I’ve said it before, but I am feelingcrazy nostalgic about college right now. I’ve been looking through all of my old pictures on Facebook . . . Minus the Bear just put out a new album . . . and I even found a box of old shirts from my Freshman year.
Let’s just say I was definitely proud of my . . . assets back then.
I’m sure that most of my friends who went to college have some pretty standout memories from those days, because there are a few situations that will never be able to leave my mind. Moving day . . . being in my first college play . . . seeing Paul for the first time . . . these are all things that are branded on my brain matter.
One of my favorite and most painful memories happened in an apartment across the street from campus. These apartments had housed more than four sets of my friends, and I think I had been into each building at least once. They weren’t the nicest apartments by any means, but they were fairly inexpensive, and I don’t remember any of my friends having too many complaints. The hallway carpets were dingy and thin, and, as far as I know, each unit had the same layout.
I think it was late on a weekend evening, and I was hanging out at my friend Ashley’s. I’d like to be dramatic and say that we were having a very emotionally-charged day where one of us had broken up with a boyfriend, but I think it was just a day in which we had been working on a bottle of wine together and watching multiple episodes of something hilarious. We had both just recently discovered that you could make a very tasty dish of “Thai peanut noodles” by simply boiling spaghetti and mixing it with peanut butter and hot sauce.
After sharing a bottle of wine with your friend all afternoon, you’re clearly going to need something to eat.
To our dismay, Ashley had no hot sauce. No problem, though, right? All you need to do is throw a few crushed red pepper flakes into the pasta water, and the dish will be imbued with a delectable spicy essence.
I don’t know what I was doing . . . just sitting on the couch? I don’t know, but, suddenly, Ashley let out a “Nooooo!” as the shakey-lid fell off the bottle of pepper flakes and an avalanche of spicy fire fell into our pasta water.
I think we may have tried to fish the pepper flakes out for a bit before we decided that, since we were just putting them in the water, it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference.
I remember the flavor started out really nice . . . because, you know, you just get the spice without getting the vinegar that hot sauce usually has . . . and the peanut mixed with the heat is just delicious.
And then, it was horrible. Mouths on fire, we looked at each other in horror and then . . .
. . . we just kept eating.
You know how, when you’ve been drinking a bit too much, your decision-making abilities begin to suffer? Just a little? Just a smidge?
We chugged some milk, finished our meals, and went to bed.
You guys, when we woke up, it felt like someone had forced us, gun in hand, to eat fire all night long. Our lips and tongues were burning, and we felt pretty stupid about willingly causing ourselves so much pain . . .
But we laughed, a lot, and it was awesome.