To eat good food is to be close to God

There's something to be said for cooking. It requires a full immersion all of the senses and keeps you completely absorbed. You don't have time to think about anything else because you're trying to keep the sauce from spewing like Vesuvius, the vegetables from becoming mushy and the water from boiling over. One man's kitchen = my three-ring circus.

I made vegetable lasagna today. It's good, too. Garlicky and comforting.

Making it helped me feel better. Maybe because it took my mind off of everything that's been going on. Maybe because it helped me feel closer to my family [we cook a lot] or maybe because I [like my family...like most ethnic families] equate food with love and believe that feeding someone is the best way to show you love them.

The best example of this is my mom. Everytime I go home, she makes my favorite food. She knows she doesn't have to and that I'm just as happy nibbling on whatever's lying around, but she does anyway. I never thought about it much before, but now I realize just how much it means to me.

That being said -- please tell the people you love how you feel. A phone call, an email, a text-message, an IM...whatever. It takes so little time but means so much.