When Your Friends are Foodies & Your Special Person is an Executive Chef!
I have earned many college degrees over the years. Mostly due to an insatiable appetite for knowledge but also due to a strong misbelief that I wasn’t enough. Hotel, Restaurant & Resort Management is my first degree. I focused more in the Restaurant & Resort side.
My past roommate of 4 years, friend of 17 years, has lots of health maintenance issues and allergies. I learned a lot with her and her needs. My current roommate, also a 15+ year friend, has owned her own restaurant with her late husband. They had a couple of building locations and also did a stretch of farmers markets and catering. And she shares her Irish grandma’s shortbread with the world from time to time. Melt in your mouth!! Hot orange pekoe tea and you will see Heaven in the distance!!
My eldest son, follows a bit like me, I like to think, and suffers tirelessly with Curiosity Seeking Fatigue, CSF for short. (It’s not a thing, but maybe should be looked into.) He has been cooking since a wee lad. Had his own catering business for 2 years from the age of 12. Even has met Emeril Lagasse once. Lots of time in his college dining stations and a summer stent making hot dogs at Koegel in Flint.
There is my current roommate's friend, who has a love for the commercial kitchen also. He brings HelloFresh over just to mix it up around here! Love the variety and the planning he does.
My other son, pizza cooked on the grill!! That is that man’s thing!! He will plan it all out, create a social experience for all of us to gather, chit chat, make pizza, watch Avengers Movies and eat pizza for 3 hours!!!
And of cours, my “Special” friend is an executive chef! Of course he is! And JUST before bariatric surgery!! Oh, the cruel timing of it all!!! LOL. I really needn’t express the pain in the irony in that do I???
What am I going to do after the surgery? Heck what AM I DOING BEFORE the surgery?? Will I NEVER be able to join in a pizza grilling again? Will baking spelt bread or coconut flour brownies for roommate #1 be a thing of the past?? DO I HAVE TO STOP DATING MY PARTNER????
I think not. Not that I have it all figured out, but I am sure it will be very much like it has been and a moderation of taste testing and planning on when left overs can be eating if at all. For me, food and its creativity, love and social aspects are very intertwined. Part of cooking is to taste test product before service. But I have already been practicing practical limits. Like, not eat a servings worth during prep because you are so excited that everyone is coming over. Save it to enjoy with them!!
I have explained to everyone, numerous times, yes the food is fun and part of our gathering but so is the social. And the food in small quantities is the goal, not avoidance.
So, yes there will be more food festivals at my house, my friends homes, my kids homes and I am not leaving my partner. I will continue to focus on just the next meal. Serve only what I need nutritionally and stay focused in the conversations and activities around me, enjoy what I have to be thankful for and choose not to define it as a lose or restriction of my life. Keep looking for ways to stay in the moment and deal with emotions when they are present.














