A bowl of simple pleasures

Everything Grits
Waffle House~Port Royal, SC

So many times our lives become filled with appointments, expectations, tasks, routines and promises that we spill ourselves out endlessly over the rim never really pausing to enjoy a full bowl of simply ourselves.  And when this continues to happen we find the necessity to retreat to reconnect to our true desires in living this life.

I rather relish these moments of becoming a recluse to my own whims.  I do not dally in their unfolding. I simply find what matters most to me in this middle life craze. That's me, myself and I. I need the best of me to forge ahead, not everyone and everything else I garnish myself with along the way. Those things and people are/were important and meaningful, but they do not make my dreams reality nor emote my truest desires.

Leaving behind the brandishing of titles and the conquering of monumental odds was no easy task.  I rather liked those aspects of myself and so over time I've wielded them, released them, wielded them again only to cast them aside one final time.  I find I'm more relevant now.  Relevant in that my instincts and desires fit into a far more important role that competes with no one, relies on no time clock and simply allows me to just be.

So I'm staring down at this breakfast bowl of grits, sausage, egg and cheese thinking "this is the best of everything." But I would say the same were it just the grits, just the sausage, just the egg or simply the cheese.  Any one of these singularly would make my day complete.  And so on the days when I have it all I'll enjoy it, but the days when its just me I'm far more likely to be happy.

Leftovers charmed by Jimmy Dean

Leftovers from holiday celebrations, save the hard candy flavors favorite'd only by me (clove, anise, horehound, licorice) were reconfigured into other dishes or rotated out of the household by the first of the year. At least that was what I thought until I reached into my freezer today.  In a crevice wedged between two large bags of pellet and cubed ice lay a large container of frozen corn kernels.

When a left over bag of holiday corn kernels meets a two for one (BOGO) Jimmy Dean sage sausage promo at BiLo the net result is a wonderfully rich soup for an otherwise damp day in the Lowcountry. We enjoy a large assortment of chowders and gumbos in our coastal community.  We even host a charitable soup challenge at the Westin Hilton Head Resort & Spa this month (every year) ~ worth the entry fee for every taste! But today a simple and hardy recipe for Sausage Corn Chowder from Taste of Home provides the comfort I'm craving.

Biscuits, crusty bread, flatbread crackers, you pick your accompaniment as the sage flavored sausage, marjoram and luscious cream are meant to be swiped up the sides of this bowl full of yummy!