Food, glorious food

I admire people who have the creativity to regularly come up with inspired dishes. I go to the grocery store to plan my family's week of meals and usually can't think of a single thing I want to or am able to make that isn't my mom's potato soup, a frozen Stouffer's casserole, or the old standby spaghetti. And then a lot of times, I bring home a bunch of groceries--usually enough for one or two meals, otherwise mostly snacks and drinks--and then I'm never in the mood for what I bought to make. So I end up wanting to go out to eat. I wonder if I'll ever get my act together and become the kind of cook and mom my son can look back on and remember fondly. What will he say when he is older? "My mom sure did make a great frozen pizza...?"

Speaking of my son, he brought home this Foods with Moods book a while back and, like a number of reviewers, we were both quite fascinated by it. Now that's some creativity right there...The author has used only carving and a few supplemental food pieces to make fruits and vegetables express a variety of feelings.

You can find all sorts of other artistic uses of foods out there in blogland and on the Internet. You might have even been to restaurants or catered events where the chefs have been especially innovative in the presentation of their food. Or maybe you just remember your mom or dad or someone else when you were little arranging your food in cute ways on your plate.

Please create a New Post on your blog inspired by food or a food memory.  See the yellow sheet with the Thanksgiving cornucopia at the top for ideas and more details.  There really isn't a wrong answer, but shoot for about 300 words.  

Please print a copy of your piece to share with us in class on Tuesday.  And if you are able, please bring a food to share with the class (possibly connected to your writing piece).  I'll bring something to drink and plates, napkins, forks, etc.

We'll have a feast in the classroom, share our food memories and do a little thinking about what we're grateful for.  I am thankful for kind, creative, driven students like you all who are willing to try new things and continually impress me with what you're able to come up with.

If you have time, you can also cruise around and look at food blogs like this one to bring back more ideas or inspire new thinking. As you might imagine, there are tons and tons of pieces about food and even food memory in magazines and on the Internet. Probably because most people really love to eat!