“A cookbook should reflect the personality of the author along with his or her kitchen technique. Some cookbooks are put together like paper dolls. There is no feeling of humanness in them. I write about things I like and the way I like them.” - James Beard.

I love to cook. I love to entertain. Cooking can not only be creative, but therapeutic. Reading through cookbooks and recipes online often fill my mornings in bed, reinventing dishes frequently take up my afternoons. Yet, despite the amount of cooking I've done, I haven't sat down at the table to eat once. This morning for example, I brought my laptop into the kitchen while the plumber was fixing the water tank in the attic. I had taken my baked eggs out of the oven, not really even that hungry - I just wanted to use up the tasty leftovers - nor did I want to eat in front of my guests, so I left the cooked `dish by the stove and sat at the table. I literally got up from the table, went over to the stove, took a couple bites standing up, then went back to sit at the table. Being alone sometimes means eating in front of the tv on the couch, standing up in the kitchen, not even using plates (less washing), and it's easy to open the fridge and nibble on something, close the door, and go back to whatever.

I realized that most of my posts recently have been about cooking and sharing recipes. And I guess, being on my own, writing about them is the best way to share my meals with someone. Even if "someone" is cyberspace.

As much as I love to peruse recipes and the whole performance of cooking, and since I'm sharing meals with anyone who's not actually present but myself, I've decided that I should sit down at the table, set it for one, and enjoy my home cooked meal without the tv (it's barely on anyways, but seems like something people would have on when alone - I prefer my iPod - singing outloud? maayybbee), without the computer, and just pouring over the beautiful scene in front of me: the purpled heather covered Horn Head, the golfers who are constantly on the golf course from the moment I wake up until it gets dark, the trail of horseback riders cantering along the top of the sand dunes, the ever changing blue hues of the sea, the summer camp or the local team playing on the futbol pitch, the thicket of colourful flowers climbing up the hill and over the stone wall, and especially the lovely weeds and shrubs coming up through the gravel patio that separate me and all the described above....that I need to pull up....

Cheers. 

anyways, i enjoy it. and hope you do too. 

How to Eat Alone - Daniel Halpern

While it's still light out
set the table for one:
a red linen tablecloth,
one white plate, a bowl
for the salad
and the proper silverware.
Take out a three-pound leg of lamb,
rub it with salt, pepper and cumin,
then push in two cloves
of garlic splinters.
Place it in a 325-degree oven
and set the timer for an hour.
Put freshly cut vegetables
into a pot with some herbs
and the crudest olive oil
you can fine.
Heat on a low flame.
Clean the salad.
Be sure the dressing is made
with fresh dill, mustard
and the juice of hard lemons.

Open a bottle of good late harvest zinfandel
and let it breathe on the table.
Pour yourself a glass
of cold California chardonnay
and go to your study and read.
As the story unfolds
you will smell the lamb
and the vegetables.
This is the best part of the evening:
the food cooking, the armchair,
the book and bright flavor
of the chilled wine.
When the timer goes off
toss the salad
and prepare the vegetables
and the lamb.  Bring them out
to the table.  Light the candles
and pour the red wine
into your glass.
Before you begin to eat,
raise your glass in honor
of yourself.
The company is the best you'll ever have.