Yummy stuff

I've finally started adding some recipes to grouprecipes.com (look over to the right for a list of some of my recipes). I love food - growing it, shopping for it, cooking it, eating it. Have I mentioned that before? I want to share some of my favorites so check out grouprecipes for my favorites and favorites of my friends.
Even though I love food it doesn't mean I eat everything. I am foodie, or maybe what some would call a food snob. I'm not a picky eater, because frankly I love many things. I just am very choosy. I have distinct likes and dislikes. For example, I've never eaten a Big Mac from McDonalds or Hamburger Helper in my entire life. I do not like mayonnaise or yellow mustard. Sometimes at neighborhood gatherings I bring items that most people have never heard of. I only eat real butter, unsalted please. I think capers are good on most anything. My favorite dessert is Tiramisu, made from scratch with Marsala and Rum. I could write a whole manifesto on my food tastes.
Over the last several years I've become more tuned in to how food makes me feel as well. Like the time I ate at Burger King and it kept me up all night with gut-wrenching pain. Or there is a certain brand of sparkling water that I can't drink because it never seems to stop sparkling inside of me. Many of us have cravings at certain times of the month (salt for me - make it Sea salt, please). I've known for many years that if I eat too much refined sugar (white flour, cookies, candy, etc.) that I develop headaches.
Have you ever noticed how food makes you feel? Our program, Living Compassionately, is exploring eating and food next month and I've got food on the brain. I used to think just my cravings drove my eating but now that I've paid more attention to it, I realize my moods do too. And not always to my benefit. When I'm tired from too little sleep I get too impatient and lazy to take the time to eat well. I grab convenience foods that are usually not healthy. It makes me feel even worse and creates a cycle of ickiness. Sometimes all it takes is one really good meal (Minestrone?) to make me feel better right away.
Are you a better, nicer person because of how you eat? Does your eating (or not eating, as the case may be) create bad moods or good moods? Want to join me in exploring your relationship to food and eating and how it makes you feel? Did you ever think that how you ate could affect how you treat other people? Make May your "eat better to be nicer" month. Bon Appetit!