Food Therapy

So, I have finally won the battle with technology and am entering my first ever post on a blog! Experts say if I do this every day for 22 days it will become habit. I actually 'blog' in my head all the time, so the trick for me will be to get my blog thoughts on to virtual 'paper'!

Let me start by saying that I am an unbelievably blessed woman with an awesome husband who is the best and most talented cook ever. It is not uncommon on a Monday night (when other families are having Kraft macaroni and cheese or Hamburger Helper to kick off the week) for him to be flipping through one of the many cookbooks in our library for a new recipe to try.

Last Monday he decided to make Pasta Primavera with homemade fettucine pasta. For some, this may not sound very difficult or challenging, but this man works a backbreaking job for ten plus hours, and then comes home and embarks upon the task of making pasta from scratch for us. I believe it is his therapy; the way he unwinds at the end of the day. He is uncompromising when it comes to food and his philosophy is this. If you are going to the trouble of cutting up garden fresh broccoli, carrots, red bell peppers and onions, then sauteing them in extra virgin olive oil and blending them with a creamy white fettucine sauce made from real butter, it's criminal to pour that delicious combination over store-bought, boxed pasta.

He is so busy creating the perfect meal that he may not realize the benefits of his cooking 'therapy' and how it extends to our whole family and brings us closer together. Our 13 year old daughter got off the sofa from watching iCarly to investigate what he was doing with the manual pasta machine. Before we knew it, she is busy helping him repeatedly feed the dough into the machine, and they are laughing and talking as they figure out together the process that will result in the best noodles. Our son, always on the lookout for nice things to do for his girlfriend, stopped in the kitchen long enough to watch intently as his dad made the fettucine sauce in order that he could repeat the recipe and surprise her with his own homemade meal. This resulted in some good father/son bonding if only for a few brief moments. And of course, all this time and effort resulted in an absolutely fabulous meal that we all sat down and enjoyed together as a family.

There are some people out there who may believe that food as therapy is not necessarily a good thing, but for us it draws us closer, makes mundane moments magical and gets us talking, laughing and working together for the common goal - FOOD. For us, food fuels not just our bodies, but our relationships. Like pouring the pièce de résistance over boxed pasta, it's a shame to not benefit fully from what a good meal can do to bring a family together.