Roll, Me On, A

I'm not sure how far this can be extended, but I may try to push this three thing into another area of everyday life: eating.

And, by eating, I mean mine. As in, dinner. And by pushing, I mean "let's see what happens when I divide the food I eat into the same three categories."

I'm not sure I've ever actually said it, but according to early TV sitcoms a very common question is "What's for dinner?" Borrowing from before, we can divide dinner into three categories (again, in handy bulleted format):

• What I will eat for dinner


• What I should eat for dinner


• What I want to eat for dinner

I'm not what you'd call a good grocery shopper even though I do it a lot. I shop not only when I should be doing something else, but often when I don't need to do it at all. I think part of that is because I know how to successfully maneuver my way around stores filled with food. It's far less intimidating for me to buy something I know about, so perhaps it's just as a way of getting a feeling of accomplishment that I'll head to the grocery store and pick up some pineapple tamales or a bag of frozen corn.

I know, down deep inside, that I can do that task pretty much without failure.

The problem stems from the fact that I never can buy just the one thing I need. I invariably wander the aisles, picking up things that I can envision myself preparing or eating, and then forgetting all about most of them once I get them home and safely into a cupboard or the refrigerator.

Which brings me to one of the main determinates in answering ""What's for dinner?"

As often as I can remember, I base my dinner on what I expect to be on the verge of spoiling. I don't like to waste food on principle and can't really afford to do so, so as often as not what I have for dinner is what I don't think can wait another day. One of the problems with this scheme is that what's about to turn inedible is often something stupid, like a tomato. While I've got entrees waiting to be enjoyed, I end up whipping up something just to use a tomato or two.

In any case, "what I should eat" ends up being populated not so much with what would be a good thing to eat as what I can't put off eating any longer. I know most people would consider the answer to "what should I eat" to be some intellectual exercise involving amino acids, the nearness of the farm, and maybe even political ideologies, but I guess I'm not that evolved.

What I want to eat is, at the moment, pie. What I had for dinner was leftover Dinah's chicken (the Little Miss Sunshine meal of choice) that my sister bought, thinking she could stomach it, and some frozen vegetables. I'm sure I failed the amino acid test, didn't score many points on the "eat local" front, and failed, miserably, to pass anyone's political litmus test.

But I'm full. And I don't have to throw out any chicken.