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One of the things that living for a time away from my beloved wife has done is force me to cook for myself, since Stillwater does not offer quite so many options for delivery that The City does, and I have not got the money to eat out all the time, anyway (although that seems not to be stopping me from doing it more often than I ought to...).  That has actually been a good thing for me, I think.  It keeps me busy in the morning and in the evening.  It makes me think ahead for the next day--since I have to let meat thaw out so that I can use it.  And it makes me pay more attention to my food.

Those who have seen me can guess that food is something with which I am quite concerned.  (Those who have seen me eat know to keep their hands clear of the loading area.)  But I had not paid much attention to what was in it or its provenance until relatively recently.  Cooking for myself has forced me to pay more attention yet to where my food comes from and what all is in it.  I know, for instance, that the peaches I bought at the on-campus farmer's market last week came from the school (and they are tasty, so I am inclined to buy more of the school's produce).  I know that the bratwurst that are in my freezer now (and which I will likely have before the week is done) are absent corn syrup, and that not all brats are so fortunate.  Having the knowledge and acting upon it are helping me to be healthier, I think; I am not perhaps getting as much exercise as I should (although I will be working on that soon), but I am eating better, and that is helping me not lose as much as I otherwise likely would.

I am also necessarily paying closer attention to portion sizes.  Cooking for one person is difficult, so I am cooking as if for two--but I am making two meals out of what I thus cook.  One decently-sized chicken breast, for instance, feeds me for dinner one night and as part of breakfast the next.  Or, when I cook bratwurst, I eat some with rice in the evening and some with eggs in the morning (and some dark bread, which goes so well with it).  There is something nice in having leftovers as part of a hot breakfast the next day--heck, there is something about having a hot breakfast that I am enjoying greatly.

Living in The City, with the frenetic hustle of getting from home to work and back, I did not often have the opportunity to eat a decent meal in the morning.  Usually, I would eat a bagel or a granola bar while walking to the subway station, and hot breakfasts were luxuries for the occasional lazy day that I did not sleep in too late to be able to afford to take the time to cook eggs and other things.  Stillwater has helped me to be able to eat better in the mornings, to slow down with my food.  I enjoy it more, certainly, and I cannot help but think that I am doing better with my food as a result, as well.