What to Eat, Part III

I don't know about you, but whenever I've finished a meal, I'm already thinking of the next one.

What I eat for lunch depends on what I ate for breakfast. If I've had a heavy breakfast, then I'll get a light meal, but if I've had the standard cereal with milk, then anything goes.

Lunch is the perfect meal. It helps break up the day when I'm at work and provides a much need respite from the daily grind. I can relax (unless I'm working through lunch) and just take a moment to just enjoy my meal. Sometimes it is hard to decide what to eat - and I just think, what do I feel like? First I think of a genre, and then I break it down. Hmmm, do I want Asian, American, Mexican, Indian, Greek, Italian or Middle Eastern. If I want Asian, do I want Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese? If I want Japanese food, do I want Shabu Shabu or sushi; if I want to eat Mexican, do I want burritos, tacos or salads; if I want American, do I want hamburgers, salads or sandwiches? The choices are endless sometimes.

If I want a light meal, then I usually go for either sushi or a salad. If I want something more substantial then either Indian (a lot of Indian restaurants serve meals buffet style during the lunch hour) or Mexican will usually hit the spot and of course all of these choices depend on what I "feel" like eating.

Lunch and dinner are similar meals to me. But, for some reason, dinner is seen as a more "formal" meal. Lunch is supposed to be just a means to obtain sustenance, but dinner is, I guess for many people, a time to sit down and reconnect with family (assuming you have a family) or friends. I actually enjoy cooking for dinner - I like knowing what goes into the dish, and the feeling of providing food (and a little bit of love) to my family gives me a sense of satisfaction. I go into a "zen" state whenever I start to prepare a meal - cutting up vegetables or meat makes me concentrate on the task at hand and while cooking I zone everything out. There isn't much opportunity for me to be creative in my job and cooking provides this outlet. I can try different recipes and experiment once I have the basics down. And once everything is ready, we can all sit down and eat and unwind.