At my favorite bookstore in August, I came across a book that looked fascinating, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. A bunch of well-know authors wrote essays about secret eating habits from their single days. Next time I see it in a store I'm buying it. We all have eating habits that we don't indulge in when others are around - I had a friend in grad school who ate cereal for dinner every night. For months. I remember a time when Meredith's favorite meal was white rice with butter. Jared admitted on Facebook recently that when his wife wasn't in town he eats Taco Bell - yuck!

My super secret food behavior isn't a type of food, rather my last step of food prep. When I eat alone, the last thing I do in the kitchen is to pre-cut all of my food. That's right, as if I were feeding a small child who can't be trusted with a knife, I cut my food into bite-sized pieces. This enables me to eat one-handed, freeing up my other hand to hold a book and turn the pages. There's nothing worse in my book (hah!) than having to put down whatever I'm reading between bites in order to pick up my knife.

Now, when I'm eating on my own in a restaurant, I feel lke I can't do this. Instead, I let my available reading material determine my food choice. If I've brought a magazine, newspaper, paper, or something that lays flat I order meat or anything that requires two hands. If I've got a book with me, then it's pasta, a salad, or some other meal that I can eat with one hand.

It's what works for me.