I live to eat good food.
I blame my parents for my gourmet side as they took my sister and me to fancy restaurants all over the world when we were kids, not to mention both my mom and grandmother are phenomenal cooks.
When I moved away from home in my teens, I moved in with a buddy who - like me - had relied upon mom to provide all the cooking, so we had absolutely no clue what we were doing in the kitchen.
No lie - we managed to screw up making Kraft Dinner the first time we tried.
In hindsight, we really should have read the easy-to-follow instructions on the box - and also not wandered away to chat up the girls moving into the apartment next door.
Another roommate and I somehow managed to cause a cake to explode in the oven - something I've been told is impossible. My buddy and I sat on the floor and ate the chocolatey remains off the ceiling of the oven.
Hey, don't judge me I was in college.
But after that, I can recall a few years where my diet pretty much consisted of takeout pizza, souvlaki and Big Macs.
Eventually I began to copy my mom's recipes when I'd visit, and see if I could replicate the home-cooked food I craved.
Today, I'm the main chef in the family, and I usually end up making one meal for me and my meat-eating kids, and something different for my vegetarian wife. Sometimes I have to whip up a quick third option, as my kids can be picky about some of spicier things I make, or change their tastes on a whim.
But last week as I was preparing my version of a favourite restaurant's shrimp dish (mine's better!), I had the television news on for background noise. The story being covered was about folks at some factory who had just lost their jobs in the U.S., and it was followed by more bad news about the economy, and then another story about people losing their homes.
I looked around at the food sizzling in the pan, the television, gadgets and luxuries I have, thought about my good fortune to have work as a writer, and everything else I tend to take for granted when I'm busy fretting about life.
Not everyone is so fortunate.
Last night at supper I learned my daughter was captain of her Mamquam Elementary School class, in charge of making sure the other kids bring food in for the food bank. Apparently one teacher (Mr. McKay) has challenged the other classes to take away his class's long-running title of champion food bank collectors.
I'd like to issue my own challenge, of sorts.
Every time I go to the store, whether it's for one item or a full shopping, I plan to throw one or two extra non-perishable items in the basket to go to the food bank or various community food drives - and toys for the kids. If you've got a full cupboard and similar luxuries to be thankful for, why not do the same?
This year, beat your own personal donating record along with me, because while I can frivolously say "I live to eat," others barely have enough to eat to live.
