Be a BOSS in the kitchen!
a.k.a. How to learn to like cooking in 3 steps.
You’re welcome.
My favourite time of year is berry time!
It’s summer beooootches!!!! It’s my flavor-fave time of the year when fresh fruits, produce, flowers and everything else that grows is singing with life. And I go on benders. Jam benders, pie benders, pickle and tomato benders…the list goes on. I’ll buy a ton of fresh fruit or vegetables and then get lost in my kitchen for a few days, often in my bathing suit because it’s so warm with the stove going, and just can the sh*t out of the produce I procured.
Bread and butter pickles, yum!
Why do this when grocery stores are so close and have pretty much anything you want?
Honestly, for the joy of it. I LOVE food.
Pick-your-own blueberry bushes at Barrie Hill Farms.
Fresh vegetables and fruits from the farms are like a beautiful symphony of gorgeousness and gives me incredible pleasure to smell, touch, taste and create beautiful conconctions that I can enjoy in 3, 6 months, or even a year later. I look at the jars with love; little entities of beauty that I CREATED, all by myself. Nothing is more lovely than opening a jar of fresh-picked tomatoes or peaches in the dead of winter, with one whiff of its fragrance and the memory of joy and summer rush back in and all over me. Pure awesomeness.
I want a North American renaissance of slow food pleaure and joy. So many other countries and cultures get the importance and ritual of food. The sensory factors, the company we share them with, the conversation, the connection—all these factors are connected with the ritual of food and eating. Somehow it’s gotten lost in the mass commodification of food and we’ve lost the joy, connection, and mindfulness that comes with the measured and intentional preparation of a meal.
Am I waxing on this, making a bigger deal of the ritual of food than it is? Perhaps. Perhaps though, we miss out on one of the important and daily pleasures of life when we just ‘get through dinner’, fill the hole’, or let take-out become our daily ritual. Something significant gets lost.
Mexican-style brunch with homemade pico de gallo and tomatillo salsa!
We need to eat every day, wouldn’t it be lovely to create pleasure and joy in these daily rituals?
Perhaps it’s in my agrarian genes—my ancestry as far as I understand were farmers, lovers of the land, creating everything from the earth. My babas (grandmothers) showed their love and devotion to their families with beautiful breads, meals and desserts. Food was a joyous ritual that for that one moment, we all were together, enjoying the moment, savouring the time, love, and care that went into nourishing us.
My basement pantry at the end of ‘bender’ season…
It’s beautiful to me. Truly.
I know not everyone has had positive experiences in the kitchen—some were shooed out of the kitchen, and never learned the basics,. Many of us picked up habits and beliefs of our parents with respect to food and cooking, whatever they were. If this is the case for you and you harbour no interest or joy in the art of food and want to change that—
Amazing, easy, and fast personal pizzas on the BBQ!
I used a local bakery’s chewy pita-style bread (lepinja) as the base.
I invite you to create and build your own culinary sanctuary.
Visualise and decide what you want your culinary experience to look and feel like. Create the space, attitudes, and beliefs that will support a positive and nurturing relationship with food, cooking, and the kitchen. Consider also the relationship you have with food. They are often interconnected to your ideas with cooking.
You don’t have to be a maven in the kitchen, but wouldn’t it be nice to look forward to preparing a meal instead of dreading it?
Tomato chickpea tart with greens and buckwheat crust…so satisfying and delicious!
Here’s how to create your own culinary sanctuary in three simple steps:
(1) Create a space that is welcoming for you— consider the following ideas to create a space that is welcoming to work in:
Do you have basic tools? Think about a good quality sharp knife, quality cutting board (wooden or a plastic board), mixing bowls, measuring tools, quality fry pan, dutch oven (big pot), and basic utensils ? IF you’re missing fundamental tools, it could be a real cause of frustration. For me, I am a mad woman without a good knife.
How about a gorgeous apron that makes you feel like a boss in your space? ( I tend choose a robust and cotton ‘cause I tend to wipe my hands all over it, but you do you.)
Tidy first, keep counters that are clean and clear of clutter. It’s a small but significant concept. Clear space=clear mind=ability to work and process
Good music or a beverage to accompany your culinary time? For me, my go to is Latin salsa and a glass of red. How can THAT not put you in a good mental space?
Does your kitchen space make sense? Do you have things willy-nilly or are they grouped for ease according to item or function? If you spend time hunting for things you know you have and can’t find, you might want to spend a little energy in organizing your workspace in a way that makes sense to you and creates efficiency.
(2) Match your efforts to your current abilities—match your current abilities to your recipes in order to find success, then gently keep challenging those evolving skills
Did you choose something to cook that you are excited about? If you are reticent to spend time in the kitchen, make sure you lead with a recipe that excites you and ‘sparks joy’. Give yourself a joyous access point to get started. Otherwise, it’s just torturing yourself….
Is the recipe you chose appropriate for your skill set? Nothing like trying a difficult recipe, having it flop, and then giving yourself more “proof” you hate cooking. Build your skills over time and practise. Be kind to yourself! You are growing mastery in a new area.
Have you booked enough time for yourself in your culinary expedition? Take a look at the recipe and give yourself a bit of extra time to bring your chosen recipe to life…rushing and frustration under timelines does not help the process. I know this can’t always be the case, but ensuring some meals are made with calm and ease can make a world of difference in your perspective of cooking.
(3) Be kind to your present and future self
Did you make extra? Once you mastered a recipe, or at least feel comfortable with it and are consistent with the result, double the batch for a future meal. This could mean later in the week, or to freeze for a future meal that you can pull out at a moment’s notice with minimal effort and time. Remember to label and date it! Your future self will thank you for your thoughtful awesomeness.
Give yourself a break. This means two things:
(a) If a recipe goes wrong, be kind to yourself. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are culinary skills. Every effort,—good, bad and ugly, is data to help you improve on your culinary journey. Enjoy the process and make notes so the next time you try, you have the data to be successful.
(b) All recipes are NOT created equal. Frankly, some stuff on the net is hype or garbage (IMO). People have different ideas on what “tastes exactly like….'“ and some are poorly written and difficult to understand. Also consider that you might process information differently than the recipe writer (and ergo, how they write their instructions), so be mindful of this and it will help you find your favourite recipe and taste makers. After trial and error, I know which recipe creators are consistent with my tastes, and I can eyeball a recipe and have a good idea if it’s going to be boss, meh, or trash—but that’s taken time to hone those ID skills.
Have fun! It’s food man, just enjoy it. I’ve eaten cheesecake and cookies I forgot to add sugar to, burnt, or added too much baking soda. I’ve recovered things off the floor (not to guests though!)—another good reason to keep a clean floor; I’ve spent hours on creating complicated recipes to the ‘T’, and then got lazy and not checked them in the bake state and burned them….it’s all part of the process in learning. Be able to laugh at the shenanigans and make the best of it. It’s all part of the fun, if you allow it. Heck, as a kid, my sister invited me add marshmallows to cookies, allowing me to ‘express’ my creativity and curiousity, and it was weird good, but fun to try, and a memory I still treasure today. I got to create without judgement. And my grandfather ate them like a trooper. God bless him.
Now go out there and have some fun food adventures.
I dare you!
This was a new recipe I tried for my husband’s birthday cake….as you can see the icing became “runaway icing”. We embraced the imperfections and ate it anyways! It was damn good….and I have data now on how to improve the consistency of the icing….
