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Post by terentiusfaber on Oct 19, 2023 21:35:58 GMT
Several decades ago, I was living in a shared house. Someone I knew came for a couple of weeks, so I cooked ratatouille. This requires a lot of different vegetables, so I bought a large number of things and put the rest in the fridge for later. A few weeks later, one of the others asked me if I remembered so-and-so's visit, and I said I did. They asked if I remembered what I cooked, and I said I did. They asked whether I had looked in the fridge lately, and I said I hadn't. I realised I had to confront the contents of the fridge. Up till that point I had never believed that vegetables would do more than grow mouldy or rot. I was not prepared for the horror that awaited me. Been there and done it... |
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Oct 20, 2023 6:12:29 GMT
Here's something else from about the same sloppy era that has puzzled me to this day. I found a rogue bag of rubbish that must have fallen behind something. No idea how long it had been there.
But the only contents of the rubbish bag was an empty tin of spaghetti hoops (I can feel everyone's regard for me hit rock bottom at this point) a couple of teabags, so it shouldn't have been too bad. However, when I got close enough to look inside the bag, I was hit with quite literally the worst thing I had ever smelt in the world, and I have been in places on a couple of occasions where people had died and not been discovered for some time, so I had something to compare it with. This was worse by several degrees of magnitude.
I have never understood what might have happened. There was barely anything left in the tin, just the small amount of tomato sauce that adhered to the sides and bottom. There were two odd black spots in it as well. The teabags were standard. I know botulism is a thing, but Dr Internet tells me it's odourless.
I've also read somewhere that you can't remember smells the way you can with things you've seen or heard. Well, yes and no. For several years afterwards I could remember the smell of the bag, but it's gone now. I do remember the smell of death, though.
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kizolk
Indecisive 
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Post by kizolk on Oct 20, 2023 13:23:20 GMT
I realised I had to confront the contents of the fridge. Up till that point I had never believed that vegetables would do more than grow mouldy or rot. I was not prepared for the horror that awaited me. Forgive me for my lack of imagination, but what did it do? I found a rogue bag of rubbish that must have fallen behind something. No idea how long it had been there. Temperature is important in what kinds of bacteria can proliferate; did the bag fall next to an appliance that could have heated it? If the mystery is still haunting you, you could try to replicate the experiment  I've also read somewhere that you can't remember smells the way you can with things you've seen or heard. Weird, because at least on the face of it it seems to contradict the fact that smells trigger memories much more readily than other sensory inputs (or so I've read), which leads me to believe we have a better recollection of those. |
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kizolk
Indecisive
Posts: 5,187
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Post by kizolk on Oct 20, 2023 13:26:40 GMT
Memory is a mysterious thing though. I always have this nagging doubt that when I'm trying to remember/mentally picture someone's face, say, I actually "see" nothing, and my brain is just presenting to me a good enough "[insert picture here]" decoy instead.
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Oct 21, 2023 6:41:45 GMT
Forgive me for my lack of imagination, but what did it do? The various vegetables had all combined to form some ghastly sludge. I can't remember whether it had an odour, or how I got rid of it. I did think about attempting to replicate the tomato sauce/tea phenomenon, but never dared to. Maybe there was something else in the bag I didn't see, but I don't think so. |
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kizolk
Indecisive
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Post by kizolk on Oct 21, 2023 7:57:57 GMT
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kizolk
Indecisive
Posts: 5,187
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Post by kizolk on Oct 21, 2023 7:59:04 GMT
I meant the OP, but some of the comments mentioned metal cans, e.g.: "Do you cook or store them in a metal pot, whether aluminum or steel? Storing tomatoes in metal can give them a pretty awful taste."
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kizolk
Indecisive
Posts: 5,187
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Post by kizolk on Oct 21, 2023 7:59:45 GMT
Now, "pretty awful taste" doesn't necessarily mean "giving off a mighty stench", but there may be something to it.
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kizolk
Indecisive
Posts: 5,187
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Post by kizolk on Oct 31, 2023 21:17:44 GMT
Weird, because at least on the face of it it seems to contradict the fact that smells trigger memories much more readily than other sensory inputs (or so I've read), which leads me to believe we have a better recollection of those. In my case though, I feel like sounds (in the broad sense) are better memory triggers than other types of sensory input. For instance, earlier today I was listening to Muse's Muscle Museum, and I immediately thought of Stephen King's novel Firestarter, my childhood/teenage bedroom, and the emotions I felt while reading the book. See, I first read that book around the same time Muscle Museum was released, in 1999; my older brother who I shared my bedroom with listened to it on repeat, so the book and the song got inextricably linked forever. In case you don't know the song: Still one of my favorite songs. |
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Post by callaina on Nov 3, 2023 17:10:28 GMT
Several decades ago, I was living in a shared house. Someone I knew came for a couple of weeks, so I cooked ratatouille. This requires a lot of different vegetables, so I bought a large number of things and put the rest in the fridge for later. A few weeks later, one of the others asked me if I remembered so-and-so's visit, and I said I did. They asked if I remembered what I cooked, and I said I did. They asked whether I had looked in the fridge lately, and I said I hadn't. I realised I had to confront the contents of the fridge. Up till that point I had never believed that vegetables would do more than grow mouldy or rot. I was not prepared for the horror that awaited me. How did you manage to go several weeks WITHOUT looking in the fridge?  |
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Nov 3, 2023 19:41:15 GMT
Not sure. As I said, this was a shared house, so I have a vague memory that there might have been two fridges, contributed by different people. But even if there hadn't been, I can easily go weeks or months without looking in the fridge, because I tend to buy for the day, and don't keep much or anything in it.
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Post by terentiusfaber on Nov 3, 2023 21:52:53 GMT
My new house came with a fridge freezer and a whatsit that looks like a fridge freezer, but is all freezer. So far the freezers are empty and the fridge has some out of date milk in it and an oat yoghurt thing to help me after my recent course of antibiotics.
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Post by callaina on Nov 4, 2023 0:43:12 GMT
Apologies to Callaina for having done nothing about the requested translation. I got a pleasant surprise from the HSE; I was unexpectedly summoned for minor surgery on my ingrown toenail (of 34 years vintage). I wasn't expecting that till well after Christmas. The catch is that they had arranged for it to take place in a Northern Ireland hospital. I've spent a happy week up there since I couldn't drive myself back until yesterday, but now the bugger's gone septic. It might end up in the curry yet. Ugh, that sounds horrible! My dad had surgery on an ingrown toenail when I was a kid. I still remember him bleeding all over the house. I don't think it got infected, though.  Hope you're doing better now! And no worries re the Irish song lyrics (have been too busy to practice anyway - just got back from a conference & am heading off again in Nov.) |
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Post by callaina on Nov 4, 2023 0:44:08 GMT
Not sure. As I said, this was a shared house, so I have a vague memory that there might have been two fridges, contributed by different people. But even if there hadn't been, I can easily go weeks or months without looking in the fridge, because I tend to buy for the day, and don't keep much or anything in it. Doesn't that get horrendously expensive? |
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Nov 4, 2023 4:45:44 GMT
Doesn't that get horrendously expensive? I suppose it's swings and roundabouts. The supermarkets often offer discounts on things when they're reaching their sell-by date. |
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