Food for a broken heart

[tanabutler]

I like the baking bread idea. Put on some music you can sing along with. Wail. (I'm thinking Lyle Lovett and/or Aretha Franklin.)

Pound things. Break things. Make pique assiette.

(I second the Eddie Izzard nomination. I'm going to see him Friday night.)

Edited September 10, 2003 by tanabutler (log)

[SobaAddict70]

Make some French kisses.

Give some away...preferably to a hot date.

Sleep with date.

Rinse and repeat.

Soba

[KAPDADDY]

Bacon.

And blueberry muffins.

And a big honkin' milkshake with real lots of real whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

Hushpuppies.

Bread and butter.

And more bacon.

[FistFullaRoux]

Mac and cheese. (Hell, use the box if you don't wanna hassle). Get a chicken breast or your favorite cut of meat. Make it nice and spicy. Grill, saute, bake, whatever. The combination of spicy, salty and carb loading will shake your head out of the funk it's in.

Follow with a pint of strawberries or whatever else looks good in the produce department for a healthier sugar rush.

But just before you eat, get naked. Seriously. If you're going to be by yourself, you may as well be nekkid. It's my motto. And yet another little peek inside the black hole called my mind. Eating naked can be so much fun. But avoid soup and coffee.

[Terrie]

I’m actually going through the exact same thing myself. Close to 2 months ago my heart was also broken. A big part of our relationship was my role as the cook. I loved it, too. At first, I didn’t want to eat at all and dropped 20 lbs. (I’ve NEVER lost weight in my life before this).

But it finally struck me that I was depriving myself of one of my favorite things to do – cook. So the last couple of weeks I’ve visited the local farmers’ market on Saturday and set aside Sunday as “my” day and I cook again (along with enjoying a bubble bath and a long read of the newspaper). I still rarely feel like cooking for one during the week, so on Sunday I cook a couple of things that will help take me through the upcoming week. I’ve been firing up the grill and cooking a little pork roast, chicken kebabs or wings, corn on the cob, peppers, even tomatoes – then eating the foods that are good as leftovers during the week. During the cold weather, I’ll probably braise something or roast a little chicken – things like that.

It has actually helped to cheer me up – this little creative outlet distracts me from my broken heart, at least for an afternoon.

Best of luck to you.

[browniebaker]

I just now finished watching Dr. Phil and Katie Couric's two-hour TV show on NBC called "Survival of the Fittest," all about not using food as an emotional crutch, and I almost want to take back what I said earlier in this thread about pie or a stack of pancakes being the balm for a broken heart. But probably all I need is a few hours to get over Dr. Phil's good advice!

For me, food definitely is love, and I need a fix nearly every day. Whose heart isn't wounded just a little, here and there, every day?

[NeroW]

This thread brings back Bad Memories.

Which, at times, can be good.

One of the things I did to distract myself was choose foods that I wanted to perfect. Cheese souffle, flaky pie dough, bernaise sauce, what-have-you. Then I would make those foods repeatedly until I felt the technique was second nature.

Also, I looked at a LOT of eGullet.

[Suzanne F]

I just now finished watching Dr. Phil and Katie Couric's two-hour TV show on NBC called "Survival of the Fittest," all about not using food as an emotional crutch, and I almost want to take back what I said earlier in this thread about pie or a stack of pancakes being the balm for a broken heart. But probably all I need is a few hours to get over Dr. Phil's good advice!

Gah. Dr. Phil has a diet book coming out. It is, well, pop psych of the poppest kind. In it he says things like, Never have food out where you can see it. Excuse me? Has he seen my lack of cabinet space???

(I worked on that book WTF, I got paid. )

[NeroW]

Gah.  Dr. Phil has a diet book coming out.  It is, well, pop psych of the poppest kind.  In it he says things like, Never have food out where you can see it.  Excuse me?  Has he seen my lack of cabinet space???

(I worked on that book    WTF, I got paid.  )

I saw a little pamphlet-type thing in the grocery store line. It was a Dr. Phil Diet pamphlet.

Sacre Bleu. Is he qualified? For any of this?

[Suzanne F]

As qualified as anyone else who has access to REAL nutritionalists and food experts, I suppose. The food lists in the book are pretty commonsense stuff if you know anything about good nutrition (don't eat chips; or if you feel you must, just count out a few and don't eat the whole bag at once because it will only make you feel worse about yourself). The rest of the book is mostly "Look inside yourself to figure out why you eat too much/stuff that's not good for you; then CHANGE" and "Remember that the people around you may not want you to lose weight, they're scared you won't love them any more, especially if THEY stay fat" etc. It's all pretty basic behavior modification stuff. Just expressed in a smarmy good-ol'-boy way.

[NeroW]

It's all pretty basic behavior modification stuff.  Just expressed in a smarmy good-ol'-boy way.

Ah.

[SobaAddict70]

who was it who sang "Looking for love in all the wrong places..."

the Eagles?

I've got that song going endlessly in my brain.

Make it stop!!!!!

Calgon, take me away....!

[FistFullaRoux]

who was it who sang "Looking for love in all the wrong places..."

Johnny Lee. On the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. Hat and a beard. Gotta love the 80's.

And thanks for sharing. Now its stuck in mine as well.

[Rover]

Food & Cooking report: Theory - Shopped for food on Sunday thinking I wouldn't want to waste it or the money and sneakily trapped myself into cooking mode.

1. Lovely piece of fresh sable fish marinated briefly in soy sauce, sesame oil & touch of mirin - grilled until slightly caramelized and devoured with chopsticks before I could get the salad on the plate ... plainly not my fault and was delicous.

2. Bought chicken legs (free-range) salted overnight (a-la Judy Rodgers) and browned in preparation for week-night inspiration - probably pan-roasted chicken with end of season tomatoes (Amanda Hesser NY Times - September 2002) or Chicken Bouillabaisse. Bonus of plenty of leftovers.

3. Bought some cod for Roasted Lemon Cod w/Peas & Cherry tomatoes; intended for tonight.

This approach is working and I'm enjoying cooking and preparing meals; still not eating a huge amount, portion-wise - but feeling better about having the celebration of food back in my life.

A friend is joining me for dinner on Thursday and I plan to make a plum tart with Italian prune plums from the farmers market; whatever the chicken dish turns out to be; salad from the garden and Jim Dixon's roasted cauliflower for an appetizer.

I think I'm hanging in ... too much egullet, of course!

[fifi]

Now you're cookin'! (Pun intended.) As I recall, that approach always worked for me... years ago... years and years ago.

[NeroW]

Hook it up, Rover.