Food therapy

What a funny friendship!  Well, no I take it back.  It's an awesome friendship.  It's the middle of the afternoon I had just come back from the grocery store.  It's a Sunday.  It's so hot outside but an absolutely beautiful day.  And here I am putting my just-purchased food away.  That's my favorite part of grocery shopping is putting it all away.  It not only gives me a special feeling of abundance to have food in the cabinets and in the fridge it's also because I like the little surprises I find in the bags.  I know, I know.  I just bought these things, how could I be surprised by any of them.  But seriously, when I'm at the store I do buy some necessities and then I start picking up things that attract me.  I shop by passion.  What am I in the mood for right this second?  What looks pretty?  What looks delicious and fresh?  And, now I find myself wanting a snack because I'm putting away the last of the summer corn and heirloom tomatoes in all their grotesque beauty. I'm handling avocados and greens, snacks for later, waters in pretty bottles, juices with curing aides added, and sausages and pates galore!  Fruit, coffee, and chocolate.  I always buy a dark chocolate bar right as I get to the counter to pay.  So, putting my foods away, the phone rings and it's Marisa!  She is also enjoying the beauty of this day...sitting on her patio in the sun drinking sparkling wine.  She tells me she's hungry.  I say, me too.  She's preparing herself a snack at the same time as I.  Then we each sit down and while other girls might talk about what they just picked up at the Barney's wherehouse sale, she and I discuss the snacks and beverages we're having with supreme excitement.  I tell her I've just tossed a little locally grown spinach and heirloom tomatoes and bacon and couscous left over from the morning adding fresh herbs and olive oil...squeeze of lemon and seasalt all while drinking a pilsner...very sunday afternoon.  It's my pre-drinking, drink.  Beer doesn't count as a drink, in my book.  Marisa has cobbled together toasted baguette and goat's cheese with a little basil, olive oil, salt. "I'm eating the most delicious snack ever!", she says.  And she's still drinking sparkling wine, from Greece.  Which prompts us to discuss how great Greece is, how they gave us so much and we're lucky to have learned from them.  I also think I'm lucky to have friends who love food and booze as much as I.