Dinner.  The most dreaded word in the human language; especially if you are the one that has the responsibility every night of deciding and answering the question of, "What's for dinner?" I would be happy with wine and chocolate every night. I don't understand why no one else would!

Chocolate can come in different colors, and wine comes in red and white. And wine is made from grapes which counts as fruit.  There are many levels to the food group pyramid that include fruits and vegetables, meat and protein, dairy, etc.  Why can't there be a colorful food group?  We can put the candy right in that group, which includes chocolate.  Wine is often paired with chocolate.  There are books written about them, as well as wine tastings that include samples of the correct chocolate to enhance the essence of a particular wine.

Of course, dark chocolate is considered better for us than milk chocolate, and I prefer milk. Red wine is considered better than white for our blood, and I prefer white.  Milk chocolate, I would assume has milk in it, so perhaps that could go in the dairy group. Another level of the pyramid would be conquered!  So dairy and fruit is covered in one meal!  I think we've got dinner!

Then, I would have the daunting task of deciding which chocolate goes with which wine! Can I use a handful of M&M's with a rose colored wine? Would Snickers go with a chardonnay? Baby Ruth with a Pinot Noir? Now, I'm getting nervous again.  This is almost as bad as deciding what's for dinner.

Another alternative I have used sometimes is making one meal for the entire week.  That would require only deciding four meals a month.  This idea is not too hard to swallow, no pun intended.  (Well, maybe a little intended.)  So, we would only have to decide 52 meals a year!  Oh, dear, let's go back to one meal a week. I need to do this one step at a time.

So, this week I made a turkey with all the trimmings.  The only thing I may have to do the rest of the week is make a new vegetable.  By Friday I will hear, "But we've had this five days in a row!"  I will reply, "No, the vegetables have been different every night!  And soon, I'm making something new that you can have six days in a row!  Maybe a giant meatloaf!"

I love this job! It's hard to believe I've been doing this for 35 years. When can I stop?  I think most women feel the same way.  We're really not that different!