TGIF!! & Stories about Aliens.

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!

Just had two huge soft tacos from a local fast food joint near work. They were cheap and big, but seriously lacking in flavour. You *know* something's wrong when you drive 5 minutes back to the office with your lunch in the car and there are no yummy smells emanating from the bag of food. But! The Pico de Gallo was pretty damned good. And the tortilla chips were warm.

Made a presentation to a client this morning. I had the wrong vision for his marketing. I envisioned something very different, very inventive, something that was a twist on the ordinary.

He wanted brand marketing. Which is fine...everything went ok and I was humbled by his energy and ventures. It sounded like a great idea!

Some things that make me wonder are those people that you encounter in life that *claim* to love food. They exclaim, "that's so good! That's so delicious!" Usually it's food that I've made or served to them, and I know that they're being polite...but let's face it. They don't love it. It's not that good to them. They don't enjoy eating. They eat to live.

I live to eat. So these people are pretty damned interesting to me. What makes them tick? How do they do it? How do they make it through life looking all sallow and gaunt and disinterested? Even as a child, I remembered eating joyfully, loving foods that my mother made and relishing in the different textures and flavours of food. I remember eating chocolate pudding for the first time and dreaming about it - the deliciously sweet flavour and smooth silky texture stayed on my mind for days. I dreamt that my grandmother was babysitting me and my brother and flicked open the tin of baking powder and spooned out the velvety dessert. The next day, I demanded that my mother give me the chocolate pudding that I was so adamently sure was inside that tin of baking powder.

So yes...what do these people live for? I've encountered them several times. TM's neices and nephews. Even Ms B...she once asked me, "don't you wish there was a pill you could take that would encompass the days' meals?" I looked at her like she was an alien with six huge eyeballs for heads as she continued, "Eating is such a waste of time! First you have to shop for it, then you have to make it, then you have to eat it..."

Good god! Eating is one of those things that I hope I could never be without! I love eating - I love the flavours, the textures, the feeling it gives you. Good food...makes you feel good. And I love feeling good!

I pity the toddlers and the seniors who cannot chew, and probably cannot taste as much as they will / did. I pity the cold and flu sufferers who cannot taste the amazing array of foods that I can. And I pity the ignorant who are unwilling to experience and immerse themselves in the culture and history of authentic foods.

Long live food!!!

Because I, for one, live to eat.