I now understand the meaning of
comfort food. Its texture soothes you. Its smell makes you feel good. And, its taste is like a warm embrace.
Today, it is blistery cold in
Pittsburgh. With temperatures in the twenties accompanied by a brisk and steady wind, it feels like I have died and found myself in
Alaska. Of course on this
coldest day of the year I had a meeting downtown, which is located miles away from my office. And of course the building where my meeting was located did not have attached parking. So I found myself walking several blocks from the
parking garage to the building. When I arrived at the meeting I was cold all of the way through. And even though I tend to eat a
vegetable loaded,
calorie managed, somewhat bland diet. Today, was a little different.
At the end of my cold journey I found that the meeting organizers had ordered baked chicken,
macaroni and cheese, mixed vegetables, salad,
chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and
corn bread. Normally I would have passed on the heartier fare and consumed just the salad. However, today, I loaded my plate with an assortment of goodies, including corn bread. The corn bread actually smelled and tasted a lot like pound cake. The calorie conscious, normal me, would have passed on that too. However, the frozen me consumed it with relish!
This food was ridiculously good. It was like wrapping myself in a warm blanket. It was what I wanted. It was what I needed. It did my soul, my stomach, and my body good. It comforted me in a way that my vegetable loaded, calorie managed somewhat bland diet would not have done.
I made a mental note though. I need wear my down coat so that I don't get so cold during my downtown walks and don't crave comfort food that badly. I can't afford to get comforted like this all winter. I won’t be able to fit my clothes!
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