memory of that heaped plate with the steam coming off it still ties my stomach in knots.
passages like this don't ring true. of course it may be a fact but he could claim the look of a sidewalk or an actual knot tied him in knots. it comes across as wordiness, unnecessary detail to lend emotional relevance where one is not required as if the author added these extra bits to make sentence or paragraph or current passage "thicker" though it would probably be fine without them.
