Food = Love

Ok, some of you may debate me on this, but I've been giving it a great deal of thought to this lately. When you hear someone say "Food = Love", you tend to picture some 500-hundred pound person ( or you know, me) shoving his or her 8th cupcake in row in their mouth substituting food for love. I don't.

I cook for a living. It's what I do, and I love it. To me, nothing shows someone that I care about them more than using my own hands to pull together something delicious that I know he or she will enjoy. Now, occasionally this has a detrimental effect on the recipient's waistline, especially if I really love them. But more often than not, it's just the best way that I can express myself, and maybe you feel the same way.

A friend just passed away and I had no idea how to show that I care about her and her family. They have more than enough friends helping out, and I'm certain, casseroles and dinners, to get though this really impossible time. How to contribute without being annoying or overly involved was the question, so I did what I know how to do. I baked cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. Because just between you and me, I make a pretty good chocolate chip cookie, and it's something that I know folks like.

Now, I may have gone a little "cookie-crazy" (15-dozen very large, round, and plump morsels of chocolate-chippy goodness), but it felt good to do that baking. Almost cathartic. It felt great to contribute, and truthfully, I felt better myself in doing it. Judging from all of the contributions to the dessert table, I don't think that I'm the only one who feels this way.

Sometimes, a cookie is just a cookie. But other times, a cookie, made by someone who cares, is so much more than that. So I say this: Bake some cookies, make a cake, banana bread is always good, but cook something every once and a while because, well, you'll just make someone feel better and maybe help yourself along in the process. Because sometimes, love means warm chocolate chips delivered on someone's doorstep just when they need it most.