Deb's Lunch, day one

Seems like we are just so awash in personal opinions these days, now that everyone is a blogger or a podcaster or just a loudmouth on the lists ... It keeps me from writing, since I wonder just what it is that I could offer to the clamor.

But what I'd like to talk about is food. I am now either a retired professional (12 years in restaurants and cook ing at a co-op dormitory, kind of like being a boarding house cook), or a "talented home cook" (the designation of a local restauranteur who would not hire me to manage her bakery). I cook a lot, read about food a lot, know a lot about recipes and food traditions, and probably am just as obsessed with food as any other food blogger.

I just started reading Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries. Nigel made a resolution to eat more seasonally, cooking from what could be found in the shops, the local greengrocer, his organic box (I get one of those too, but only in summer) and farmers' markets. The book goes by month, with recipes and reflections about cooking and eating and seeking experiences. And wonderful pictures.

Nigel says something about the right food at the right time which is lovely, but I guess his housemates & family are not so alternately picky or ravenous as mine - what about leftovers and flops, the things no one will eat, and the greens going slimey in the vegetable drawer even as we speak? I find it hard to assemble the eaters for those dishes that are perfect right off the grill, but horrid after they cool down. (although of course, there is horrid and horrid; leftover dressed salad is never as bad as we think it wil be ...) My favorite entry for January is Nigel's admitting to, after tipping the mess into a basin, eating the lime tart that leaked late at night when no one was looking - I myself have experienced the guilty pleasure of fallen chocolate angel cake at midnight.