Sausage-in-sausage (via yongfook)

I was talking with James about favorite things you enjoy doing, and how some of those things are complimentary in a way allowing you to string them together to build fun on top of fun. For me, for example, there’s nothing better than eating a huge breakfast/brunch and then taking an epic nap. That’s one of my favorite things in this world to do. A huge nap on its own is ok and a huge breakfast is ok (but I’m liable to be tired), but together, it’s next level bliss. But I can make it even better by, say, eating a greasy breakfast, then coming home and eating a bunch of watermelon (straight off the rind, of course), and then taking an epic nap. A bonus there is that when I wake up from the nap, I’m likely to pee for god knows how long, and if I’m lucky i’ll even get a pee shiver at the end. Give me a huge, greasy breakfast, watermelon off the rind, an epic nap, an epic piss, and then a pee shiver, and I’m in heaven.

I want to contrast this with a phenomena I want to call sausage-in-sausage. (I believe my use of the phrase in this way is google unique.) Sausage-in-sausage is a combination of things that is not complimentary in any way—the combination makes the whole worse. I just got back from Shilin night market where my cousin told me about sausage-in-sausage (pictured). I thought it was meat sausage wrapped meat sausage, but it’s actually meat sausage wrapped in a sticky rice sausage which functions as a bun, basically giving the classic meat and carbohydrates combo. Even though the concept of sausage-in-sausage is actually incorrect as applied to sausage-in-sausage, it evoked in me a broader notion. For instance, a common breakfast in Taiwan is the shao bing you tiao, which is fried dough wrapped with fried dough. It’s disgusting/redundant/makes no sense. Sausage-in-sausage also evokes “sausage fest” which is a gathering we all know isn’t any fun for lack of balance and any intelligent principle of organization. Sausage-in-sausage is the opposite of a huge, greasy breakfast, followed by watermelon off the rind, an epic nap, an epic peepee, and then an epic pee shiver.