Hi mosaic
I totally loved reading your beautiful post. So great to hear that you realise that food is your passion. Love the way that it evokes the memories of where you were and what you were doing. Love the balanced food passion, food that works for you on so many levels and sounds amazing and delicious. I would love the halloumi version of your dish! What a great place to be in.

Allison, so great to hear about your journey with food and where it has brought you to.

Fiona R

: That is lovely how you have totally
: flipped your feelings about food.
: I've always had an interest in
: food, and I never had a fear of
: food. I was very sugar sensitive
: but I never had a weight issue so
: there was no angst around food,
: except about how much it cost when
: I first got divorced and was
: struggling financially. When I was
: little, I had a Unicef bingo game
: that had drawings of food - not a
: finished meal, but things like
: grain, peas in the pod, milk etc.
: I was always making up stories in
: my head, so I used to take one of
: the bingo cards and pretend that
: those were the staple foods
: available in an imaginary nation,
: and then imagine what the regional
: dishes would be. I know, totally
: weird pastime for a little kid. Of
: course, when I was old enough to
: learn to cook, I was most
: interested in making desserts, but
: I did eventually learn to cook
: other foods.

: I love to read cookbooks and imagine
: with the different dishes would
: taste like. I'm afraid that,
: despite my interest in food, meals
: at our house are often boring, but
: what I do like is cooking without
: a recipe - looking at what we have
: in the house and coming up with
: some combination of ingredients
: and seasoning that I think would
: be good. Give me a skillet and a
: fully stocked kitchen, and I am
: happy. Being able to put together
: a yummy meal without any kind of
: recipe makes me feel creative and
: competent. Even if we grill meat,
: I like to come up with tasty side
: dishes. But I do most of my
: creative cooking on weekends, or
: when I'm not tired. After a long
: day at work, I keep it simple.

: It used to be that when I went to a
: restaurant, the whole meal was
: about the dessert. I would read
: the dessert menu first, and then
: base what I ordered around the
: dessert. If there was a dessert I
: really wanted, I'd pick a smaller
: meal so I wasn't too full to enjoy
: the dessert. (Oh, I'd eat it
: anyway, but I preferred not to be
: full to the gills.) Also, once I
: was on my own, I needed to make
: sure to pick a meal that wasn't
: too expensive so I could afford
: the dessert. If the restaurant
: only had jello, vanilla ice cream
: and grapenut pudding for dessert
: (yes, gasp, there were restaurants
: like that), I wasn't interested in
: dessert, and then I'd order more
: for dinner. But I never paid that
: much attention to the entree. Now,
: the focus of my meal is selecting
: a tasty entree that appeals to me.
: My favorite local place right now
: is a Middle Eastern restaurant
: that has really tasty foods. I
: love the combination of flavors,
: and it makes me want to learn how
: to cook Middle Eastern dishes.
: Allison