Food Confessions

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I used to love toasted sesame bagels with strawberry jam. I mean—I Loved them. I used to wake up in the early morning, and think—“is it time for my toasted sesame bagel with strawberry jam yet?” I could just taste those toasty nutty seeds, and the crunchy bread and the delicious yummy jam, and oh, it was fabulous. I had one every day for about a year.

Then suddenly, without warning!  It was—impossible. Yuck.  I couldn’t even think about eating one. I still can’t.

Same thing happened with baked potatoes with broccoli and sour cream. Oh, I yearned for it, couldn’t wait to get home from work to have that for that one-potato dinner...the fabulous steamy potato, all hot, and the skin crispy, the way the broccoli and the sour cream merged, and no matter what kind of a bite you got, it was the best.

Then, suddenly, yuck. AH, no, thank you.

I binged. I binged, and then somehow, like in Clockwork Orange, I could not face it again. Is there a binge thing in our brains?

Right now it’s cool and hip to “binge-watch” a TV show. We sure did it with House of Cards last season.  We watched until we were bleary.

And good think there were only 13 episodes, because maybe I would have gone all sesame bagel after 14.  Who knows. (We’re starting Season 2 now--and wow. But we won’t discuss it.)

Do you—binge? On anything? Did you binge yourself out of liking it? (Maybe it's more--a habit, than a binge.) (Roberta/Lucy, is this a psychological “thing”?)

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm not a binger. Though at the moment, I've watched episodes of Poirot that I missed for five nights running. Does that count? And yes, I am sick of them. It's amazing how often Agatha Christie recycled plot devices.

When it comes to food, I quickly tire of whatever I've recently eaten. And I firmly believe that at any moment, something I've always assumed was perfectly safe will be shown to cause some terrible disease. So I might eat a hot dog for lunch for a week, but then I won't touch one again for months.

HANK: Because then it's out of your system? Or what?

LUCY BURDETTE: Of course Hank there is a serious psychological disorder called Binge Eating Disorder, but that's not what you're talking about here! This is more like too much of a good thing, right?

HANK: Yeah. Exactly. I only had ONE bagel.  EVERY DAY. FOR A YEAR. Sheesh. Scary. Yeah, it's more of a Habit than a binge.

LUCY: I'm like Hallie, anything I eat too much of can turn on me. Even Christmas cookies. I still have two rolls of cookie dough in the freezer and can't bring myself to bake them. Or spanakopita, which I dearly love. If I make a whole 13 by 9 inch pan of it for only John and me, it definitely becomes a slog at the end...

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm not a binge-er. Although I do seem to go in cycles on breakfast. For years I ate a soft-boiled egg and a slice of whole wheat toast. Mostly these days, it's granola and yogurt, but it's more time thing. I still love the soft-boiled eggs. Left-overs, now, that's a whole different thing.  I can eat something twice, maybe, and after that, yuck.

HANK: Yeah, it's hard to throw away leftovers. The key is to wait til the THIRD day. Then, no problem to toss because they are surely deadly.

I always say--let's put it in the fridge now, and we'll throw it away later.

RHYS BOWEN: I've always had a small appetite. I really enjoy good food and I do like to have good cheeses after dinner every night. But in my school days I do remember having tomatoes on toast every day for a few months, having Marmite and pickle on rye crisp until I tired of it.

HANK: Rhys, only you… Marmite and pickle on rye crisp?

RHYS: In fact I think I've been the opposite of a binger all my life--I get bored easily. I like to be surprised and try new things. When I lived in a country club the other wives wanted me to play tennis with them every morning. I couldn't do that. And these days I have friends who play bridge every day. I think I like my life as a smorgasbord, sampling a little treat here, a little treat there.

HANK: So how about some food confessions from you all--do you ever get a craving something,..and then have it every day until it loses its joy?

CHANGING THE SUBJECT HERE: One thing that will never lose its luster--is a new book  by wonderful favorite author...and right here in my little hot hand is JOHN LESCROART'S brand new THE KEEPER.  It's an ARC, and it's a Dismas Hardy, and  selfishly, I'm not giving mine up. :-)  But, because John is the coolest of all guys, he sent me two! And one is for a lucky commenter.