Having Your Cake and Eating it Too
"Why aren't you fat?"
When I read Ruth Reichl’s Substack newsletter, La Briffe, last December, I felt like she took the words right out of my mouth. Over the years when I taught cooking classes, I’d get it too, “Why aren’t you fat?” Or the exasperated (and exasperating…) comment, “If I loved food like you, I’d be fat!” Back then I didn’t know what to say and tried to laugh it off. Now I’d say something like Ruth said which I’ll excerpt below (from her New Year’s Resolutions post, December 2023, down in the section, “Image. Appearance. Perception.)
“When people ask me - as they always do - why aren't you fat? - I give them a simple answer.”
“Nobody ever said you had to eat everything on your plate. Take a bite. Savor the flavor. Then let it go. And that, I think, is the secret to loving the life you lead. Take a bite. Savor the flavor. Move on. You don't have to eat everything. And you don't have to do everything.”
True. So true.
Why is it that a love of food seems at odds with “healthy eating” in our country (U.S.)? When kale is “good” and cookies are “bad,” and when we think ourselves “good” for eating the kale and not eating the cookies, our food relationship gets messed up. But food relationship isn’t only about what and how we eat; how we live our lives plays a big role. When I was living the work-first lifestyle working at Oracle in the Bay Area, I was always stressed, running around, and running on empty. But I didn’t pay attention to my body or any of that. It took years to untangle the mess. But it can be done! And it needs to be done. Our food anxiety is food fear and it is destroying our health and well-being.
In contrast, the French food culture is recognized as an element of humanity’s intangible culture heritage by UNESCO. When I spent time in Provence, eating time was filled with attention and ceremony whether the meal was multi-courses served on a terrace or a simple assortment of charcuterie and cheese balanced on the arm of a garden chair. Ahhh, what a respite that month was from my back-home life. This was back in 2001, but once I experienced the French way of eating, there was no other way. Bon Appétit!
Tarragon in the Garden
The herbs and tomatoes in my garden seem to like the diurnal temperature swings of late summer as they are thriving. But there’s no doubt about it, our garden days here in Montana are numbered. This morning I decided to test one of the tarragon butter balls I popped in the freezer in July, to decide if I should make more. Thanks to Nicole Barrett of Nicole’s Garden in Nova Scotia, for the idea (on YouTube). In case you’re curious, the answer is Yes! Here’s my breakfast from today:
Tarragon Butter
How to: gather lots of garden tarragon and strip the tender leaves from the stem—you want about a packed cup of tarragon leaves for a stick of butter (4 ounces). Chop the tarragon and stir it into softened (not melted) butter, drop by spoonful onto a sheet pan, freeze, then transfer into a freezer bag or other storage container.
When you want delicious scrambled eggs, melt a butter ball in your pan, and go from there. I can see using them for pasta too, especially with shrimp or chicken. This will keep me going all winter long. Thanks again, Nicole!
Meal Planning Notepad, week of September 2
Monday’s holiday was wonderful, but I’ve felt behind since Tuesday morning started…anyone else? Although it’s Friday, I hope you can still get some value out of this meal planning sheet. As you can see, tonight is blank and sometimes that happens as this isn’t a rigid thing, it has to go with the flow of our family. It’s a good day to eat outside and celebrate the completion of our deck repair (hopefully!), so some kind of fish on the BBQ (with succotash—Here’s my recipe on RIPE, that includes a crème fraîche sauce that you can swoop on the plate under everything).
The highlight so far was the carne asada my son made that complemented the black bean slaw that I made with some beans and cabbage I wanted to use up (plus, you know, eat the rainbow!) He pieced the marinade together with a bunch of Reddit comments so who knows if I will ever be able to recreate it, but we used a skirt steak, and the marinade had a pale ale beer, a chopped onion, and some seasonings in it. Does that help? Ha!
Here’s the slaw. It’s wonderful to have on hand for lunches too.
The Vietnamese pork lemongrass skewers are really good and if you’re cooking outside, you might want to make them. Another idea that I was just reminded about is my Vietnamese rice noodle salad with tofu.
I’m going to keep wearing my white jeans, so let’s keep talking about pie. Peach pie with blueberries! Not just for summer anymore. Or perhaps the thing is, it’s still summer. Whatever the case, this is the pie dough you’re going to want for your fall apple and pumpkin pies though and it keeps great in the freezer, so get busy! ;)
Oh! It’s melon season. Get one of the Charentais melons grown in Colorado, they have them at the Co-Op. A French canteloupe. Here’s me from that time in the South of France, at the Cannes market in 2001—with the melons!
I’d better close for now. I wrote through my yoga class—oops! Food and cooking and writing really are all I can think about sometimes. I hope you’re enjoying this. Drop a note in the comments, and share with your friends. Thanks for being here.
I so loved this! Well done.