Gourmet or Gourmand?

I looked it up. My dictionary defines gourmet as "a person who knows a lot about food and drink and is good at choosing what should be combined together" and a gourmand as "a person who eats too much, esp. one who is more interested in the quantity of food than its quality".

I asked a very smart TT over in England named Mo Mo (www.tibetanterrier.me.uk ) and she explained gourmand as "greedy feeder, glutton" and gourmet as "connoisseur of table delicacies; judge of good food."

Well my question is is it possible to be both a gourmet and a gourmand? I guess it is. I mean I know it is because I love delicacies, but lots of them. When it come to my pups I only want the best. I guess I'm thinking about this because it's getting time for me to think about weening the pups. I mean "the girls" can only take so much. For about a week now, my parents have been giving the pups plain whole fat yogurt on the tips of their fingers and they have been lapping it up. I mean really lapping it up. And today, we tried just a little bit of a puppy formula that is used to transition the pups to a more solid puppy food. Again, my parents put the puppy formula on the tips of their fingers and the pups seemed to enjoy it. I got the leftovers and I REALLY like it. Gourmand? We will give them a little more each day until they are ready for puppy food.

The pups will be raised on the dry (moistened, at first) and can formulas of Holistic Select for puppies. Holistic Select wet is chicken based. The dry is an anchovy, sardine, and chicken meal recipe. It is protein rich and contains probiotics, digestive enzymes and Omega 6:3’s. It is a high quality food that my puppies deserve. I believe it promotes superior brain and body development. Visit www.holisticselect.com to find a supplier near you. By the time they are ready to go to their new homes, we will be feeding the pups three times a day, at 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM, usually feeding the can variety at one feeding time daily. Keeping the pups on a schedule helps with housetraining. Angus, Roxie, and I prefer Wellness Core over other brands such as Eukanuba, Iams, and Innova. Wellness Core and Holistic Select are both made in the USA by WellPet.

If you ever decide to transition your puppy or dog to a new food at any time, please do so gradually. At first add just a small amount of the new food to the existing diet and over at least a seven-day period slowly increase the proportion of the new food included in their daily diet. I don't recommend that you change a puppy’s food in the initial transition period when they are introduced to their new home.

Since I am going on about food today, I guess it's as good a time as any to share my dad's oven roasted tomatoes recipe. They are great as a side with eggs or anything for that matter. Sometimes my dad spoons the tomatoes over pasta when he's craving a healthy and easy meal.

Dad's Oven Roasted Tomatoes

2 28 oz cans of whole plum tomatoes
1 tablesoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside. Lightly coat the bottom of a large baking dish with olive oil. Drain the tomatoes in a collander and discard the juice. Cut the tomatoes in half and and place cut side up in a single layer in the baking dish. Sprinkle evenly all over with the sugar-salt-pepper mixture. Cook for 1 to 2 hours or more until the tomatoes are well cooked and a bit carmelized. Remove from oven and cool. Dad likes them best at room temperature.

Oh, dad just reminded me, after sprinkling the sugar-salt-pepper mixture on top some people like to dab just a teeny tiny dob of butter on top of each tomato before placing in the oven. Gourmands I would guess.