24 September 2007

Simple Pleasures

During this month, I've rediscovered the simple pleasure of using butter or honey for flavor. Good butter on homemade bread? Lovely. Local honey on cornbread? Delicious.

I've also made some new discoveries, namely fromage blanc and homemade pickles. Fromage blanc is a mild cream cheese I learned about by my cheese guy at the Troy Farmer's Market. I've spread it on herbed foccacia and layered it on a tomato sandwich. The cheese guy recommends fromage blanc and pepper jelly on crackers with wine. I'll try it soon.

The pickles came from a friend who grew the cucumbers and cold-packed them (whatever that means). They are glorious. I like pickles, and had missed eating them, so when she brought hers over I was looking forward to eating them. But I'm not sure I can do justice to the taste and texture of munching that first pickle with a glass of white wine one evening. Swooning comes close.

That's the thing. With fewer flavors at the ready, I find I'm eating things with more attention, focused on what they have to offer. It makes me wonder how I otherwise eat to fill, paying little mind, or else adding heat and sweet and tart and sour to satisfy gustatory desire. Adding more and noticing less. Wasting taste instead of savoring flavor.

1 comment:

Jill U Adams said...

I cooked acorn squash one night. Restricted from using the brown sugar I would normally sprinkle on the slices, I had considered substituting honey or syrup. I took a bite of buttered squash and realized I didn't need to sweeten it at all. More amazing, my kids agreed.

The power of having to make new choices is you'll find better ones.