I am a woman who thinks about lunch while still eating breakfast.  I regularly photograph my food and frequently the plates of those eating beside me. I’ve written a bit about food in early blogs (see Passing Great Grandma’s Baton) but decided I didn’t want to write a food blog, as such.  However, I need to write about it occasionally.  What am I going to do with all these photos if I don’t blog them now and then??

There are people who don’t really care about food except as sustenance.  I am not one of them.  If you are one of them, stop reading now, you won’t enjoy this post.  Every morsel of food I eat is precious to me.  If possible, I like it to be beautiful, delicious and healthy, all at the same time. When pressed, I will settle for two out of three, beautiful and delicious… or just delicious if it’s absolutely necessary.  I’ve been known to choose rosy Corella pears at the grocery so I could photograph or draw them.  Eating them later was the happy by-product. When we travel, I love to roam around fresh food markets, or gourmet shops, to learn about foods I’ve never eaten or even seen.

Who knew Lingonberries were plentiful in Sweden in September?  Or the Germans make an awesome sweet cinnamon and sugar pretzel?  The world is a giant food bowl of surprises.

We’ve had more than a few standout food moments in recent years.  And I’ve photographed many of them! The creme brûlée below was one of them.  Total surprise, recommended by our waitress at a pub called Le Winch Restaurant in Lyon, France.  Honestly, it was almost worth a trip back.

Photographing food and publishing the photos is called ‘food porn’, did you know that?  Very disappointing.  The photos are nice mementos but hardly do justice to the joyous brain waves I had while eating the subject matter.  Hmmmm, perhaps I do get the ‘porn’ reference….

Can I talk about bread for a moment?  Specifically the croissant…in France… with a few tiny fragments of fresh butter here and there.  Heaven. They are just not the same anywhere else.  Sorry.  I’ve done the research.  Having said that, however, the Germans and the Russians know their way around a wonderful loaf of bread too, studded with fennel or caraway, rustic and crusty on the outside, chewy on the inside.  And look at my English friend Joanna’s raisin kefir loaf! Salivating just writing about it…

The American Jewish delicatessens make Rueben sandwiches, and corned beef and fresh pickles like no one else. Remember the restaurant scene from the movie ‘When Harry Met Sally’?  I’ve eaten there, and she was not faking it.  She was having the best pastrami on rye of her life!!  A good Deli (Katz Delicatessen) is a treasure to experience regularly.  We have been known to stay in a hotel because we know it is near a good Deli.  Seriously.

The Spanish know how to eat breakfast… luscious cheese in one hand, a sweet pastry in the other, and a side of fresh figs.  OMG.

I fondly recall… Magnolia’s Restaurant in Charleston, my cousin’s awesome home cooking in Wyoming, delicious Alsace cuisine near Washington DC, spectacular whole Thai fish in Darwin, Tarte Tatin in Paris, the world’s best hot chocolate in Bratislava.  I could go on, and on…

And I will, another time, but just now I hear a piece of dark chocolate calling my name…              So much good food, so little time.