Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Thoughts for food

I actually had every intention of sharing a recipe with you in this next post. I then forgot to take pictures of said recipe so I decided I would wait until the next day and share a different recipe. Alas, my work week started and so I became even more forgetful during my evenings and have no pictures. So you will all have to wait until I make something worth sharing again to get an actual recipe post.

Instead, let's talk about cooking. Let's talk about the joy and peace of mind that comes from designing a recipe, committing to it, and perfecting it. Even taking a dish that was passed down, or a recipe found online and tweaking it to meet your own tastes lends a certain satisfaction to an "everyday-chef" that is sometimes hard to find in the fast paced lives we lead. Its a mental release - the way reading is for some and music is for others. While effort is required, it is certainly worth the reward.

Learning to cook well demands a certain passion for food in general. Personally, it took me a long time to get to this point. I was an extremely picky eater as a child. I didn't start gaining an interest in food until college, which my friends started pushing me to try new and different things. My world expanded, and it was good.

Getting older and wiser has only allowed my interest in food to change and grow. Learning to create the type of cuisine you grew up with is one thing. But being able to expand and experiment with new styles of cooking is even more exciting.

Not only does creating a new meal provide a therapeutic escape into creativity, it actually poses a challenge to eat better, more well rounded meals. Or, rather, it dares you to eat better. Putting effort into making something productive drives you to make something you can feel good about in the end. Making a meal that tastes good is only enhanced when it also happens to be good for you. I feel significantly better about myself when I make a good meal, both inside and out. Any anyone who knows me knows a happy belly equals a happy Jessie (same way a Snickers makes Joe Pesci turn into a party bro). 

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