Starch in my shorts

Well, let's hope not, anyway.

But it's perfectly bizarre how many things have added starch to them to make them firmer. I like imitation crab, or surimi, and enjoyed some at lunch today. And I paid the price later. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then I remembered the surimi and went onto Google to try to figure out what's actually IN it. I had assumed it was just finely-minced fish, but they actually add starch and sugar and other stuff to it to give it the right texture. I'm willing to lay odds it was either corn starch or potato starch or some combination thereof.

Hence my guts being in a small state of uproar this evening.

Rice or wheat starch don't seem to have the same ill effects on me, so pasta is mostly okay.

Say NO! to starch!! And learn to READ THE LABEL ON EVERYTHING. I am so lazy; this will probably be the hardest thing to try to remember to do. I suppose you slip up one too many times and you'll be punished into remembering...

I also had a couple of slices of Kraft Singles. You know, the little square of cheesy stuff shaped into a square and wrapped in plastic that you peel apart? I bet that stuff is full up with some kind of modified food starch or other. I suppose I won't find that out for sure until sometime during the night. UPDATE: I didn't have any trouble last night. I Googled Kraft Singles when I got up this morning and there is no starch of any kind among the ingredient list. I think I'm safe with those. Yay! So they're not "real cheese"... I'm enough of a complete plebe to love them anyway. It was a huge treat when I was a little kid to get a square of Kraft Singles, open it up (how cool WAS that awesome plastic wrapper?), fold up the square into half and then half again to make a long stick, and enjoy its cheesy goodness. I had never heard of chevre or Gouda when I was a little kid. I love those kinds of cheeses now, too. But there's always a place in my heart for those little cheese-flavored squares made by Kraft. And it really has to be Kraft; I have tried the other brands, both national and local, and none of them can quite match up to the taste and texture of Kraft Singles.

Tomorrow we're planning to go to the ginormous TEA party at Southfork Ranch. If we do make it there, I will definitely be photographing and blogging the event.