I come from a family of rapacious eaters - bottomless pits, clean plate clubbers, buffet lines are child's play.

My mom made my brothers and I whatever we wanted (because she loved us) - so we got burgers, and pizza, and french fries, and fried everything! Occassionally, we'd be forced to eat vegetables (I hate hate hated broccoli). But, mom would relent, and she'd stock the fridge and freezer with foods she knew we would eat (her freezer is still full, though she is an empty nester - waiting for the spontaneous output of visiting grandchildren).

But we all ate a lot, and we ate well. From my childhood I gained an appreciation of volume in eating.

We travelled a lot, and lived in foreign countries, and my parents were experimental in the foods they ate, so our palates broadened even when we were teenagers (a time usually dedicated to convenience foods bought with "independence" money). From this, I gained an appreciation for variety in eating.

And then college. College taught me a lot about really bad food, and how you can take bad food and doctor it into something edible (hence, mushrooms can be microwaved with onions to make a sort of sautee and there is no fried potato shape that cannot benefit from cheese). College also made me lose a lot of weight (stress, sleeping through dinner hours, lots of Coke). So my stomach shrunk, but I still wanted to eat everything on my plate. What self-defeatism!

I moved back in with my parents after college and taught school. Sheepishly I admit my mother at first packed my lunches for me (love my mom). But then I kept packets of oatmeal under my desk, and only ate oatmeal during the school day, because it was fast and filling.

Needless to say, the weight loss brought on low blood sugar problems that I had even when I was bigger. So, only oatmeal for hours (occasional spikes in sugar coming from the almight beverage Coke) nearly ate my tummy away inside. I'd have blackouts, shaking fits, and fevers.

Last year, two very concerned and awesome friends, Kevin and Michelle (and a little Lauren), took it upon themselves to keep me continuously fed. I also moved into a space on the school campus with a fully functioning kitchen. Huzzah! I ate and ate. And I bought cookbooks.

Cookbooks have since become my primary literary concern. At Half Price Books (www.halfpricebooks.com), you can troll throught the clearance sections and get excellent cookbooks for $1. Actually, the fascination came earlier than I indicated - I was running a Hispanic Dinner as fundraiser for one of my Guatemala trips, and I needed to use a slowcooker to cook meat, because the school didn't have a stove or range. So I dragged out some of my mom's infiniti plus two cookbooks on Crockpottery, and I became enthralled! I loved cookbooks, and still do (and I bought a crock pot).

For food in general, I'm trying to keep my palate broad, and I love all foods because of it. Going to restaurants causes me to make some of the most difficult life decisions I've ever made. Usually frugality wins out, but taste never is compromised!

My newest exploit, brought on by a dwindling bank account, is eating well with no money. By eating well, I mean all my fruits and veggies AND meat. I just made a chili with cinnamon that is ridiculously good (from a mix - but tons of fiber and taste). I'm tempted to buy hotdogs ... but I'm not going that far quite yet. When I get to the boxed macaroni and cheese/bitesize hot dog pieces, I'll let the world know ... and demand money for better food.