De-Slogging, Re-Slogging, and the Disappearance of My Chow-Dar

Why have I slowed down my posting pace?

Interesting story. For the past decade, my chowhounding was flawless (aside from one bakery disaster in Halifax back in 2005). Which is to say: every time I thought a restaurant looked good, it was good. Every time! It was uncanny, and at first it made me anxious. I wondered whether I was losing my discernment, and whether I'd still appreciate peaks if I experienced no valleys. But eventually I grew used to it. If I knew in my bones that an eatery would be stunningly great, that knowledge alone offered full chowhounding satisfaction. Actually eating seemed nearly superfluous. I knew how it would all taste, even driving by at 40 m.p.h..

Then, about three weeks ago, I lost it. I've had a string of failures, interspersed with something even more galling: mediocrity. I can no longer tell good from bad from afar. I now venture into unfamiliar restaurants with absolutely no idea how the food will taste. I am a muggle.

But the law of conservation of freakiness has cut in. At the same moment my beloved chowhounding skills vanished, out popped, in its stead, the most clever business idea I could ever imagine. So I, who dislike business and who's never cared much about money, find myself back in the entrepreneurial death grip. It's still not about money, though. While the idea has nothing to do with food, it will, in a sense, complete the mission I started with Chowhound.

More details later (for one thing, I may be forced to spend the winter in Poland). But for now, I'll be pretty scarce. In the meanwhile, if you're looking for something to read, there are hundreds of entries here, most of them still timely and pertinent. Start, if you'd like, with the "Popular Entries" to the left. And I'll be back when I can!