Winter Joy Retreat-Day 10: Food and Time

I'm participating in an online writer's retreat, thanks to Nina Badzin's blog. The topic is "Edible Memories," so all the posts will be about food. I will try to post every day to keep up, but there are some I might come back to later, depending on my schedule and when inspiration strikes.

Due to Hanukkah and a busy week, I'm still behind, so please bear with me. Thanks!

Thursday's topic:
What is your relationship with food from the perspective of your relationship with time? Are you someone who eats slowly or fast? Tell us about a moment when you took time to savor every bite, whether it was a slice of orange you were eating or an exquisite dish served at a dinner party.

I tend to eat fast all the time. I've been known to make myself choke because of how fast I eat. I think this came from adulthood as part of work life and parenthood. With work, you only get a certain amount of time to eat. When things are hectic, I feel the need to speed it up a bit or cut meals short. I usually eat on my own and read at the same time, so I'm only on my clock. When I go out to eat with a friend, I am less rushed, as I usually plan for an hour instead of my usual 30 minutes.

When my kids were babies, there were times we'd go out to eat and they'd only last so long at a restaurant before having a meltdown. Or we'd be at home and I'd need to feed them or hold them and couldn't really focus on having a leisurely meal. Even now, the nights are short. After putting together dinner, I need to focus on getting the kids ready for bed. We sit around the table for a bit, but it usually feels rushed.

The one time a week I slow down to eat is on Shabbat. The nights (especially in the winter) are stretched out before us. There's nowhere we have to be and the kids aren't on a bedtime schedule. If we host people for lunch or go to someone else's home, it's also longer and more drawn out, each part of the meal having its time to be enjoyed.

Time is more of an issue in relation to food when the days are shorter before Shabbat starts and we have to rush to make sure all the food is ready before we have to cease cooking. This also holds true for certain religious holidays...especially since there are two nights and two days (sometimes three if Shabbat is right before or after the holidays) to prepare food for. It gets really hectic in the final hours before the holidays start and I find myself ready to pull my hair out. My husband is the one doing most of the cooking, and yet I'm the one who feels overwhelmed. Go figure! One year, our meat oven broke right before Pesach. My husband had to Kasher the dairy oven so we could use that for meat instead. So hectic! However, when Shabbat or the holiday starts and the candles are lit, I can breathe a sigh of relief and just enjoy the food that has been put before me.

As far as savoring...the first time my husband tried making this Italian meatball recipe, it was so incredible that I wanted to make the taste last for as long as I could. I even swore because it was that amazing. (I don't usually swear about food!) Don't worry...the kids weren't around when I did it. My husband still loves that his meatballs made me swear.

The meatballs that made me swear out loud!