My New Comfort Food

I started this blog to explore the idea that sharing food was about relationships.  I still believe that.  I do believe that the fellowship of a shared meal is like none other.  My big square dining table comfortably seats 8 people for a family style meal.  I truly love sitting at the table all together passing platters of food back and forth.  I get a great deal of satisfaction watching people enjoy the food I have prepared for them.  I think of it as passing my love to you, and watching you enjoy it fills my soul.

I have struggled most of my life with choosing appropriate relationships with people.  I would friend most anyone who showed me attention and let them into the innermost parts of my life and my heart, often to my own detriment.  I was confused by superficial kindness and underlying intentions.  I entered into one relationship after another with friends or lovers who just did not treat me well.

Slowly, through years of introspection with a good therapist, I began to make better choices in my friends.  A few years ago, with a great deal of delight and not a small amount of amazement, I realized that I no longer had people close to me who mistreated me in any way.  Not that my life is without conflict, but there is no one in my inner circle of friends who would willfully manipulate or degrade me.

The structure of my friendscape has changed dramatically over my lifetime.  Now those most close to me are those I choose to be close to me.  I no longer give just anyone access to the most tender parts of myself.  My life is rich and full as a result.  I surround myself with quality friends who nurture me.

In thinking of how my relationships with people have changed, I have begun to reflect on my relationship with food.  I’m not sure I thought of it that way before, having a relationship with food.  I have allowed foods that superficially make me feel good to have a place of great importance in my life.  You know…comfort foods.  For me this is mostly carbohydrates.  Potato soup, crusty bread and butter, a plate full of spaghetti; all of these are comfort foods for me.  The thing is, I don’t feel so great after eating these foods.  I feel sluggish and I don’t sleep well after a large meal heavy with starch. 

My old relationships with people led to depression and degradation, my relationships with these comfort foods lead to low energy, high blood sugar and weight gain.  As I had to change my thinking about who were my friends, I now find myself rethinking what exactly comfort food is to me.  As now, I choose friends who nurture my life; I want to choose foods that nurture my body.

One of the foods I have recently discovered is Blood Orange infused olive oil.  A friend introduced me to a new store  Olive & Co. This is a store devoted mostly to olive oil and different vinegars.  As you walk into the store you come across two long rows of metal urns.  One side has flavor infused olive oils and the other side is olive oils from different regions of the world. 

You do a tasting much like you would at a winery.  They will mix and match the oils with the vinegars until you find exactly what you want.  I left with a bottle of Blood Orange Olive Oil and White Balsamic Vinegar infused with Pear.  This is a wonderful combination.  I have been experimenting combining these flavors with all kinds of greens and other ingredients. 

My favorite is a bed of arugula with thinly sliced red onions, orange segments, slivers of almonds and crumbled Danish Blue Cheese.  These flavors topped with the blood orange/pear vinaigrette are just magical!  The sweet, bitter, earthy flavors all come together and offer a great deal of…yes…comfort.  This food nurtures by body as well as my soul.  It is true comfort food.  I served this salad alongside seared salmon finished with a generous drizzle of the blood orange oil.  It was a beautiful meal, and it left me feeling beautiful. 

I find myself excited to explore this new thinking of comfort foods.  I realize that I don’t have to give up creative cooking to lead a healthier lifestyle.  We can still gather around my table and pass platters of beautiful, satisfying food; basking in the comfort of our love for one another.

www.oliveokc.com

  Olive & Co