Comfort food

Wikipedia defines comfort food as “familiar, simple foods that are usually home-cooked or eaten at informal restaurants.” What constitutes familiar, simple foods that elicit a certain emotional response from those who eat them of course changes from culture to culture. Whenever he is feeling under the weather, Alan likes having toast and tea because that’s what his mom used to make him whenever he was sick. One of my grandmothers used to make me a very creamy oatmeal porridge and the other polenta with black beans. Despite the strong associations that specific dishes have with different moments of my childhood, I don’t really think of anything in particular when I look for comfort in food. When sad, many men and women seek sugary or high caloric foods such as chocolate, ice cream, cakes, or the like. When I’m blue, I especially crave healthy, wholesome foods. Yeah, I’m weird that way. I can only really gorge on chocolate and cakes when I feel good; when I’m feeling low, I can’t stomach junk food. Today was one of those days. A lot have been happening, I lost a dear aunt two days ago, my work hasn’t been progressing as I planned, so I just felt like eating something nice. Since the day was unseasonably warm, with bright blue skies, I wanted something light but satisfying. I ended up with this:

Scrambled tofu & carrots, red kale stir fried with caramelized onions, pine nuts, and seasoned with tamari, and watermelon radishes marinated in a raspberry vinaigrette. It all made my day much brighter.

The mix of colours was sooo nice: