Monday, September 24, 2007

Comfort Food


Lasagna, mashed potatoes, homemade mac and cheese. . . I can feel my blood pressure drop already.

Honestly, you can have your bio-feedback, yoga, and group therapy sessions. I'll cure what ales me in the kitchen. Not that I'm a great cook, by any stretch of the imagination. It's just that certain emotions and seasons call for specific types of foods, and I won't be happy until I've eaten every last delicious bite.

During the summer, it's pasta salad--replete with broccoli, olives, cheese cubes, and loads of spices. But it's finally autumn and so even though the weather's still warm, I bring home gorgeous apples and bags of caramels, ready to be unwrapped and melted. Or unwrapped and popped into my mouth with a bit of apple, if time's an issue. And soups--vegetable, ham and bean, hash, chili . . . I could live off soup seven days a week, if the kids wouldn't lecture the food pyramid recommendations at me.

When I was pregnant with daughter number three, everything was difficult, my stomach included. At my most miserable, only S'more pop tarts, lightly toasted until warm and crispy, and real Coke would do. With daughter number two, it was Baskin Robbins daiquiri ice ice cream. With daughter one, it was apples and barbecue potato chips.

Now, when work is especially nightmarish and I see no easy solutions in sight, my fingers start to twitch towards a Midnight Milky Way.

What culinary delight invades your dreams in good times and bad? Do your cravings ebb and flow with the seasons, or are you loyal to your favorite foods?

14 comments:

Tessa Dare said...

Heavens, Gillian - you're making me hungry!!

Fall is the best season for comfort food, IMO. I just love pumpkin bread and vegetable stew and roasted squash and all that good stuff.

Lenora Bell said...

I'm glutting on white nectarines right now before the season ends. They're so juicy and sweet. My BF is the cook of the family (a professional one at that). Everything he makes is delectable. He's the candy man. Tonight he made me hand-cranked peanut butter ice cream. Very good for midnight cravings when paired with chocolate.

But I'm quite partial to the first word of your post. Whenever my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday dinner I would always say lasagna. Mmmmm...

Gillian Layne said...

Good morning, my late night friends :) I love those pumpkin quick breads!

I didn't even touch on morning foods, but I'm not too much on breakfast. I do love Malt O Meal when it's cold outside. And I love smoothies, too.

Lenora, I've never had a white nectarine--but the peanut butter ice cream sounds divine.

Ericka Scott said...

Beef Stew...and stay tuned in October for some really yummy recipes on my blog!

Sookie said...

Shameful to admit, but I strap a feedbag on two or three days out of the month. No amount of food satisfies, even though I'll eat junk food and sweets like a Hoover.

But the rest of the month, I'm good....boringly good....and dream of of the wonderful binges to come :) Yet if things become a little overwhelming, a Butterfinger Blizzard always does the trick!

Gillian Layne said...

Ericka, I'll be waiting with a pen, paper, and spoon :)

Marianne, you won't believe this, but two days ago they seized our DQ and shut it down--tax evasion, or some such crime. Agggg! I live in a blizzardless town--it's like being on the moon.

doglady said...

A blizzardless town??? Oh, the horror! The horror!! My Mom's chicken and dumplings will usually get me through anything. Now for writing inspiration it is Cadbury's English toffee candy bars! The big ones!! Now the lasagna sounds divine, gillian!

Gillian Layne said...

I love, love toffee!!!!

And chicken and dumplings are an art form I have not mastered, but have the deepest respect for. Seriously--good dumplings are hard to make.

Terry Stone said...

Great topic, Gillian. Why is it that favorite foods change with the seasons? I've done made cheesy potatoe soup and a pot of chili, for some reason I won't make those during spring and summer.

Chicken and dumplings is an all the time dish around here, my daughter LOVES them. Lasagna is popular, but with one lactose intolerant, as rare as the ice cream I've been known to sneak and eat during the ride home from the grocery store (and the kids wonder why I don't take them).

Gillian Layne said...

You are my kind of Mom, lady. I try desperately to hit the stores without the kiddos, too. I feel like the bill doubles with them along.

I adore potato soup--I'll have to try the cheesy variety. I hope the temps drop here soon.

Anonymous said...

Oooooo carmel apples! You've got my mouth watering.

Gillian Layne said...

Alice, don't they look yummy? And using a real twig for the stick is so cute. Something simple that never would have occurred to me.

Unknown said...

Pretty new look on the blog! Fall is my favorite time of year. When it gets cool, I love soup, bread, cheddar cheese and a glass of wine...but I'm truly addicted to mashed potatoes and gravy which I must limit to holidays--- or else Macy's Thanksgiving Parade will feature the Maggie Blimp.

Gillian Layne said...

Thanks Maggie!

Potatoes and gravy are a main food group here in the heartland. I know my MIL went to California once and told me the restaurants make mashed potatoes with a bit of the skin left on to show they are "real" and not from a box. She was amazed.