Hunger is the Best Sauce

We spent our holiday weekend in a nearby mountain village with a group of friends. On Friday evening we met at one person's home for food and drink. We then met the following morning for the charming local parade where we likewise gathered around food and drink. Later that evening, we met again for a grill feast. And on Sunday morning, we wrapped up the festivities with a group brunch.Russian author Leo Tolstoy is among those philosophers who considered it to be a kind of secular sin to eat without appetite, which is what I've been doing for the past few day. I mean, the food was amazing all around, but there were moments when I found myself chewing for reasons that had nothing to do with hunger. For instance, I finished my hamburger out of a misguided sense of courtesy toward my host. I had a second desert because, well, two people had brought special desserts. I didn't drink that Bloody Mary because of thirst.And the wages of my "sins" is an overstuffed, bleary-headed lethargy which…