I'm almost up to the armhole decreases on the back of the Honeycomb vest.

Having a large number of projects (really, all of my projects at the moment) being knit of fine-gauge yarn is not a particularly wise idea.

***

The new Eating Well came yesterday. And there was a great quotation in it, from a former food critic (who had, with her daughter, written a book on recovery from anorexia). I should have written the quotation down so I could get the wording exact (and remember who said it - it's not a name I'm familiar with) but it went something like:

"How you eat should be how you pray. Worship at the church of Chez Panisse or Burger King as your wallet, tastes, and needs dictate...but don't make me do it too."

(And I think that "how you pray" comment is also designed to include an allusion to the Pharisee standing up in the temple, loudly saying "I thank God I was born a Good Person, and not that dreadful tax collector over there in the corner.")

And that pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole "foodie," "local foods" "healthism" and everything else movements - which seem often aimed at subtly pressuring or shaming people into eating what some other person thinks they should eat.

(I am, unfortunately, a person too easily susceptible to the shaming of others)

One thing I've learned in life, is that a one-size-fits-all solution, which is what many of these folks propose, really doesn't fit anybody all that well, and it fits some people extremely badly.

I mean, I'm happy to hear about other people's experiences. I'd be happy to eat more local, if I could, but it's just not really possible where I live. (to get "local" eggs, I would need to drive some 40 miles). And I like reading interesting new recipes. But I don't appreciate being told stuff like, "you know, that sandwich would be so much better for you if you used tofu instead of the turkey and put on some raw sprouts and sliced beets and a couple slices of mango." (an exaggeration, but still) I made the sandwich the way I did because that's how I want to eat it.

I would love to see a truce called in the food wars. I would love an end to the bashing of foods that Certain People don't like. Or that they think are "downmarket" (sometimes I wonder if some of the food commentary is thinly veiled snobbery: I have heard enough, "The poor in this country are the people who are obese" snark to last a lifetime). I'd like some of the Health Police to realize that yes, in fact, most of us realize what is "good" for us and what is "bad" for us, and while it would behoove us to always choose what is "good" for us, we don't. And for them to just make PEACE with that.

In other news, a goodly part of my dinner last night was pimiento cheese on crackers. (I think it's funny that pimiento cheese - at least the kind I buy at the store - is mostly made in Wisconsin, but I never ate it or never even really saw it served before I moved down here. It seems to be a very Southern thing, especially sandwiches of it made on very thin-sliced bread and served at casual receptions and such.) And whatever the foodies may say about it, I rather like pimiento cheese.

****

A small piano update: It's time (apparently) to start learning a Christmas Piece. My teacher handed me a book and told me to flip through and find something I liked. I wound up choosing an arrangement of "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear." (Partly because most of the other things had tons of arpeggios in them and I just don't feel like messing with arpeggios right now). It turns out it's a rather pretty arrangement, so I'm glad.

I'm also working on an arrangement (the bane of being a semi-beginner: everything is an ARRANGEMENT. It feels to me like reading abridged books) of the theme from "Mission: Impossible," which I think I once said somewhere was the coolest television theme song ever.

It's written in 5/4 time. It took me a while to get used to this. I'm slowly managing to improve on the piece, though.

One thing the piano has really taught me is the need to be patient with myself. I'm too used to "getting" stuff right away and when I have to work at something, and I can't successfully do it after a little trying, I get frustrated with myself, my perceived lack of talent, my not-having-kept-up-with-lessons-from-when-I-was-a-kid, everything. But in the end, you just have to calm yourself down and keep working on the dang thing, even if you mess it up 80% of the time you try it.