Just close your eyes. Trust me. You see, I’ve recently started a new routine of closing my eyes when I eat. Not through the whole meal but once I’ve gotten the victuals to my mouth. I close my eyes and try to appreciate the flavor.

It’s amazing how much better the food tastes and how much more satisfying it is to eat. This is significant because when I eat by myself I’ve fallen into the habit over the years of feeling the need to multitask: surf the Net, read e-mail, watch TV. I want to blame my years in corporate America but at the end of the day I can only look to myself.

I am sure I got to the point where I wasn’t even tasting what I was wolfing down, except maybe for that first bite. I was missing out on what could’ve been a wonderful sensory experience that carried me away from my dull routine.

So here I am late to the game. And glad to be here. Closing my eyes has always been a good way for me to focus on music, whether playing or listening the degree of focus afforded is wonderful and rewarding when not distracted by the powerful visual sense. I never really applied it to taste and smell. But here I am.

Perhaps this epiphany has been brewing for a while. I have over the past couple years found a fondness for small plate restaurants.  Now I am by no means a restaurant critic and have been known to have very low standards so am not vouching for the varying qualities of the local small plate restaurants. I cannot recall the last time I found a food product lacking enough to call it bad, though I can probably guess with confidence that it was something I concocted.

My fondness for the small plates is not about quality but about concentration, my concentration. You see no matter how good a dish is after some said number of bites my ability to concentrate on its unique character diminishes rapidly. So a pound and a half of even the best pasta in the world will lose my attention long before it is gone.

Bring in the small plates. Four or five bites. Close your eyes and enjoy. Bam it’s gone! But each bite was so good. Oh hey, the next plate is here. Nummy.

Small plates are like the ultimate dining experience for the ADHD crowd. Close your eyes and enjoy. But briefly, ever so briefly.