One and Only

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I was on my own this past weekend for the second time in row. Between you and me? It was heavenly. That’ll just be our secret.

I had time to give our kitchen a good scrub, sprawl out across the whole bed, have a long brunch with a lovely sister-in-law, and mostly eat snack foods for meals without anyone judging or asking for a proper dinner.

When I graduated from college, Michael and I spent a year and a half apart. He was in Spain playing professional basketball (here) and I was back in Maine running a congressional campaign. I lived by myself in an apartment in the East End. We both had amazing beachy views, his was just gloriously warm all year round.

But here’s the dirty-little-secret part.  When I lived by myself, I almost never ate meals. On rare occasions, I went out to dinner or home to my parents’ house house for dinner. But mostly, I snacked. On what? Honey nut Chex, english muffins with peanut butter, grapefruits, M&M’s, sushi from the grocery store (I swear it’s not gross, they make it right there for you and they’re really Japanese), cucumbers (but only if I was feeling guilty about not eating any vegetables), Easy Mac, and chocolate ice cream.

I could say I was working really long campaign hours, and I always ended up in the grocery store at about 11pm and at that point cereal and ice cream was the fastest way out, but that would be a lame excuse. But those are just the foods I would hope to be stranded with on a desert island. I’m pretty sure I could survive on honey nut Chex alone.

Isn’t it strange to think about what you’d eat if no one was watching? Or if you had no food pyramid guilt? Ha!

Now, I’m married to a 6’4 basketball player who thinks a meal isn’t a meal unless it has meat and potatoes, even if the meal already includes pasta or rice. Did you notice my list up there included NO meat? And five of the eight on that list I can’t get in Ireland. Which is probably a good thing!

Long story short, we now eat real meals, and meat, and vegetables and fruit. It’s altogether healthier, but not nearly as much fun.

So I want to know, what do you eat when no one’s watching? Come on, dish!