Let me tell you some things Real Food is not.

It isn’t to be eaten with one hand while you’re driving and talking handsfree on your cell phone. It’s not something you gulp out of a styrofoam container while you run to catch the train. You don’t absently take bites out of it while watching TV, only to look down and forget where it all went or how it tasted.

Real Food could be practically anything as long as you love it, and you are aware of what you’re eating and you really, really savor it. Real Food must be made with love and eaten in good company. (Especially if that company is yourself; the next time you’re going to eat alone, put on great music, use the nice dishes, sit down and really taste what you’re eating!)

Now let me take it one step further: I think Real Food has ingredients you can understand. Things you’ve maybe eaten before; definitely things you can pronounce. For instance... what goes into french toast? Eggs, milk, bread; if you’re me, there’s vanilla and cinnamon too. No mono-deoxy-nonpronounceable anything.

I happen to be known online as the French Toast Girl because I really like french toast, but also because I have a philosophy about it, which goes like this: Life (like french toast) is made up of simple ingredients that combine to make up a marvelous concoction we often take for granted. Your life is full of wonderful flavors, and meant to be relished. And if you aren't crazy about the way your life tastes, remember: you're the one who controls how much sweetness goes on top, or if it's soggy and underdone.

Okay - so are you picturing your toast? Is it on a paper plate? Did it come from a box? Or did you make it yourself? Mine is on good dishes, with raspberries from my garden, eaten out on the porch in the early morning, with a pot of tea on the table, listening to the birds sing. You might have your whole family sitting around you, asking to pass the maple syrup. Or you might be sitting by yourself, looking out at the way the morning sunlight hits the trees, with your journal at hand in case you feel like writing something. Maybe you’re in a 5-star restaurant and a dashing young waiter has just lifted the lid off a silver serving tray and presented a platter of french toast to you, and the aroma is so good it’s knocking you off your chair. Are you with me?

If you’re thinking, “That’s lovely, but all I can picture is warmed up microwave french toast,” then my friend, here is your chance to turn things around. Try my current fave french toast recipe for oven-baked french toast. Enjoy it in peace and good company. And if you have a favorite french toast recipe, please share. I'd love to try it!