Day Three: Two-in-One

It is a mystery to me why cats like fish so much, especially considering how much they hate water. Well--most cats. But I suppose my instincts have never told me to go out and hunt a pig, grind it up, add spices and call it sausage.

I'm pondering the feline/fish phenomenon because I had tuna salad for lunch today, and my cat, upon smelling it, took to milling around the kitchen floor, popping up to put a paw on the table every minute or so. Once, she jumped all the way up and we had to shoo her away. By the end of the meal, she got to lick a small bit of tuna off my finger, after which she took to running around the apartment like her tail was on fire. Celebration? Maybe. My husband seemed to think she was just mad she didn't get more. I guess normally, when he makes tuna salad, he lets her lick out the can when he's done. Today, he made the salad before he left for work (so it would lose a little of its fishy stink, to make it easier for me--he's a sweetheart) and she was still asleep on my tummy.

So--lunch. I had my tuna salad (chunk light tuna, a little bit of heart smart mayo, yellow mustard, and diced dill pickle) in a whole wheat pita pocket, with some raw veggies on the side. It's a familiar food to me, if not my favorite. It combines two of my food phobias: fish and cold, mayonnaisey salad. However, of the three feared foods I have eaten so far, it was the easiest and most enjoyable. I noticed I still ate it slower than my husband ate his (why is it that I eat less tasty foods slowly and gulp down what I love?) but I didn't have any moments of cringing, gagging, etc. I almost think I should have eaten the tuna yesterday and the salmon today. Tuna (or tuna salad, anyway) is like training wheels for fish-haters.