Say it to Gourmet it

So much about our perception of the quality of a meal relies on the verbiage used to describe it. Tonight, for example, I cooked fish, pasta, and vegetables. But if I were chef at a $20-per-plate restaurant I would have cooked

Baked tiilapia with garlic and capers, tri-color rotini with diced tomato and onion, and a colorful trio of sauteed bell peppers.

I'll admit the meal took a reasonable amount of time and effort to prepare, and it's not necessarily the type of meal a twentysomething male living alone would cook for himself. But spicing up the description of a meal does as much as spicing up the food itself. Take, for example, the following gourmet meal:

Conchiglie pasta in a creamy cheddar sauce, with a traditional vegetable medley.

Sounds a good deal tastier than mac 'n' cheese with canned veggies, yes?

No wonder why Nabisco's commercials for Fig Newtons used to always include, "It's not cookie, it's fruit and cake!"