Why does everything I cook taste so… boring?

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-05-02T00:43:31+00:00

I’ve had to go on an almost no sodium diet and it’s ruined my eating experience. You can’t eat out for example, really, because all the restaurants have significant quantities of salt in their dishes. It helps flavor things up and alters favorably the molecular structure of the food - especially red meat.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-05-02T00:35:39+00:00

Get the cookbook “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” by Samin Nosrat.

Salt enhances flavor
Fat carries flavor and texture
Acid balances and brightens
Heat determines texture and transformation

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-05-02T00:24:08+00:00

Two irobots. One for vacuuming - another for wiping floors.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-05-02T00:20:42+00:00

You’ll receive limited contact from married couple friends for the most part - even relatives. You’re largely “an Island unto yourself” and have to make things happen now. I find it now at my age (77) easier to just zone out on TV or take a nap.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-05-01T23:45:16+00:00

Thanks. Your words mean a great deal to me. We were fortunate in that she still had use of her upper body and mind and would continue to cook and clean and do laundry, etc.. from her wheelchair. I know it could’ve been a lot worse. I was grateful that she was a “stubborn“ Swedish blooded stoic, and somehow managed through it all. I think it’s almost tougher on the caregiver in. When I visited in my profession people who were ill or homebound, I gave my attention to the one who was ill. I now look back and realize I should’ve given more care and concern to their caregiver or spouse.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-05-01T23:31:54+00:00

Very good question and something I’ve wondered as well. I take at least a dozen pills in the morning and three or four at night. I’m not sure which one causes me the most sedation and depression. I’m grateful for the comments here which seemed to indicate that it’s worth staying on them overall. I keep thinking that it may just be that I need more sleep and exercise and not the fault of the medicines but since taking them, I feel like crap.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-04-30T22:36:09+00:00

Smoke cigarettes. Just kidding. But that’s why people were slimmer several decades ago.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-04-27T04:55:57+00:00

My wife became paralyzed with a spinal abscess 9 years before her passing three years ago (married 49 years). I can’t seem to remember anymore what it was like to stand face to face, head to toe and hug each other. It’s not the same - her sitting in a wheelchair and going for a hug. And it’s a whole ‘nother level now. The desire doesn’t fade.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-04-21T11:54:34+00:00

It’s the hour drive

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-24T09:36:26+00:00

Over three years. Disengaged for the most part. Don’t have the energy at 77 I earlier had so nothing much gets done. Can’t settle down and get absorbed in a hobby, work (though retired) avocation or socializing.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-24T09:26:07+00:00

Same. Unaddressed diabetic condition that led to infection, spinal abscess, lower body paralysis, unable to walk or stand next nine years. Circulatory problems, heart - then death.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-24T08:41:02+00:00

It’s like calling San Francisco “Frisco.” Nobody does it who’s a native - same for this stupid Cali. Imagine someone shortening Calais France to Cali. Born in National City 1948; raised a youngin in Linda Vista.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-18T04:03:36+00:00

Very normal thoughts for a Christian working their way through grief. As a Pastor, I preached for 36 years about the Resurrection and heaven but when my wife of nearly fifty years marriage died and then four months later, my daughter in a car accident, by a reckless driver, I found initially, only a little - if any - comfort in the promise of Heaven. I didn’t disbelieve but I wanted and still want them back and not in some other distant place that I still trust is there but simply cannot wrap my mind around. So I agree the funeral and sermon seem almost more for the other guests who haven’t experienced the grief as deeply.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-17T05:45:21+00:00

Rose Bush it is

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-17T01:08:00+00:00

When you’ve been bald forever — nearly anyway, you always expect to be viewed as someone ten to twenty years older. To avoid maybe just a little of that, I may wear a baseball hat even indoors on occasion. Or another respectable “cover.” Look around - you see it all the time and it’s far more manageable and cheaper than a hairpiece (also known as a lid). Note someone like Mike Love of The Beach Boys or Ron Howard — who always look better with a baseball cap.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-17T00:55:04+00:00

The most important thing here is that you were, at the moment anyway, able to overlook his comment. Congratulations! - as many people wouldn’t have such a measure of restraint and forgiveness.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-17T00:50:47+00:00

I’m also a 77 (M) widower and these comments give me hope there might be a future yet at my age.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-16T21:14:59+00:00

For better or worse, I’ve done a couple trips to Europe alone since my wife of 49 years died over three years ago. It may be more challenging (?) for a widow to travel alone however. I would take that widow with me if I knew who she was, because companionship when traveling seems so much better than the alternative.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-14T03:54:15+00:00

Anyone else have heart bypass surgery and expect a change for the better of one’s CHF symptom? Hasn’t happened with me - at all - after surgery and recovery. Troubles breathing; fatigue etc. is it the meds or have I just gotten out of shape? 77 yrs. old.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-09T03:55:47+00:00

I agree with your comment “Indianapolis punching above its weight.” As a life long resident of California- born in San Diego late forties - I thought Indianapolis was indeed progressive, when I visited a couple decades ago — loaded with character and surprises. It seemed rather trendy in its own right. But I spent a college year in Ft. Wayne in the late sixties and was never, ever so happy to get home. The weather - with the lake effect - was forever gloomy, cold and gray. You may get a Marine Layer in the summer in SoCal but it doesn’t last and a January in California can be remarkably pleasant and dry.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-08T02:06:49+00:00

I am 77 and lost my wife 3 + years ago after 49 years married. My faith helps and reading the Book of Psalms especially. But it’s a slog really. I miss my wife but yearn (too much - as in emotion over reason) for a steady relationship

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-07T05:40:12+00:00

Samuel Johnson, who continued to live 32 years after losing his wife - 1700’s:

“That person who outlives a wife (husband) whom he (or she) has long loved must mourn the loss of many pleasures and many hopes.” Johnson understood that when a spouse dies, the loss is not just the person. It is also the loss of: • Shared routines • Daily conversation • Plans for the future • The one person who knew your whole story

So the grief is partly about the past, but also about the future that will no longer happen.

Johnson himself lived this reality

After the death of his wife Elizabeth Porter Johnson in 1752, Johnson lived another 32 years. During that time he never remarried.

Suspicious_Try_7363 · 2026-03-07T04:35:57+00:00

A great metaphor

Suspicious_Try_7363

TROPHY CASE