Mangiamo! (Let’s Eat!)

There are two activities that God created both necessary for human survival as well as pleasurable. Eating is one of them. You can deduce the other. Mealtime, throughout history, has been portrayed in books, poetry, music and art. Food is referenced innumerable times in Sacred Scripture, not forgetting the meal of meals, the Last Supper.

For me, every meaningful event was surrounded with fabulous delicacies. Even sad events like funerals included gathering between viewing times and ended with a large gathering at a local restaurant for the final event. This helped us through the grief, being with the people closest to us and the deceased. We even had a good laugh, telling funny memories of our loved ones.

I never thought I was an emotional eater. I didn’t eat when I was lonely, depressed, and angry, etc. It took me four years of taking care of my diet to realize I am an emotional eater. I eat to get to the happy place, my happy place. The happiest part of the day was dinner. No matter how bad things were, we sat down to dinner, talked and laughed. We could hardly wait to break bread with our cousins at the holidays.

Today, I am still trying to get to the happy place. It’s about the party, the feel good. I love feeding anyone who enjoys great food. I love everything about food, the aromas, flavors, textures, the wine, the company and the ambience. Although the experience is always enjoyable, I can never quite reach my “real” happy place. The food never quite does it. In the end, when I overdo it, I feel worse about myself for not having control. I then have to spend most of the week trying to take off the damage from the weekend.

I have to say, my travels through Italy and Sicily have been a culinary explosion and we are only 25% of the way through. I have enjoyed every morsel of every meal. My stomach kills, but I will probably not skip the next meal out of fear that I will miss something. I am scared to see how tight my clothes might be by the end of this trip, but it will be well worth it. The olive oil, cheeses, pasta are all fabulous.

Who knows; maybe I will find my happy place here in the motherland. I found my cousins in Reisi. So anything is possible. I will be posting some photos and videos of this wonderful event as well as some others. Keep reading! I will be catching up with you again soon!

Tell me what is going on in your life. I want to hear from you!

Amore & Baci (Love & Kisses)!

Ciao, Just Steph