Sometimes, Today’s Perfect Moment has to be a little indulgence.***
As I write that, I felt it was such a powerful statement that I had to step back from the keyboard and admire it a little. I had to start a new paragraph for that very same reason.
Because I haven’t really been torturing myself with the new diet, I feel a little guilty succumbing to temptation. Honestly, though, I actually don’t. As I look behind me and see my cat stretching out in the sunbeam, I feel a little at peace. If he can enjoy himself, well so can I.
I bought these delicious cookie snacks last weekend when I visited J-Town to have katsu curry and yakisoba. I also had a Monaka, but you’ve probably already read about that. I had put them away as I knew I would be taking my nutrition a little more seriously this week. They were on sale and that was all the justification I needed.
When I bought them I relied on sight recognition. I assumed these were the original Koala March snacks by Lotte. I had seen them a billion times and I didn’t look too carefully at the package.
When I opened the box, I knew instantly that these were different. The overwhelming and wonderful aroma of bananas made me take a second look at the box. It turns out that these are banana and chocolate flavour. Also, these were made in Thailand for the US market. None of these facts bothers me at all because I am not a Japanese food snob.
These little snacks were absolutely scrumptious. Though the smell and flavour of the bananas were undoubtedly artificial, they didn’t have that chemical odour and flavour I associate with it. If I had bought more than the one I ate and the one I photographed I would be in real trouble now. As it was, that one little box was enough to be Today’s Perfect Moment.
*** a quick question; I wavered back and forth between the adjective (indulgent) and the noun (indulgence). The meaning is similar enough, but how about the nuance? Which would you have chosen?
I think that either word works. Before the word “indulgence” I might have used “bit of,” such as “a little bit of indulgence.” That seems to smooth out the flow and introduce the word as a noun.
@Becky Ross – “Either works.” Not so. “Indulgent” is an adjective. “Indulgence” is a noun. Only the noun form (“Indulgence in the afternoon”) is correct in this use.
You are referring to the title, but the question is about the sentence.
In the first sentence of the post, I think either a noun or an adjective would work, since the adjective could modify the blog post.
I agree with Becky on your word choice, Anthony: Either is fine, but the adjective lends itself to more refinement than the plain ole’ noun. And I did get a kick out of your assertion that you are “not a Japanese food snob.” Good for you! Life is better when we keep an open mind, isn’t it.
@Heide – “Either is fine” — not true. “Indulgent” is an adjective requiring a noun. “Indulgence” is a noun (and the only correct word in this headline).
The question is about the sentence, not the title.
Nuance? No. It’s not a matter of nuance but rather correct word use. Either- or? Nope.
“Indulgent” is an adjective. An adjective modifies a noun. There is no noun being modified (aka described) by “indulgent” and therefore “indulgent” would not be an option in this context.
“Indulgence” is a noun. It is the only correct word (for your headline).
Indeed, indulgent could be describing “Today’s Perfect Moment”, as in an indulgent moment whereas it could also be an indulgence.
I do think there is a difference in the feeling.
In that case, “indulgent” is correct because it’s modifying “moment.”
However, in this construct. “moment” and “indulgence” are equivalent nouns so this use is also OK. The sentence is a little awkward and improved with a tweak (as suggested by another poster) … i.e., “… moment has to be a wee indulgence” … “…moment has to be a bit of an indulgence” … something to that effect.
Alternatively, there’s tweaking “indulgence” — i.e., moment has to be a little indulgence *in* (fill-in-the-blank) … “a little indulgence in koalas” … “indulgence in sentimentality” … “indulgence in cuteness” … and so on, you get the drift.