on the pleasures of dining

A new friend has had an interesting affect on my eating habits recently.

I have become a fan of eating a dinner salad very slowly. Not a wimpy salad, mind you, but a Greek salad, which includes feta cheese and olives and maybe just a few anchovies. Accompanied by a vinegar and oil type house dressing on the side.

So we talk, and I eat my salad very s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y. If the waiter keeps coming by and asking if I'm done, I say that I'm still working on it. My friend slowly consumes a bowl of french onion soup and a small tossed salad. Then for dessert, we each have a slow cup of peppermint tea.

This is not the way I was raised to eat.