Le Philosophe dans la Cuisine

Je suis en train de lire ce livre de Brillat-Savarin, gourmand extraordinaire et...avocat. Il nous offre des observations sur le gourmandisme assez étonnantes pour leur précision. Elles sont frappantes à travers les siècles. Il décrit l'obesité, ses causes, et sa prévalence dans la haute société. Ce n'est pas un bel état car les membres du corps sont déformés, les activités quotidiennes deviennent désagréables, voire impossibles. Il remarque que l'obesité est surtout prévalente chez les gens qui mènent une vie aisée et qui mangent beaucoup d'amidons (les pommes de terre, le pain, les pâtes...). Véritablement? J'ai été surprise de lire une telle observation. Nous parlons de telles crises sociales dûes à la mauvaise alimentation. Depuis longtemps, je prône les amidons car ils seuls ne peuvent pas faire grossir. Cela reste vrai. Je croyais que cette "guerre" contre les amidons étaient une création des industries de viande ou des gens contre l'OGM ou les subventions agricoles. Pourtant, sous mes yeux, j'ai une raconte d'un des gourmands les plus connus de l'histoire. Il a noté ce même phénomène. Souvent, il suffit de regarder en arrière afin de comprendre le présent.

Cela ne veut pas dire que je vais commencer à dénigrer les amidons. Ils ne font pas grossir eux mêmes. Les gens (à part ceux qui ont des véritables maladies) se font grossir en trop mangeant, en ne pas ayant des activités physiques, et, selon Brillat-Savarin, en ne pas dormant suffisamment.

Son livre est très précis sur autres éléments de la cuisine. Il divise les étapes de cuisson des viandes à merveil. Il comprend bien "la science des rêves" sans utiliser trop de termes techniques. Il comprend surtout l'intéraction humaine. Si vous aimez la vie ou la cuisine, je vous conseille fortement de lire "Le Philosophe dans la Cuisine."

La misanthrope

Je crois que je deviens Alceste petit à petit. Le monde me dégoûte, ses luttes constantes pour le pouvoir, la célébrité, l'argent, l'amour (le sexe glorifié?). Les gens me détournent de la société. Je ne veux pas les devenir, je ne veux plus y penser. Je ne sais pas exactement ce qui provoque ces émotions. Une surcharge d'information? Les émeutes à Paris? La politique envers les immigrés qui y participent (avant, pendant, et après la violence)? Les histoires des amours cassés et déséspèrement recollés avec un peu de scotch dans un placard? être jugé par des chiffres ou des lettres qui, finalement, n'ont aucun rapport avec la véritable valeur d'une personne?

En quoi, en qui, puis-je confier ma confiance? Auparavent, c'était moi. Maintenant, après avoir fait le choix de la confier à un autre, je dois faire l'effort afin de réussir.

Up in smoke

A new day, new prospects, new hope. I can progress. I need to relax.

He tells me that I had demons to burn. I think he's right. They've been coming back now and again, because I've thought of this or that, or something that I remember seeing at his house. Something that made me wonder if he (and I) were able to progress together. I guess it's all gone now. I can't ask for any more. There's nothing more of which to rid myself.

He sent me 2 cards that reminded me of the South, my favorite place on earth. Lavender and street cats. It reminded me of Arles, and my dear Provence. He always knows what makes me happy. I can guess at what makes him happy.

I think I've been frustrated recently because of the internet communication. I talk first, I don't receive an adequate response, and that leads me to try to communicate more to elicit a response. Of course, it doesn't work because then he gets annoyed and stops talking. We need to find a better way. Letters. Paper. photos. something other than words on a screen. Gabriel...et pour te parler, il faut des mots sur un écran. J'en ai tellement besoin--m'exprimer. C'est la seule façon pour moi de vider mon esprit. S'il ne peut pas tout absorber, je dois essayer de trouver un autre récipient de pensées. Même avec un journal en papier et un journal numérique, des chansons et des pages de photos...tout cela ne suffit pas. Parler--voilà ce qui me manque parfois. Ce n'est pas toujours à lui à m'écouter. Pinky?

Anyway, it is up in smoke. The past isn't dead or denied. It's just past, and we are working on clearing the land for a new life.

Ever onward, darling wind.

The pleasure of eating

If there is one thing that makes me sad (maybe I have little to be sad over, but this is important nonetheless), it is seeing people who not only fail to derive pleasure from food, but feel guilty for enjoying it. So, what is their remedy? Not eat? Impossible. People need to eat. Food provides an extraordinarily sensory experience. Sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch. All of those things that numbers and "scientific studies" have distorted.

No, potatoes won't make you fat. Carbs are not "bad." You won't get fat if you eat a piece of dark chocolate cake.

However, you will be miserable if you consistently tell yourself such things, and you fail to recognize that you MUST EAT. Often. to live.

Moreover, what WILL make you fat is depriving yourself of something you love, such as a cookie, and then one day, finding yourself in a room alone with a box of cookies. After lying to yourself and saying that one cookie will make you fat, and after depriving yourself of one small pleasure and letting it fester in your mind and your stomach, what will happen? One box of cookies will disappear into the depths of your stomach, and will cloud your thoughts to the point of insanity. Keep it up, and you WILL be the obese monster you feared you would become.

People are better than this. There is so much pleasure found in a bowl of chicken stew--the chicken cooked so long it slides off the bone, the vegetables rich with the heady savors of wine, thyme, and melded with the other ingredients of the pot. The whole scooped up with thick chunks of warm bread. Afterward, close the meal with a rich dark chocolate cake. A meal needs to end well to satisfy you until the next. Pleasure should dominate your experience.

Eat when you're hungry, and stop when you're full. Don't feel guilty for eating because people need to eat. If you overeat one day, take a salad the next meal, but don't tell yourself, "I'm not going to eat x anymore" because it's not true, and you will make yourself miserable for having broken an impossible promise.

Eat, my friends, and love it.

Thanksgiving

I haven't had such a good Thanksgiving in a while. See, we can make dinner for 10. It was perfect, both times! A good meal in good company. I am so glad to be able to enjoy that.

Time

You know what, Gabriel, it doesn't matter when we can be together. I think I care enough to wait 100 years. We were both frustrated and upset that our plans are not going as we hoped, that it's going to take so long before we can be together. But, really, it doesn't matter as long as we know that one day that option is there, and that we both want it. That's what I hope. I would rather just hope than think of a plan and be frustrated afterward. That's probably why I prefer thinking of what our house is going to be like, and what our wedding will be.

Just knowing that someone is there across the ocean is enough. I don't want to ruin it by trying to plan something unless it has a high chance of success. Right now, it's a temporary stage in my life. We shouldn't plan based on a temporary situation.

Tout ce que je veux, tout ce que je veux depuis 2 ans est partager cet amour. Il est toujours parfait car il dirige tout--le bonheur, la tranquilité, la frustration, la colère, le bruit et le silence. Il est dans tout.

We were engaged in July, and he is still the one I want to spend my life with. Or even--he is the only one I ever wanted to spend it with.

Grève

Je fais grève jusqu'à après Thanksgiving. Nous avons tous les deux besoin de temps. Je suis débordée, je sature d'émotions. Il n'y a pas de haine ou de malice, mais j'en ai besoin. Temps.