This blog wouldn't be complete without thoughts on food. Cindy and I had lots of jokes surrounding our eating habits, which were filled with delicious dichotomy both within ourselves and contrasting each other's. The most glaring contrast between the two of us was chocolate. I've never met a chocolate (insert dish here) I didn't like and Cindy was quite particular about the sweets she ate (which often omitted my dark lord). For her, the darker the chocolate, the better; for me, anything goes. She'd offer me the rest of her dessert because it was too rich or too sweet and I'd say, "okay Machine, thanks." She once left a few morsels in her purse unknowingly for my dog Bernie to help himself. A few hours later I was inducing the poor guy to vomit the dog-poison (for dogs, darker is deadlier).
Growing up, I confused chocolate donuts with spirituality. Why wouldn't I, since my dad's only trip to Winchell's was on the way home from Sunday Mass? I have always been an emotional eater, and with grief comes bad behavior. For the last 5 months I have not been able to get enough comfort food, only until a couple weeks ago when I finally hit bottom. Spirituality and addictive behavior make strange bedfellows.
One thing I shared with my late friend is a love of local, organic, seasonal super-foods. While I'm not the creative chef, I love packing in as many nutrients in a meal as I can. It's more functional than art, but a meal with greens makes my day. Maybe it's my secret hope that years of poor eating habits will be made clean by the blood of beets. Wishful thinking, I know.
My only question is, if we are what we eat, how come I'm not sweeter?
Sweet is over-rated. .....made clean by the blood of beets. Loved this!
ReplyDeleteI am so with you on the chocoholism. I will happily indulge with you when I visit. Cindy's love and appreciation of food: it's texture, presentation, experience is a beautiful legacy she has left me too. Cindy would ensure that every morsel leaving the kitchen was given its due in terms of garnish, layout, serving dish, cut, etc...
ReplyDeleteLast summer, Cindy and I hosted guests at my place in Ottawa and I almost served a hunk of sausage on a paper towel to my brother!!! By the time she was finished with the sausage, it had little violet blossoms on either side and was resting on a wooden cutting board. So beautiful.
First of all, Jenelle, you couldn't be any sweeter if you were covered in chocolate!
ReplyDeleteCindy's appreciation of food started at a very young age. She was making pizza from scratch including the dough, by the time she was 10. As for the chocolate thing, the only chocolate that I ever eat has been dark, and like Cindy, the darker, the better. Her father, however, will eat anything related to chocolate or sweets.
I say, give me a good piece of cheese any day. Strong cheese, none of that wishy-washy "light" stuff either.