Tasting Menu

Had a lovely week vacation in Florida visiting my Grandma and am back in New York and back to the cold and back to the grind. BUT before I get back to the recipe posts tomorrow here's my last hint to preserve your now seemingly faraway New Year's resolutions.

TASTE.

This tip was inspired by a quote from Bethanny (from the Real Housewives of New York, yes I know, but wait for it....) in a magazine I was perusing at the airport:

"Taste everything, finish nothing."

Now while I am aware of the severe food disorder implications of this sentiment, I do think she has the seedling of an amazing point. There is nothing too rich that one bite will throw off your entire diet plan, (even a bite of oozing molten chocolate cake,) and really, the second bite is going to taste exactly like the first (I promise!) so why not try everything but finish only that which will preserve your diet and not harm it? As a foodie, I love this rule because I get to taste any and all of the subtle flavors contained in a dish without derailing my diet plans. Further, I think knowing you only have one bite to get to the essence of how something tastes will not only force you to intensely concentrate on the flavors contained in the food thing, but also to hone your palate to discern flavor profiles with very little evidentiary support.

So go ahead, try that dessert, have a spoonful of that creamy pasta, break off a small bite of that gooey chocolate chip cookie... process what it tastes like, roll the food around your mouth, taste the lingering flavors with your tongue, swallow knowingly then STOP. I promise it will taste like that again if you decide to have a second go at it. So just don't! No guilt, just (in the words of the great Alton Brown) plain old good eats.