Eating foods at the "opportune" moment

So I'm being hopelessly Asian, but can I just say that I like my rice steaming hot, right from the cooker? For any of you readers out there who eat rice regularly, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say rice tastes so much better when it's fresh and just steamed. For any of you readers out there who don't eat rice regularly, or maybe have cooked rice in a pan or used instant rice packets, this is what a rice steamer looks like:

This actually looks exactly like the one I have in my kitchen right now...

There is an in-between layer between the pot that holds the rice and the larger cooker itself- this is where you put the water that evaporates into steam to cook the rice

See? You learn something new everyday.

But anyways, rice isn't the only food that tastes better steaming hot. Baked potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, lasagna, pizza (debatable, cold pizza is pretty dang good too....), and most of all: chocolate chip cookies. It's a totally different cookie when it's fresh out of the oven, the chocolate chips are still half melted and gooey, the cookie not quite firm but it's so soft and moist it tastes like heaven when you bite into it....

So there you have it. There's probably tons more food that I missed that only taste their best at a certain state. Let me know in the comments below so I can add it to my own personal list of "foods to eat only at the opportune moment."

Insomnia at its best

Isn't it weird that sometimes your best work or inspiration comes in the middle of the night when all you should be thinking about is sleep? That's happened to me a few times, whether it's because I can't fall asleep or because  my brain is randomly firing off idea impulses that I decide I have to act on or it will be forever lost. If you can't tell, this is one of them.

Maybe it's something soothing about the silence that floods the house after everyone else has gone to bed, when it's just you and your computer screen for company. And of course, your wandering thoughts. They seem to flicker through your mind as much as the backlight on your computer is flickering through your exhausted retinas.

Or maybe it's just that inspiration strikes only when you are thoroughly tired out, blanked with fatigue. Your body begins to run on the next source of energy: a fuel I call intellectual chaos. It does wonders to revive the soul and for a moment you might wonder if you are actually insane. But sleep is not the answer. You need to spend that energy in one form or another. Writing, ranting, blogging, painting, exercising, calling a friend and crying to them over the phone, all good outlets for this sort of explosive energy. Ride the momentum and make something happen. You never know when it will happen again.