Memoirs of a Fat Girl

Comfort food's a kicker. You eat it for those fuzzy & warm familiar feelings, but most of the time comfort foods of choice aren't all that good for you.

My comfort foods have changed over the years. When I was a kid it was junk food. Chips, chocolate, a trick-or-treat bagful of halloween bliss. We weren't allowed junk food for years, so whenever I got some, you'd better believe I enjoyed it.

Towards the end of grade school, that morphed into smoothies. Mostly bananas with milk all blended up, and some strawberries if they were in season. In the early days of high school came the revolution that was microwave popcorn, so that was my better. University, cereal, especially Corn Pops. I'd get the econo pack from Price Club and it would last me a week at three meals per day.

After graduation and during my internship in Europe, cheese. The French grocery giant Carrefour had a deli counter bordering on the galactic, importing all the best stuff that in North America would either be illegal, or cost an arm and a leg. Heaven.

Last year, yogurt. Thick, plain Balkan-style yogurt with some crushed walnuts and Egyptian honey on top. For further comfort I kept telling myself those are "good" fats, and it made my skin look fantastic.

Nowadays it's caramelized onions. And no, that's not onions and caramel together. I first made them a couple of years ago and was amazed at how easy it was. After all, there are only five ingredients: onions, oil, salt, heat and a pan. I was even more amazed when a couple of weeks ago I was coming home from work, listening to my stomach growl and thinking, I really want caramelized onions.

We've been in love ever since. I've been going through onions like mad, thankful for their healthy properties, and that I don't have to kiss anyone. And overall, feeling pretty damn cocky. I mean, my first comfort foods came from Hostess and Pez. This one comes from the earth.

So in honour of my bulb-based happiness and wanting to do better, I whipped up a little somethin' somethin' with caramelized onion, from scratch, and will be including it in my Cookbook.

But first, it's going out to all of you. As soon as I figure out how to put pictures up here.