"When Ginger and I celebrated our anniversary last year, we went to a fancier restaurant than usual because she was willing to accommodate my culinary adventuresomeness in the name of love. We chose a great place in our neighborhood called Piedmont, a name drawn from our region of North Carolina, which, in turn, borrowed it from the food and farm region of northern Italy. The restaurant is owned by a chef named Marco who also owns the farm where much of the food is grown and raised. The freshness requires the menu to change daily, which affords him and his staff the chance to add intensely personal touches. When they handed us our menus, 'Happy Anniversary' was printed across the top of the page. I had told them about the occasion when I made the reservation and they took the time and effort to mark it. As we read down we noticed one of the appetizers was called 'Ham and Eggs' — a playful description for a plate of deviled ham, deviled eggs, and homemade crostini. I'm a ham fan and Ginger loves deviled eggs, so we spilt the eight-dollar plate. What arrived at our table was a delicately crafted appetizer that held one hard-boiled egg that had been split and filled and placed on top of an ounce or two of deviled ham. The bread was stacked on the side. After the server had walked away, Ginger commented on the cost of the item relative to the size of the serving; then she tasted the egg.

" 'Wait,' she said. 'That's the best deviled egg I've ever had.'

" 'That's because the eight dollars bought the chef some time,' I answered. 'The difference between good food and great food has to do with time.'

"What is true of cooking is also true of eating. The difference between a good meal and a great meal is time — how long we linger at the table — whether it be a special occasion or a Sunday supper of leftovers. To break our schedule as we break bread is an opening for the Spirit. A thin place. The Celtic idea of the thin places in life where the barriers between heaven and earth almost disappear is as ancient as it is well traveled. I don't remember how or when I first learned of it, but I do know food, for me, is one of life's quotidian thinners. One of the ways we draw nigh is breaking bread together, thus breaking down barriers and opening our hearts."