Food Of The Day For A Year Goal
August 5th,2011: Watermelon Day
Day: #28

Cole and I celebrated Watermelon day with one of the best watermelons we have eaten all season. It was sweet, juicy and delicious. Emily told me that her family devoured their watermelon with such enthusiasm that she did not have time to snap a picture.

One of my earliest memories of eating watermelon is on my grandparent’s farm in Texas. We would eat it after dinner on the patio and then after the sticky was washed away, I would sit in my daddy’s lap, rest my head on his shoulder and be lulled asleep by adult conversation. I remember watermelon was the first food that appealed to me when I was a kid recovering in the hospital. Cousin Carla loves watermelon, and when she visits, I always buy a whole one — rather than the half I usually buy— because I know we will easily talk our way through a whole watermelon in just a few hours.

Cole and I have eaten the “food of the day” for 30 consecutive days. It all started with fried chicken on July 6th. Emily and her wow family joined us on July 11. Our goal is to eat the food of the day for one year. American Food Holidays has a list of which foods are being celebrated on which day, but their list sometimes conflicts with the information in other resources, so I usually end up picking the food that sounds like the most fun to celebrate.

The idea for the goal was gleaned from writing El Morno, where I write about the food being celebrated on that particular day. A comment was left on an El Morno post by a woman who was very upset with me — it seems I had totally screwed up her menu planning. She had planned hamburgers on Fried Chicken Day. She insisted that I should give everyone 48 hours’ notice so they could plan their menu to include the food of the day. At first I wrote her off as a nut and planned to write a disclaimer absolving myself from any responsibly for El Morno’s readers’ meal planning. But before I could write the disclaimer, inspiration hit, and a goal to eat the food of the day every day for a year was born.

I’m still not promising 48 hours’ notice though, or that my food of the day will agree with your food of the day.

In fact, just the other day, a Facebook friend told me very firmly that we were celebrating Raspberry Cream Pie Day one day too soon, according to the Rockford, Illinois newspaper.  I grew up in a home where the newspaper was gospel, so I knew better than to argue with her. I attempted to distract her by asking if she was excited about Root Beer Float Day on Saturday (she loves root beer floats). I’m not sure if it worked, but we moved on and remained friends.

When I told Cole my plan, he pointed out that I’m not “even really into food.” He’s right; I’m not. I’m the blogger who doesn’t cook, and I loathe the grocery store. I’m not sure why setting this goal appealed to me, but I’m pretty sure it had less to do with food and more to do with the need to have a goal that is easily achievable — and, most importantly, FUN!

When Joe died, it changed our lives so abruptly that two years later, I am still struggling to find my balance. Setting goals, even one as silly as eating the food of the day for a year, is helpful. Doing  something is better than nothing at all.

So the something I’m doing is celebrating the “ food of the day” every day for a year and writing about the experience. Emily and her family have joined in, and if you want to play every day, or only once in a while, we will be all the merrier.

I post the “food of the day” on El Morno every day and am going to try and post a list for the week on Sundays. If you send pictures of yourself enjoying the food of the day, we’ll enter you in an end of the month drawing, where we will randomly choose one picture. If we chose your picture, Emily will bake some wonderful treat for you, or I will give your dog a deer antler chew.

If you send us links to recipes you like, I will try and post them. For instance, someone sent us this link for fried watermelon. I only wish I could remember who it was.

Thanks for musing with me. I’ll be back tomorrow to muse about Lasagna Day.

Odd Loves Company, so share a sweet, juicy, delicious comment in honor of Watermelon Day!