflies can be vampires??? So, you're a salt vamp, but you are safe from the vamp butterflies. Um, I know there's a point in there somewhere.
I didn't know you wrote YA. Cool. All the popular girls are doing it.
Posted by: ZaZa at August 3, 2006 2:36 PM
Can I just say that I *lurve* the rainforest comparison? That is so utterly cool I can't even believe it. And what does it say that I want to read about *both* rainforests?
Posted by: Dia ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.literarychicks.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 3, 2006 5:25 PM
Awwww . . . you're a butterfly to us!
Posted by: Whitney at August 3, 2006 6:21 PM
Michelle, it's uncanny, because I'm like that too!
My brothers grab the salt canister when I cook for them.
Even my mom says, "You need a bit of salt to bring out the taste." Which I understand, but I'm terrified of oversalting!
Unless, you know, it's chips. LOL.
Posted by: May at August 3, 2006 9:23 PM
Za Za - what a coincidence about butterflies being associated with vampires in Japan. I didn't know that.
Dia - Teenager No 1's forest now contains vampire butterflies :-)
May - it is good to know that there is another non salter out there. We should form an exclusive society.
Whitney, aw, you are a sweetie.
Michelle, off to find some nectar...
Posted by: Michelle C at August 4, 2006 3:48 AM
I'm a non-salter... so much in fact that my midwife just told me to UP my salt intake.
So I ate some potato chips.
Posted by: Heather Cook at August 4, 2006 10:12 AM
If it isn't estrous, it is depressed aldosterone or maganese deficiency due to the intake of refined salt found in most of our foods and the shaker. Refined salt can also cause aluminum (aluminEum) toxicity which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease. So, if you are stressed, fatigued, blood pressure depressed and natrium chloride craved/depraved-- use sea salt.
Btw, teenager#1 is very perceptive and has a keen insight regarding the delicate balance of life.
Posted by: Brian at August 4, 2006 10:17 AM
Heather - another non salter butterfly comes out to play! (And congratulations on your pregnancy!)
Brian - thanks for the tip (and Teenager #1 is indeed all those things - not that I'm biased, or anything). I'll have to find potato chips with sea salt, but goodness knows what that is in Dutch... I think it's chips met zee zout, but any Dutch speakers feel free to jump in and corrrect me :-)
Posted by: Michelle C at August 4, 2006 10:27 AM
énormément beau coup list of sea salt chip and snacks!
http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?category_code=82
Posted by: Brian at August 4, 2006 5:45 PM
Potato chips? Did someone say potato chips? And salt? Oooh. My favorite chips are made with rosemary and olive oil. Love em. Hmmmm...haven't had any in a while. I should probably go get some. Right now. You know, just to make sure they keep making them.
Posted by: Janina at August 4, 2006 6:08 PM
Janina - for me it's cheese 'n onion, or salt 'n vinegar, or cream cheese 'n chives. But the rosemary and olive oil ones sound tempting...
Brian - merci bien pour le URL fantastique! (Or it could be la URL. I have no idea if URLs are masculine or feminine, LOL.)
Posted by: Michelle C at August 5, 2006 5:58 AM
Must. Have. Salt. I will take all of yours, Michelle. I'll use it while I'm eating all of Alesia's mayonnaise.
Eileen
Posted by: Eileen at August 5, 2006 7:11 PM
LOL, Eileen - although I may end up licking you when I have a salt-deficiency moment...
Posted by: Michelle C at August 6, 2006 8:54 AM
I'm a salt-less person. My father had high blood pressure so Mom never added salt to anything and my daughter and I have the same condition Dad had so my family just grew up with me NOT adding salt. My mother-in-law, on the other hand salts EVERYTHING before she even tastes it, and she used to salt my daughter's food when she was little. It drove me nuts. Not that she did it, cuz whatever, but SO MUCH!!! I felt my blood pressure rise just watching her. She gave me salt and pepper shakers for Christmas. I just never have it on the table.
Posted by: Mom Nancy at August 7, 2006 7:40 AM
