You know what I enjoy but almost never eat? Polenta. I really like polenta, out of all proportion to its admittedly modest but distinct appeal. No one gets too excited about polenta but many people enjoy it. Still, my somewhat incomprehensible passion for polenta hasn't spurred me to eat it except maybe once every five to ten years or so, once a decade, so who knows how to truly rate my interest. I can sing the praises of polenta till I'm blue in the face, but what does that prove? Nothing.

Speaking of food and the preparation of food, for years I hated the term "casserole" and its many associations. It's just one of those things, like my friend B who is enraged by the word "cutlet." Don't get B started on cutlet. "Casserole" bothered me initially, I think (before the severe dislike took on a self-perpetuating life of its own), because it refers both to a type of food and to the porcelain or glass container in which it's prepared. "And now we take down the casserole from the cupboard so that we can prepare the casserole." So it's both a dish and a dish. "Dish" is problematic in the same way I guess. Huh, interesting. On the first day of Home Economics in eighth grade, the teacher said to me "hand me that casserole would you?", and I was dumbfounded, since we hadn't made any food yet, having just a moment before gathered in the little kitchen area. That was the year I made a plush walrus, since discarded or lost. So therefore I can defend my dislike of "casserole" but I don't really know what B has against "cutlet."