Food Matters

My three day funk ended last night when I baked oatmeal cookies. The weight loss people say that food shouldn't be used for emotional comfort, but I say they're out of their minds. There's nothing more therapeutic than baking. I will concede that it's the act of cooking that's a big part of the healing process. It wouldn't have worked if I had just bought cookies from the store. And they wouldn't have tasted half as good.

I got the recipe from Mark Bittman's book, Food Matters. It's a mixture of cookbook, memoir, instruction manual, political manifesto and religious tract. A couple of years ago, he was as overweight as I am. He lost thirty-five pounds by sticking to a vegan diet during the day, but eating whatever he liked at night. (He did try to cut down on meat, but didn't eliminate it altogether.)

I love the concept, but have not been able to put it into practice. I've only tried two recipes from the book and both are in the dessert section. They were simple recipes that I used to make when I was growing up: apple crisp and oatmeal cookies. Simple but delicious.