Preface

People ask me why I'm always cooking, or eating, or talking about food, or all three. The truth is not just that I love food, but food helps me feel. Most of us use our five senses to collect data to tell our brains how to feel about something, hot or cold, loud or salty. For me it is tasting hot soup, hearing sizzling pans, smelling garlic and butter aromate, and watching chocolate melt. These rituals help my heart process everything that my head can't sort out yet.



For me food is my feelings. No, I don't have an eating disorder or some kind of abstract overly romantic relationship with food. But the shopping, baking, broiling, and most important the sharing of food, is what makes my heart and stomach feel full and nurtured. I can have an angry heart and then start making a lasagna for my family because that's what I meal planned a week ago. But when the Parmesan bubbles with the sauce and the stove timer goes off, I have rippled through all of my emotions. And when my family has the first forkful, I relax. Maybe the same thing happens to you, or maybe you just like good recipes. One at a time, we can fill out bellies together.