Feeding The Hungry Writer
Snuggling with a bone
Let’s face it, writing is not a very healthy pursuit. Filling plot holes and writing steamy love scenes exercise our imaginations, but not our bodies. In a quest to lose a few excess pounds I decided to try the infamous Cabbage Soup Diet. Basically you eat fruit, veggies and a bit of lean protein with a lot of cabbage soup.
I love food. There are few things that I won’t eat, at least once. Because I love food. I lost about 1 pound per day on the diet, but I was not happy. The last straw came when I stepped on the scale after a particularly rough day. I was traveling during the banana, skim milk and soup day, with no access to the soup, and found that I had gained two pounds even though I was ravenous most of the time. That did it. I had had enough. The next day I went back to just eating a normal, healthy diet and I am MUCH happier. I found that I couldn’t write because I was so preoccupied with figuring out what I could eat next and hating the cabbage soup.
Lessons learned: Don’t try fad diets and hunger kills my creativity.
One of my favorite books is Alone In The Kitchen With An Eggplant, edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler (here is my review). It is a book of essays, some by well-known writers, talking about dining alone. There are recipes included, usually by people who enjoy eating alone. Some of the essays made me cringe, most often written by people who hated dining by themselves. Personally, I don’t mind eating meals with just me and the characters from my work-in-progress. Of course, I always have to share the last bite of any dog-friendly dishes with Cooper. One of my favorite lunches lately has been a scramble. A little bit of brown rice, eggs, crumbled bacon and hot sauce all scrambled together. Season with your favorite spice blend, like Italian seasoning, or just salt and pepper. Cook until eggs are set and top with cheese. I prefer Laughing Cow Queso Fresco with Chipotle.
What are some of your favorite meals when you are writing or just dining alone?
Isn’t it funny how different it feels to eat alone? I usually just have a salad when I’m by myself.
I should eat salads more. If I had one every meal I ate alone I would probably lose the weight I want to!
Gosh, I never gave eating alone much thought. I just do it because I have to out of necessity. I work at home and there is no one to dine with, except “Wiggles” and that’s more about me feeding her than dining with her. And dinner is often eaten alone since I wake up earlier and the hubby comes home after 7pm. If I’m hungry, forget it — I can’t concentrate.
One of my favorite foods is grilled cheese and tomato with tomato soup.
Now that my kids are older they can prepare some meals for themselves. When they were little I often felt like a short order cook, preparing different things for all three of us.
I love food too. I’m pretty much done with diets. But i do recognize that I need to add exercise to my life which I”m willing to do.
Yes, I definitely need to exercise more too!
What a great peek into your writer’s food world. And nice recipe, I’ll have to try it out one of these days.
I mostly eat alone, and enjoy it, but on occasions when I have lunch or dinner with family or friends, it’s always enjoyable in a different way. Guess it depends on my mood to make the decision (when I have the option) to eating with someone or alone.
I actually like eating alone, too. Although it is nice to have lunch with my hubby or meet a friend for coffee. Sometimes the change of pace is good – and I don’t have to cook!