Tuesday, March 16th, 2004 | Author:

Ok … this is the strangest thing. But finally, the mystery is solved. Let me explain …

A couple of months ago we were looking for an open Chinese restaurant on a Sunday ’cause our favorite place isn’t open weekends. Well, we found this little joint and ate lunch there. They gave us so much food, though, that we took some home.

So dinnertime rolls around and we’re munching on our Chinese food (mongolian beef), when I took a sip of Pepsi and was completely disgusted because it tasted like soap! I urged Joe to take a sip, and he tasted it too. Thinking it was a bad can, we opened a new one and got the same exact taste. So then we thought maybe the case of Pepsi was bad. But when we took a sip of water, we got that terrible taste yet again. Baffled, we figured it must have been some strange chemical reaction produced by the spicy Chinese food and decided we wouldn’t be eating at that place again.

Still following???

Ok … so fast forward to today. After totaling up my calories consumed for the day, I had way too many left over, so I decided to treat myself to an ice cream cone. I took one bite of the ice cream and that soapy taste came rushing in and I jerked back. Joe came over to taste it and the same thing happened. I was freaking out, trying to figure what was going on. So I tried a different flavor of ice cream but the same thing happened.

So then I thought it could have something to do with the nasty sushi (sorry, tried it the other day (that’s a whole ‘nother entry) and did not like it one bit) that Joe had put in the freezer (so it wouldn’t spoil and stink up the garbage before we took it to the dumpster) and it was “infecting” the other food. So Joe suggested I try the can of Pepsi in the refrigerator. I took a sip and I got that nasty soapy taste, just like months ago with the Chinese food.

By this time we were completely baffled. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and used a bunch of mouthwash to try to clean that sensation away. We were thinking maybe it was the olive oil or something in the brushetta we had made. We were just really confused. Since I had gotten mouthwash all over my shirt (yea, I’m a slob), I went into the bedroom to change and all of a sudden I smelled something and it dawned on me what the culprit is/was – the tart burner I had going earlier!!!

Then I recalled that we had that thing burning months ago when the whole soapy Chinese thing happened too. Both times, it was burning a Yankee Candle tart in the scent of Tulips. It’s got a waxy/soapy scent when it cools and that is the exact taste/smell I kept getting every time I took a bite of anything cold. How messed up is that? It’s like the stuff got into my nostrils and I can’t get it out. I ended up throwing away the ice cream cone because I could not enjoy it. I can’t get rid of the sensation so I’m going to have to just wait it out. I also threw out the tart burner and I’m never burning another one of those Yankee tarts again. Or any tarts for that manner. Yuck!

Have you ever heard of anything so bizarre? I swear, I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

Category: Food, Life
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses

  1. 1
    Kathy 

    That is incredibly bizarre! lol! At least you found the source though, so that’s good. :)

  2. 2
    waterlily 

    how weird is that? that’s one of the reasons why i don’t burn flowery candles anymore… it just fills up everything!

    but you gotta try sushi again… it IS an acquired taste…

  3. 3
    Candi 

    Ewww, ewwww!!! That happens to me sometimes, too, with certain smells that seem to get caught in my nose and they linger there for DAYS, even after the offending culprit is gone. Mine is mostly psychological, though… once I associate a smell with a food I smell it even if it’s not there. It’s the weirdest thing…