A cup of tea or a glass of lemonade, sipped in solitary quiet, is a wonderful thing. Eating alone is usually not as fun. But there are exceptions.

I eat fast. I often make cold meals of fruit, bread, and cheese, and when I do, it usually takes me more time to cut things up and wipe away the crumbs than it does to actually eat. Cold leftovers disappear go just as quickly. But I also like to cook, and it's a good thing. Cooking can be almost as meditative an activity as preparing tea (not quite, but almost); and I find it easier to take my time enjoying hot food. Also, while I enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables and bread, not all the food in the kitchen is fresh. I've eaten stale bread with molding cheese and wilting spinach. I've also used stale bread, Cheese of Ages, and wilted veggies to make french onion soup and omelette fillings. The soup and omelette were good; the sandwich was miserable.

This evening, I split the difference. I had fresh olive bread and good black cherries (on sale at Safeway), and I also made an omelette filled with the last of the munster cheese (which wasn't exactly bad, but needed to be used), the last of the zucchini (in about the same state as the munster), some tomato, and an excellent jalapeno. I cooked the vegetables for the omelette filling in olive oil with a little black pepper, and added them after the cheese melted. It was good, and it was hot, and I ate with gusto tempered by caution against burning my mouth.

What better way to end than with a hot beverage of choice?

• Currently drinking: Hot water with lime