Dear Faye Delicious,
I can’t shop for food. I have the good intentions of a pack of girlscouts trying to get a badge–sometimes I even make it to the grocery store. But as soon I have the basket, I sweat and I don’t breathe well. I leave the store with a pack of candy cigarettes, a pint of Chunky Monkey and a liter of Diet Coke.
Signed, Can’t Cook

Dear CC,
we gotta get you off those cigarettes. Make a list for yourself. Put something that you really want right at the top. Try chocolate. Forget shopping for the week; shop for a meal. Open up any of your cookbooks, and pick something really easy. (I suggest Jacques Pepin–“Jacques’s Sauted Chicken Maison” from Julia and Jacques, Cooking at Home. If you need a cookbook, you can get this one on ebay for less than $6.00) Write down all the ingredients, including the chocolate and bring it all back home. (Skip boning the chicken and buy it in parts already skinned). Brown the chicken in a little olive oil, saute an onion with a few whole mushrooms and baby carrots (no cutting) throw in some whole cloves of garlic, a leek and some white wine, get some rice going on the side, and that’s it. Pour some of the wine into a glass, slice up a loaf of fabulous French bread and have somebody else make the salad. You’ll feel so good you’ll be running to the store, ready for more.