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It is gloomy - there are no signs of the sun today and and the sky is one giant ribbon of gray. a soft drizzle of cold rain is enough to keep the sidewalks empty, though the coffeeshop is moderately busy with customers trying to warm their blood, and I guess their hands as well. My typical day in this coffee shop consists of two venti cups of coffee with enough ice so that I can drink it immediately and a piece of berry crumb cake - the coffee doesn't seem to be going down very easily today and I passed on the cake. My mind is clouded from the inordinate amount of alcohol I consumed last night, though thankfully my headache is slowly dissipating. The other day at the restaurant we were tinkering with some seafood gumbo recipes so maybe I will go home and work on that. Or maybe some chicken tortilla, or french onion soup with a creamy gruyere melted over the top. It is a comfort food kind of day. Chicken Pot Pie, Shrimp and Grits, Mussels in a white wine broth with rustic french bread....



I am longing for those foods that take me home. Back to my childhood of canned tomato soup and grilled cheeses, when we would on a weekly basis have breakfast foods for dinner - made from scratch biscuits, scrambled eggs, cheese grits and bacon. We had one nanny from England whose Shephard's Pie was otherworldly, and Virginia, god rest her soul, made the world's best fried chicken. Her arms were scarred with oil burns from a lifetime of frying chicken. Being dropped off at home after school as a young boy I would always sneak a drumstick fresh out of the fryer while she had her back turned. To me the smell of chicken frying is celestial in the most literal sense of the word, and it never fails in taking me back to my innocent, carefree childhood.



My coffee is just above room temperature, and I am now getting hungry for that piece of berry crumb cake that I passed on.... I need something in my stomach before I go to the gym ......





What is your favorite comfort food? Leave a note and vote in the poll to the right!