Love of Food

  Love of Food

From the time we met, Susan and I always have dinner together at the dining room table.  When the kids were at home, we all had dinner together.  A few years after we met, we were staying with some friends, between houses.  We were in horror that no one in their family ever had dinner together.  That only strengthened our resolve to have a sit-down family dinner every night.  We never watch TV over dinner.  I am happy to report that both of our daughters have carried on that tradition with their families and with dinner.  Dinner is family time.  

Breakfast is like dinner.  We sit at the table and eat.  Granted that breakfasts, when the kids were in school, were rushed, but we almost always had some sort of short sit-down meal.  Once the kids moved out to go to college and we retired, breakfast came to be much as dinner.  We always sit down together and eat our breakfast.  Every breakfast is done while playing a game and therefore breakfast is normally an hour-long event, sometimes longer.  The three games most often played are Up Word, Scrabble, and Triominos.  Breakfast cereal and fruit is our “fast breakfast”.  We eat that when we must go somewhere early.  Otherwise, breakfast is always a hot and prepared meal.  There’s a routine of seven or so breakfasts.  We have three hot cereals we rotate through oatmeal, grits which we prepare with cheese, peppers, and chorizos, and farina (aka cream of wheat) which we have with figs, dates, and cardamom syrup.   Then there are breakfast tortillas, tofu scrabble, and our veggie version of an Egg McMuffin.  We also have scrambled eggs normally prepared with veggies and cheese.   Other popular breakfast items that offer variation include gefilte fish and matzo, Matzo Brei, pancakes (not from a mix), and lox or whitefish and bagels.  On a normal day, our breakfast begins around 9:30 and goes until 10:30 or 11:00.  I moan the days we must start early or rush breakfast. 

When I was working, I skipped lunch more than not.  This has not been the case since we retired and moved to the coast.  Lunch is backgammon time.   Lunch is tuna or salmon sandwiches, Beyond Burgers, PB&J, faux lunch meat sandwiches, and sometimes leftovers.  When we hike we sometimes take lunch with us.  Otherwise, lunch is taken at the same table as breakfast and dinner.  Backgammon is a faster game and thus the game of choice at the lunch meal. 

What has happened to me with all this great eating is weight gain.  When the kids were at home and we worked, breakfast was smaller, and lunch was often skipped.  That’s no more.  We never skip a meal and a good one at that.  Add some wine and more calories are packed in.   When we are away on vacation, our eating pattern stays the same but normally without games.  The good thing about being away is that we are walking more and we hope that cancels out some of the food intake.  At least that’s our theory. 

When we travel we always look for ethnic food.  We love ethnic food and there’s not that much on the Coast.  All different types of Asian food, Middle Eastern Food, and Latin American food.  You’ll spot a Facebook post almost every day during our travels from some “exotic” restaurant.   There’s a division of labor, Susan is the specialist with restaurant posts while I specialize in sunset posts. 

I would classify food eating as love and not a duty.  I love good food and it is an important part of my life.  When we are away from home, food is a major part of any trip we take, whether it be to Ukiah or Santa Rosa or halfway around the world to Italy or China.