I achieve a low-level
state of heightened awareness from a very small ingestion of nutmeg. Incredibly small amounts of it will produce the effect. It causes my tongue to tingle
just so. I'll notice the effect from just an eighth of a teaspoon of nutmeg in an
apple pie. One little slice, and something in my head
switches on. It's the same sort of feeling I get when I eat
tree ear mushrooms in Vietnamese
Spring Rolls, although nutmeg seems to have a distinctly
dark edge to its
otherworldlyness. It leaves you
uneasy. Perhaps that's why it's the perfect companion for eggnog during the holidays. Eggnog just before
midnight mass with lots of
incense and
choral music. Sounds a lot like
Boone's Farm in the woods with
shrooms and
Tangerine Dream to me.
Nutmeg is also at the heart of the funniest Beavis and Butthead skit. They're watching this lo-fi video by John Spencer Blues Explosion. The video looks like it was filmed in a basement with a handheld VHS recorder (and probably was). Outfits and sets are constructed from wire hangers and aluminum foil. All throughout the video, Beavis and Butthead are enthralled by what they're seeing. "A Video!" exclaims Beavis gleefully. "Yeah, not only can you hear the music, you can see stuff too" chimes in Butthead. They're genuinely excited about this awful video. At the end, Beavis asks Butthead, "Got any more nutmeg? No? That's OK, I'm cool man." Never laughed so damn hard as the first time I saw that.