I have a confession to make. It’s a big one, so bear with me. I like to cook, something I’ve already said in Connect, Unite, Act here on Daily Kos. I talk about it and think about it. Even when I’m with others, I tend to swap recipes. Recently, I’ve had a lot to think about in terms of how hunger has so often made a big impact on how I react—impulsively, I will grab food, decide to cook, or just make changes as I go because, well, I like doing it. As a result, I have a kitchen absolutely full of gadgets: pressure cooker, slow cooker, air fryers, mixers with pasta-making attachment, sausage-making attachment, and even more. Cast iron skillets and dutch oven pots fill up a lazy susan in a house where I really should probably be spending more money on anything else.

I do not know Kamala Harris well. We’ve met a few times, but never spoken at any length. The one time we did speak there was only one topic that filled the discussion: food. Before she spoke at Netroots Nation, as pictured above, in her prep room the discussion with several present was about hunger, what kind of food we liked, the things we had tried, and foods we learned we did not like no matter how often we tried them at the suggestion of others. 

This week, conservatives have decided there is a Thanksgiving scandal: Harris purchased a $375 cooking dish in Paris.

Overseas last week on a four-day diplomatic trip to mend the U.S. relationship with France, Harris stopped in at E. Dehillerin, a pricey cookware shop outside the Louvre museum, where she dropped hundreds of dollars on various kitchen items. The big-ticket items in the haul were a $375 serving dish and $160 frying pan, the Parisian specialty store told the Free Beacon. The vice president rounded out her purchase with various smaller accessories, such as a porcelain cocotte and egg dish, a copper cleaner, and various wooden spoons.

I have a confession to make, right here, right now, and it is a big one so please, please, forgive me as I make this confession. I am not a wealthy person. My girlfriend and I live in an average home and keep two dogs. Daily Kos pays me well enough, but I am not a private jet owner.

I am, however, someone who in the last two years purchased cooking attachments at about that cost. Admittedly, I used Nebraska Furniture Mart instead of a shop in Paris, but I did spend the money. Like our vice president, I love food. I have to admit that too, and I guess I have to also admit that most of the people around me like food too. Even worse, in the kitchen I have right now I have a nice ceramic pot that was made unusable for food a few years ago, but is on right now with mulling spices making our house smell good for the holidays.

Kamala Harris is paid $235,100 in salary. It is her money to spend as she chooses, a fact conservatives point out all the time. “Keep your money!” That’s what they tell us, especially true of federally elected Republicans who are spending their money without criticism. I mean, do we have any idea how much Ted Cruz’s trip to Cancun cost? 

The confession is: Everyone who has spoken at any point to Vice President Kamala Harris, even in passing, was aware that she likes to eat, and that she likes beautiful things. I know both of these are shocking facts that are mirrored in roughly 90% of all human beings, but believe me, it’s true.

I knew it. Joe Biden knew it when he chose her, and the residents of California knew it when they elected her several times. 

How on Earth did we forget to tell you? $375 on a serving dish. We should all feel ashamed. Please, if you’ve ever placed anything under the Christmas tree over $375 on a lesser salary, shame on you. I guess conservatives believe you should return it. Or something like that.