Can you be a barbeque master and skinny too?

We had a church luncheon today--soup and salad with mega desserts. If I can't be at a barbecue, then a southern pot luck is the next best thing.

I went over to say "hi" to one of the dear church ladies. The first thing she says is, "Have you put on a lot of weight lately?" Hum. Is she searching for a conversation topic or spoiling for a fight? I kind of mumble, "Yeah probably." Really, what can you say in such a situation? This should end the topic I'd think, but she continues with more commentary. "Yeah. I looked over and thought, 'She sure has gained some weight,' then you stood up, and I thought, 'Not really.' I think your face is just puffy." This, of course, made me feel ever so much better.

In the south, folks are typically polite to a fault EXCEPT when it comes to weight. I have, in fact, added some pounds in the last 4 or 5 years, and it's rare to go out without someone making this keen observation. These are people who would probably never dream of telling you that you had broccoli stuck between your teeth or toilet paper caught on the bottom of your shoe. But, put on some weight and they sure like to talk about that and not behind your back.

It's not like I'm at risk of breaking the scales which I refuse to have in the house. I wear a 11 or 13 in Levi's and usually need a 14 in shirts due to being busty as they call it around here. Of course, the weight loss commercial today featured a woman who was so thrilled to have gone from an apparently gross size 10 to a 4 and was feeling absolutely fabulous. All I can say is that it's a good thing Marilyn Monroe didn't come of age in this era of anorexia as normal. I think she was a size 12 or 14, and she didn't have to apologize for it either.

I love to cook, and I love to eat. There would be something a bit suspect about someone who wrote about grilling and smoking and wouldn't eat the goods and was skinny as a bone. A body would have to wonder if she (or he) really did cook up good grub.

Then again, it's not much fun to deal with the "comments" when you're not the same size you were in 7th grade. I'm tempted to say that I have some terminal disease and the medications make me swell when someone asks about my weight. Might make them squirm a bit. But, then I'd probably get something terminal for telling fibs. So, I'm still just saying, "Yeah. Uh-huh" and then trying to redirect the conversation.

I told my guys not to bring me anything back from BoJangles today. Now, that's some good fast food eating. If you've never tried BoJangles, then you've got to check them out--spicy fried chicken, fluffy mashed potatoes, zippy dirty rice. Yum. The fellows wanted to know if I was feeling sick or something. When I finally confessed that I'd been called a fatso at church, they said to ignore it and enjoy my food and the ballgame. Apparently it would put a damper on their meal for me to skip. So, I had a wing and some sides and called it good.

Maybe I'll look at some lower calorie, lower fat recipes for the grill. Maybe not. I guess it depends on how many people tell me I look fat tomorrow.