The Belly Rules the Mind

Truer words have never been spoken. I am notorious for my hunger-based mood swings and my family has dubbed me "crankabetic". The term is eerily accurate. When I wear my 'The Belly Rules the Mind' t-shirt (yes, I have one) I get more comments from passersby than a wallflower is ready to handle. People all over the country have agreed wholeheartedly with the notion. The idea popped into my head becaue I've had a stretch of really tasty meals this week. I don't get out much, so a stretch for me is two, three if I count the Ballpark frank I broiled for dinner the other night. Last night I had a wonderful calzone from an Italian restaurant that I had never tried called Cosi Cucina. The calzone was fabulous; the dough was made in-house, the sausage was from one of our most favored local Italian meat and cheese suppliers named Graziano's, and it was baked in a wood-fired oven. It had the right balance of gooey cheese, spicy sausage and pepperoni, and peppers and onions. To top it off, I decided to have dessert since I was not paying and the weight maintenance challenge I signed up for at work doesn't start until next week. I went with the hot apple cake because I cannot resist anything involving apples. The cake was moist and sweet, topped with a butter pecan caramel and homemade cinnamon ice cream. Oops, just drooled a little on the keyboard during this taste memory. And the deliciousness does not end there. Today's lunch was IHOP pancakes, my excitement about which is probably best described by the fact that I was genuinely disappointed that I was not able to use my free birthday meal voucher on my actual birthday last week and instead had to wait a week to coordinate a time when all attendees could be present. That's right, I love my buttermilk pancakes almost as much as the double happiness IHOP provides when the receipt comes with an opportunity to get a free buttermilk short stack by just filling out their customer survey. I've done it before and I'll do it again. Keep it coming IHOP.