Lilith --- Your ranch dressing anecdote reminds me of the time my young cousin (I think he was about 8 at the time?) decided to challenge another cousin's girlfriend (she would have been about 16) to a "contest"...

Part one of the contest was who could eat the larger quantity of their specified condiment... My cousin, who is known in the family as The Ketchup Fiend, was to eat (of course) ketchup, and the girl was to eat mustard. Gee, care to guess who won that little competition?

The second installment of the contest (a couple of weeks later, when both competitors' stomachs had calmed down) was who could eat the most seasoning. My cousin chose to eat sugar, and he decided that this poor girl should eat salt. (We're talking by the spoonful here...)

I always wondered what possessed this young lady to go along with the competition --- my stomach still turns when I think about the results...!

--- sweetstuff

__________________
"You can't test courage cautiously." --- Annie Dillard