FOOD BOREDOM

I was commenting to Susie of Susie's Bakery that I am getting really bored with food. After speaking with her I realise that it could be a common problem with people in the food preparation business.

I am what is considered to be a semi-vegetarian, that is, I eat fish, shrimp, conch, lobster and cheese. That is pretty much it. Whereas to the general populace this might be luxury food to me it has become pedestrian. As a result I try to come up with wild and wacky recipes to excite my taste buds.

I find that I don't really like to cook for myself, so I guess that might be part of the problem. But let me want to cook for a group of people and that's when I get creative. Out comes the Roast Pork Leg stuffed with mashed potatoes, prunes and soaked in Yellow Tail Shiraz and white rum. Or Lobster grilled over river stones and sugar cane and white rum. Or the Tia Maria Roast Chicken.

I have found that if I want company on a Saturday, I don't have to make a call. All I have to do is put on a pot with soup, dip into my garden and pull up a few leaves of French Thyme and without even a phone call my house is full.

I get excited about seeing my friends enjoying the food that I have prepared, watching them take bets as to whether or not I have tasted the meat (as I said - vegetarian) and asking me if I am sure that I am not a carnivore in hiding.

Sadly for myself, I find that eating is really more of a necessary function than an adventure. Perhaps that is why I enjoy camp food. When those guys prepare roast breadfruit and fish run down over an open fire, after walking a few miles - it is a joy to consume. I think perhaps it is because I did not prepare it myself. I guess I just want to be pampered as much as I am willing to pamper.