What's for dinner?

Honestly, it's not that I don't like to cook. Because...I love to cook. Just not night after night after night. This dinner thing is getting on my nerves. Coming up with a menu early in the day, coming home late from the office and cooking it and then serving it and then cleaning up after it amid everything else that has to get done in a short period of time is taking it's toll on me. I mean, I don't like to complain. But, sometimes I just can't help it.

People seem to think that having a Lapband makes the whole dinner thing (or any food event) harder. But, it doesn't. We Lapbanded folks can eat regular food. Sure, we have to be careful--as I've said many times before--about what we eat and how much we eat. But, for the most part...it's business and usual. That's the supreme beauty of a Lapband. We're not left to eating only diet food or just protein or just veggies or salads or tuna fish. At least for me, when I went on a diet in my pre-Lapbanded life, that's the way it was. Now, it's eat what you want, what you can and just be smart about it. Which, of course, doesn't make the whole dinner thing harder. The only thing that it's done to the way I eat is that I really want my food to taste good and I want it to be the food that I really like. Not that I wanted to eat lousy food before. But, when I was dieting in my pre-Lapband life, I expected to eat food that wasn't all that great. It was all part of the suffering and deprivation thing (you know...to lose weight, we must suffer...) So, I find myself thinking a lot harder about what I really want to eat....maybe that makes it harder, I'm not sure. I've developed this mentality that if I am going to eat something then it better damn well be good. Yes, I'm a foodie from way back. But, even as a foodie, before my Lapband, I would put up with sub par food...I mean, I had to eat so I ate. Whatever it was...I ate it. I guess that explains a little bit of how I ended up needing my Lapband.

People who know me have heard me say many times that every meal in my house has to be an event. I know I've said it a million times. Sometimes I say it with great disgust, other times I say it with pride. But, no matter--it's one of my standard lines. Because it's true. The "what's for dinner?" question is a standard line too. From my family. Somedays it haunts me all day long. Because, honestly, I have no f'in idea what's for dinner! I'm not organized enough to have something planned and my taste buds are not quick enough to know what I will want to eat. Like everyone else, we have our standard foods that appear on the dinner table (chicken, salmon, tacos, salads,hamburgers, pasta). But, since I'm not one of those kind of people who adheres to schedules or to keeping everything the same day-in-and-day out, I get tired of the same old, same old. Even so, that doesn't mean that I have a recipe box filled with great ideas for every night of the week. In fact, even though I have a shitload of cookbooks, recipe boxes, food magazines and stray recipes from friends, I don't follow recipes much anyway. I just use them for ideas mostly.

So, here I sit....it's Thursday....very early morning. I'm headed out to meet my dear friend Martha for our morning walk. And, I have no idea what the hell I am going to make for dinner. I have a feeling it's going to be one of those days when I think about dinner all day long. All day long. Now you know...my Lapband doesn't stop me from thinking about food from morning until night. It might stop me from eating tons of food. But, not from thinking about it.
So, I'm wondering.....what are YOU making for dinner tonight?