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This Lavish Abundance course I keep rambling on about has really made some fascinating differences in my own personal awareness.

One of them has been about food. During the two months that the class was taking place, I had drove from Sacramento to San Jose to visit some friends. One of them asked me to meet her at one of my favorite restaurants there: Ikenohana. Next door to Sun where I worked when I discovered it, the fantabulous restaurant has some of the best sushi in the country. (And I've been blessed to thave the opportunity to test this out personally.) So I met Lori and she treated me to their wonderful (and ever changing) lunch special. It was sooo good. Have you ever had something that tasted so good that you just had to close your eyes to savor it..to block out everything else and just be with the flavor and texture of the food. It was that good. It demanded my full attention.

I had not realized (even then) just how much I take food for granted. I'm one of those people who always orders the same thing at each restaurant...I know I lke it and it's easier than thinking.

Well, maybe

One day, when I had taken my class book with me and was doing my "homework" during lunch at a local buffet with sushi that has been a mainstay of my eating out pleasures over the three years I lived here, and I tried the "eye-closingly" exercise on the sushi there. What a shock. It could have been from a different ocean. Not bad. But surprisingly blah. I realized that often I had been forcing myself to eat my three slices each of salmon and tuna that I like to get several times a month for those wonderful epa oils.

This was the beginning of my testing the foods I "love" and starting, not a diet, but choosing quality over quantity.

I realize that I had allowed my "fixed income" and fear of overspending to interfere with my experiencing the pure joy of eating only foods I really do love.

I've had an addiction to coffee ice cream and chocolate for at least the last four years. Maybe lots longer. The two I really love most are Braums (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas) and Friendlys (New York, New England, maybe even DC), both of which have a mocha chocolate chunk type ice cream that (I think) is delicious beyond words. So I'm always eating various coffee/chocolate ice creams from the supermarkets (usually chosen by carbs and cheapness -- what a way to live). Two of the best I've found are the HagenDaaz and Supermarket Brand bars on a stick. Again, I've chosen which to buy, by which was on sale.

So, I got a package of each and did the eye-closingly test on them. Wow. I thought they were equivalent. But NO!.

The Supermarket Brand bar, with my eyes closed, was not worth continuing to eat. The Hagendaaz on the other hand did qualify as eye-closingly good. So, as any good addict would, I went back to the frig and got another. Again, I did the test and was I surprised. The second one was nowhere near as good.

This is really neat. It has meant I can truly enjoy ONE bar and not have to go back for the next (and the next, and the next...) one. Wow!

I discovered that my favorite breakfast: Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits, actually tasted like salty cardboard when I did the eyes-closed test. Maybe they really were wonderful when they first came on the market, but now I will probably never desire one again. Which is nice, because sometimes I really had to rush to get to the Fast Food place before 10:30 a.m. This morning I also found that I don't much like eggs alone. I really want the salt and butter and rye toast that I normally make part of my egg.

Things I found out I do love are salads -- from salad bars -- taking a very small amount of everything that looks good (including dried cranberries and raisens) and tossing it all together with a little ranch or honey mustard.

I have believed since I went to Germany that I loved those hard rolls or baguettes. Test Results: Yup. I do. A baguette (small) with butter and a salad and a little meat (maybe 3 ounces) is incredibly satisfying -- even more so when I sit outside in a cafe type environment.

And that's what I've eaten (joyfully, no diet) for the last two days and...

After two days of no sweets and no distress from no sweets, I decided it was time to test the piece de resistance of temptation for me. See's candy. Had a good breakfast this a.m., did mall walking for about an hour without a cart and a couple more with a cart in Walmart, so I decided to stop at See's and "see." I do know that See's to me is head and shoulders above all other chocolate (except in Belgium). So I just sat down with a cup of coffee and five chocolates: My four favorites and their freebie, a truffle. The freebie was at best awful. The dark nougat was okay, the mocha and vanilla buttercreams were mezza mezza and the only one I actually enjoyed was the orange buttercream, which had the longest road to tow because I ate it last.

This is an interesting example of how eye closing can be eye opening. If I don't even really like my favorite candy, is it even worth testing the rest? Will be testing brownies and frosting at church tomorrow. We'll see if they pass the eyes-closed taste test.

Of course this whole thing could bring up a total new quandry. What foods do I really like to eat? .. to be continued

By the way, so far eating only quality, not quantity has not cost me any more than my cheap buffets. And hungry and cravings.hasn't happened.

Keep tuned. If you try this and it works for you, I'd love to hear from you.