![\"meals](\"https:\/\/cupofjo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Scambled-eggs-stocksy.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nI just read the biography<\/a> of legendary cookbook editor, Judith Jones\u2026<\/p>\n Jones was the editor of some of the biggest authors of the past century (Julia Child, Madhur Jaffrey, John Updike, Sylvia Plath), but as Jones got older, she wrote her own books \u2014 first a memoir, and then a cookbook called The Pleasures of Cooking for One<\/em><\/a>, after her husband died. They had been married for 45 years and cooking together had played an enormous role in their love story. Here, the biographer, Sara Franklin, describes The Pleasures of Cooking for One<\/em>.<\/p>\n [Jones] used luscious evocative language in her headnotes and recipes, an approach to food writing she\u2019d long encouraged her authors to practice; you want the reader, Judith said, to be \u2018just panting by the time you get to taste the recipe. You can\u2019t stand it!\u2019 She encouraged reader\/cooks to loosen up in the kitchen; \u2018This is apt to be a messy-looking pancake,\u2019 she wrote for the headnote for Wild Rice Pancake, \u2018But who cares? It\u2019s just for you and it\u2019s delicious.\u2019 Above all, Pleasures<\/em> was an articulation of an ethic that Judith had spent a lifetime building. \u2018Cooking is a sensual experience, and you really should allow all your senses full play,\u2019 she wrote in her introduction. \u2018Enjoy the feel of the ingredients, observe what is happening, taste as you go along, and drink in the heady smells that arouse your anticipation\u2026even if it\u2019s just for you \u2014 or especially if it\u2019s just for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I don\u2019t need much convincing when it comes to \u201cpositioning pleasure\u201d at the center of the dinner table, and this is especially true when I\u2019m dining solo, something I do way more often these days as an empty nester<\/a>. The great joy of my life is cooking for people, but this doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m not thrilled when I have no other palates to consider.<\/p>\n It felt like vacation last July when I was on my own, carefully frying eggplant rounds in oil, then dusting with spices, so I could sit down to an expertly executed plate of Hetty McKinnon\u2019s Salt & Pepper Eggplant<\/a>, a recipe that I crave on a cellular level in a way my eggplant-neutral family does not.<\/p>\n There also was that night last November when I came home late from a long hospital visit having not eaten anything all day. My father was very ill \u2014 he would die a few weeks later \u2014 and my own needs had receded into the background until the moment I walked into my kitchen, ravenous. I made scrambled eggs and toast \u2014 with really good eggs and really good toast \u2014 setting a place for myself at the table with a lighted votive and a cold beer.\u00a0The ultimate act of self-care.<\/p>\n Do you do this? What meals do you cook just for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n P.S. What food geniuses eat when they\u2019re home alone<\/a>.<\/p>\n (Photo by Stocky\/J.Anthony.)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n