first thoughts

August 7, 2008

I love to think about food. I love to talk about food. Not just any food. Nine times out of ten the topic needs to be dessert. While dessert is the BEST part of a meal and also the most fun to make, food in general is a fascinating topic.

One of the best things about food is that it's something about which everyone has an opinon. Food can be good or bad. It can transport you, through memories, to a good time or bad. It can be a conversation starter; if the conversation goes bad, you sometimes don't feel like eating anymore.

One of my favorite foods is a hamburger cooked outside on the grill. I LOVE grilled burgers. Why is that? Aside from the fabulous taste, I don't really know. When I was quite young, my Dad and Uncle Bob (my Dad's best friend) built a grill in the backyard. The grill was pretty big, they got a HUGE pile of bricks and went to town. It turned out pretty well as I recall. At any rate it served many meals in the summer.

I remember one of my birthdays, maybe number 7 or 8, where I invited several friends and they came at dinnertime. We played for awhile and then had grilled hamburgers. When it got dark we had fireworks. All of us little girls loved that, it was a BEST birthday ever. Maybe memories have some influence on how you feel or think about food.

Who doesn't love fireworks? The beginning starts out small, building toward the end... the fireworks get bigger and better as you near the end. Usually there's some big splashy finish. Living in Michigan, that was somewhat commonplace. Now that I'm in Texas, with no rain to speak of, fireworks are a rarity.

Last week I had a wonderful burger at Cappy's here in San Antonio. there is something different about a burger you get in a restaurant. This burger wasn't just any burger, it was made of Kobe beef and was topped with blue cheese. The burger wasn't particularly thick but it was just the right thickness. Everything about the burger - including the company - was great. I had lunch with a tv sales rep. Afterward we went to the Twig Bookshop and bought books. How great was that? Great burger, great company and buy a book!!

I'm interested in what the thoughts of others are about food and how it works or doesn't work into their life. What do you think about food, how do you feel about it?