Mid-year resolutions

At the urging of a dear friend, I’m on campaign to make peace with my body. Quitting smoking and riding the med merry-go-round has made me gain weight, and that has crushed my self-esteem. I’m off the gain-inducing drug (hopefully the new one won’t have the same effect), but my metabolism is currently [...]

Eating locally

Today’s purchases from the farmers’ market:

2 lbs green beans (Spokane Valley)
2 lbs red peaches (Wenatchee)
3 lbs sweet yellow onions (Walla Walla)
1/2 lb plums (Spokane Valley)
1 watermelon (Richland)
1 cantelope (Hermiston)

The farthest anything traveled to get to me was 120 miles. Sometimes it’s good to live in Washington State.

Through a Purple Haze

I ran to the liquor store last night for tequila (gotta keep prickly pear margarita supplies on hand), and found this on a special display by the cash register.
From House of Hendrix: “Experience Electric Love. The innovative spirit, unrestrained artistic vision and electrifying experiences of Jimi Hendrix catapulted him from studio session guitarist to [...]

Food as sensuality

Good food is–or should be–sensual. Dining is full of tastes, textures, colors and aromas which delight all our senses, creating a total experience of pleasure that’s fully present in the now. In some ways it’s like good sex. We experience it in real time, connected to both our bodies and our minds. [...]

Food as comfort

(Getting tired of this series yet?)
We all are familiar with the term “comfort food,” dishes that takes us back to our childhood or some other period of emotional security. Taste, smell and texture give us something that our minds need, rather than what our bodies require. In my case, it’s things that my [...]

Food as morality

We make all kinds of judgments of people based on their appearance. Studies have shown that young, tall, attractive men are rated higher in job interviews and promotions than older, short, average looking ones. Overweight is considered a powerful negative, affecting income and success in the business world. The Halo Effect is [...]

Food as power

In the news this last year, there have been some horrific cases of children starving to death in houses full of food. The parents, foster and legal, denied food and even water to children in their care, going so far as to put locks on the refrigerator to keep the children from “stealing” something [...]

Food as love

From infancy on, we connect our stomachs with our hearts. In that state of total dependence, mother=food=love. Whether nursing or bottle feeding, the act of eating is surrounded by the warmth of being held close, stroked and receiving the undivided attention of the most important person in our small world. The total [...]

Food as bonding

Elle and Cynthia brought up interesting points in comments on yesterday’s dog-blogging post and as I thought about it, I decided that I wanted to expand on what they said here and in another piece tomorrow. Elle asked if dogs would love us without the promise of food, and Cynthia told how meeting for [...]