eating habits

This past weekend I had three main jobs:

1. Set the Table.
2. Eat what is put on the Table.

3. Clean the Table.

In case you're wondering, my order of preference would be 2. and then 1. and then 3.

I've been told, by loved ones and such, that my eating habits consist of bread and cheese. In the midst of blubbering defenses, I've discovered that, when broken down, pizza, grilled cheese and even pasta can be boiled down to bread. and cheese.

So basically, my eating habits consist of bread. and cheese.

Yum.

I mean, no! I need to diversify (if that is actually a word. i think I saw it in one of my "how to manage money for idiots who are careless with money" books. thinking of it now, it probably has more to do with stocks and important things like bonds and less with broccoli and carrots.)

If I was a cookbook I would not be this:

I would be those oversized shiny recipe cards you get in the mail for free to convince you to pay $3.99 monthly for ten more oversized shiny recipe cards in the mail every single week for the rest of your life until you have piles and piles of oversized shiny recipe cards stacked in your cupboards because you have no desire to cook apricot meatloaf or oreo cream pie.

Ok, so the oreo cream pie wasn't terrible.

People who would be the lovely, simple, Real Simple cookbook don't actually buy the cookbook. It's like the world of self-help. They already grow fresh rosemary and understand the subtle difference between extra virgin and virgin olive oil and have large blocks of exotic looking cheese in their fridge.

Here's my theory (my bias, if you like): It's the people with the pre-packaged American slices & the the three cans of Pam cooking spray (in multiple flavors) that scramble to get this exact cookbook because they know, simple or not, they want to open their fridge and feel an instant lovely calmness like they feel when they look at the cover of this book instead of standing with the fridge door open suspiciously wondering what tupperware is the culprit of that smell.

So yes, I bought this cookbook.

I want the calmness, the exotic cheese, the simplicity, the muted color palate, the homemade vinagrette, the pantry full of capers and mustard seed and other things edible things I don't really believe are edible. I want to understand what kale is and how to roast garlic and is a radish a beet? is a beet a radish? are they related?

You should know, I've never bought a self help book. And I don't have to--because every single book I buy is self help. How to cook, sew, save money, save the world, etc.... it's really all my way of stacking up an unread pile of "How to Change Me."

While I do think that personal growth is a lovely, lovely thing---I don't think I should be banking my amazon account on my own.

I need to go a little deeper than roasted garlic and homemade marinara. Yes, I want to expand my bread & cheese diet, but I think my cookbook (granted, my new and very pretty cookbook) needs to stay a cookbook & not my personal revelation.

So much pressure for something that is really just trying to get me to steam the cauliflower right.