E(at)-Harmony

I've done a dismal job of blogging these past few months. Of course, there was the two-month period when I shut down the blog in a fit of pique because it was not generating the level of interaction (read: something more than none) that I desired. I have since come to terms with that. I blog for myself. (I also dress for myself, by the way.)

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It's no secret, of course, that I love eating out, but I have at the same time a love-hate relationship with trying new restaurants. So often they seem like such a good fit on paper. They offer a cheese plate with an interesting selection of cheeses -- how sophisticated! And yet there's also fried chicken on the menu -- how down-to-earth! Or maybe a friend raved about the place and she just knows that you will fall in love with the place too.

You are thus hopefully expectant when you show up for the first time. You are quickly besotted because this menu delights and changes often enough to keep your interest. Maybe the place reciprocates your loyalty and gives you special treats when you come back because it thinks you are special. With luck it becomes your go-to place, the one that you bring all your out-of-town guests to because it's reliable and because you have a relationship with it. But inevitably, a crack in the veneer of perfection will appear, maybe not on your first visit, but soon. Your food will taste uninspired one night, or the service will be inattentive, almost as if the place has started taking you for granted. And you will be disappointed because this was going to be the place that, unlike all the other places, never let you down. But by now you've invested time and resources into this place, so it's not like you're just going to move on to the next restaurant, are you?

Of course you are! Duh, we're talking about restaurants here! (What, did you think we were talking about something else?) The beauty of eating out is that there's always something new to try, another place to flirt with and maybe make your own, if only for a couple months or so. Happy eating in 2008!