22 December 2006

Fried Water Bugs: Migraine Helper?


Here's an interesting word of the day, and I will use it in context. I'm a migraineur. They're triggered by my regular hormonal changes, and can be difficult to control. I get them monthly for 2-3 days. I get a full spectrum of warning signs and accompanying issues. When they start I may see spots, I get a rush of frenzied energy, nauseous, a funny taste in my mouth, and a small dull pain in my temples. If I can get to some ibuprofen or even some homeopathic meds, sometimes I can stave them off. Exercise makes then not so bad, but doesn't make them go away. Drinking water and eating protein (if I catch it in time), caffeine, in the form of tea (pu-erh and green tea) help, too. I may just get the pain in the head if I take early measures to stave it off, and I'm generally able to function. I have another remedy, but you can email if you're really curious.
If I develop a full blown migraine, I'm totally incapacitated. I cannot move, I am sensitive to light, food odors, food in general, and noise. I can't wear my hair up or pulled back, and I can't cover my face. I must lay in a dark room for at least 2 hours and ride out the storm. It's like my senses are overwhelmed and I need to shut down for a bit. During this phase, if I get the chance to sleep, I feel better in about two hours, but I wake up disoriented and really hungry.
I'm on the second day of a mild to moderate migraine. I took some Advil this morning, drank a big mug of tea, and I'm hoping the pain in my head will go away. I still have food and Christmas shopping to do, I need to entertain my parents, check my dad's blood sugar, cook dinner, start cooking Christmas dinner, get through the work day. I'm a little stressed out. After work I'm going to the gym to work out for 40 minutes. That should help. I wish I could go right now, but I have to work.
The stress trigger came yesterday in Tran's World International Market. They didn't have the brand of mochi I wanted. (I know, boo hoo for me). They also didn't have my favorite flavor of furikake (the one with whole freeze dried mini sardines) This didn't stress me out. Having Ingrid run up and down the aisles did, and chasing her through Whole Foods pretty much put me over the edge. At Tran's I chased her down the tea aisle to the back, where all the frozen meats are, and was stopped dead in my tracks (she ran around the corner to the vast selection of noodles, and stopped to touch all the soft packages of noodles). There was a package of giant water bugs. Giant water bugs. Now I don't think they would go over well at Christmas dinner, but I'm now totally intrigued, because I actually have a recipe for deep fried water bugs and plum sauce. It's Thai, I think. I don't see it on the menu of my favorite Thai restaurant in Greenfield, Thai Blue Ginger, nor at Hattaporn's Kitchen (which is good, too, but I work right downstairs from TBG.) At any rate, it seems to me if you have a recipe, and the means to make the recipe, why not try the recipe? Because it's a recipe for fried water bugs? Well, maybe, but I'm very curious and maybe this is the frenzied burst of energy part of my migraine. I'm inspired.
I always hate the part on Fear Factor where they eat something nasty, but I don't they're using a classic recipe most of the time. I'm totally curious. Thankfully, I've never said I'd never eat a bug.
They come in packages of 5. My recipe calls for 10. Anyone out want to join me for a deep fried water bug party? I don't think I'll be able to stomach more than one, with or without chasers of tequila. No, I've never swallowed a Mezcal worm either. I'm sure I can get Ingrid to try it. She's too young to be grossed out by eating bugs.
Well I think I have successfully fended off a full blown migraine with all this talk of eating water bugs. The day isn't over yet, but so far so good.

Insects as Food in Thailand. This site has other great bug eating links.

1 comment:

Parthenia said...

You're on, Vincent. Would ya like some natto with that? My mom gave me a really cool cook book with a bunch of different ways to enjoy natto.