When I was a kid, I remember being fascinated by what other kids ate. Did you always ask your friends what they had for dinner? What did you have for dinner last night?

-- jo (crazyoldlady@crazyoldlady.com), April 20, 2000

Answers

Dinner? Dinner? You mean I was supposed to have dinner last night? Having spent most of my adult life planning life around dinner . . . you know, the shopping, chopping, arranging, timing (oh, that perfect timing) . . . I must say one of the unexpected joys I discovered when I became single was the freedom from "dinner." There's no one else I have to feed, no one else to impress with a decent meal. I can eat what I want to eat and whenever I want to eat it. OK, so what did I have for dinner last night. I think it was Stouffer's. No, maybe pancakes. No, that was the night before. Last night it was ready-made (which means someone else cooked it) roast chicken and potato salad from the deli. Yes, that's it! I think this is heaven.

-- Nancy (nancy@csionline.net), April 28, 2000.

Freedom from dinner...I like that concept! You know, even though we both participate in dinner and we both like to cook and eat good food...the actual confrontation of the "What's for dinner?" question/problem/gig each day is sometimes just too much. Even deciding on a mutually acceptable restaurant sometimes is a drag.

And now...confession time....I sometimes eat cereal for dinner.

-- Jo (jmerchant@interaccess.com), April 29, 2000.

Oooh, I love cereal for dinner! Add some sliced bananas for a gourmet treat. I just discovered your page on sandwich arrangements. Now I have a new way to have a *different* dinner every night. It's all in the arrangement ;)

-- Nancy (nancy@csionline.net), May 05, 2000.

I wish others could discover the true happiness that a variety of sandwich arrangements can give! You'd be really surprised at how different your tuna salad tastes when cut and arranged artfully each time. Think of the possibilities of potato chip or pickle placement for enhancing that dining experience!

-- jo (jmerchant@interaccess.com), May 05, 2000.

For many, many--did I say many?--years, I cooked dinner for a small army each evening after working all day. It was MY job to have supper on the table when my spouse arrived home from his grueling job and 90-minute drive in rush hour traffic. Honestly, I didn't mind. I love to cook. It's one of the things I miss most now that I live alone. It's just no fun to cook delectable dishes and eat them myself. There's no one to rave over the food, except me, so I've begun a new method of eating. I call it "grazing"--a spoonful of this, a chunk of that, a sip of whatever. Last night, I started out with a large tablespoon of peanut butter, a staple I could not live without, coffee, a slice of fat-free bologna and a slice of cheese rolled up with a pickle in the middle, coffee, a chocolate rice cake spread with applesauce, coffee, carton of blueberry yogurt, coffee, a peppermint patty, bottle of water, coffee, several saltines, more water, coffee. I think you get the picture. I never go to bed hungry, but I have this terrible sleep disorder. I just can't figure it out!

This Agnes Full Of...

Angst.

Bet you thought I was going to say somethin' else, huh?

-- Agnes (AggieFOA@yahoo.com), May 06, 2000.

Gaaawwd, I hate to cook. I always envy those that say they love to cook. My favorite dinner is oatmeal or cold cereal. Luckily my husband is not one to expect a good meal everyday or he would be in big trouble.

In our house, my husband thrives on peanut butter, and I love Yoplait yogurt, cinnamon and raisin bagels, nuts, crackers, popsicles and other grazing food.

Agnes, I'm so glad I'm not the only grazer.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), June 30, 2000.