What's that smell??

A few days ago I mentioned it was 6 months since I started keeping kosher full time. The afternoon after I sent that post, I went down to the small cafe in our office to get a bottle of water. When I opened the door, I was nauseated... what was that awful smell?

Then I looked over at the big stove they use. It was loaded up with bacon, getting ready for the next day's breakfast I guess. That's when I realized how far along I really was. Back when I was in high school, I used to work at Wendy's. (The stories I can tell from my days there... but maybe another time). Anyway, when I worked the morning shift during weekends and summer, part of my task was to make the bacon for the day. This involved cooking a LOT of bacon. I used to love the smell, and would sneak in a few piping hot BLTs.

Then after my college years, I decided I did not want to eat pork any more. I didn't really think I was becoming religious at the time, pork just didn't seem to appeal to me. This was a few years before I met my wife and started keeping a kosher home. But still I loved the smell of bacon and sausage, and occasionally looked for beef substitutes.

It wasn't until I walked in the cafe and got a good strong whiff of bacon and instantly felt sick that I realized how much my tastes have changed. Hopefully that means I'll soon stop looking at snow crab legs with envy.