I want to eat well

What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.

The thing I would like to accomplish next year is to eat well. I am a decent cook, but in the past few years, I have settled for less, reduced my expectations; dabbling in frozen and prepared foods, apologizing for it by saying it adds variety with little effort; picking up a delicious pizza because it is sooo good, so easy and easy to eat.

I went to a new diner in Hudson today. Everything on the menu is grown locally, raised organically, etc. from soup to beer, eggs, milk shakes, vegetables, fries. They gave me a list of farms where the produce is grown. And they handed me a menu which featured lots of burger from the black angus bovines they raise a few miles out of town, and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, again from local farms.

I ordered that sandwich, which included local fries and a pickled beet and a small milk shake; total bill was about $15. What???? Well other than the grilled cheese, it was the least expensive item on the menu. It was a good sandwich. I should say great.

Now to the point of achieving in the next year... the owner of the diner knows the food is expensive at is diner. He counters this with good food costs money. It is expensive to produce, so you pay a premium price here for quality. I do not want to pay an arm and a leg for food next year, but I do want to upgrade the quality of what I eat and serve to others.

I intend to work on this by: 1.shopping farm markets, 2.buying organic, 3.growing some of my own food, 4. looking for food that smells good and feels good rather than the lowest price automatically, 5.baking bread and desserts, 6. buying in smaller quantities, 7. avoiding prepared foods, 8. supporting local farmers by talking up their virtues, 9. taking my time in preparing meals,10. assuming that others want the best also.

I will feel very happy when that first quality meal comes out of my kitchen with a table full of guests, involved in great conversation.