Yum Makes It All Better

[jmfargo]

Okay, so my morning wasn't going so well and I was really ready to just shut down and take a nice long nap, which wouldnt have been a bad thing, but at the same time would have been because I have work to do. Instead, I remembered that I had to make spaghetti sauce or we would have no dinner tonight! A part of me argued that if I didn't make it we might be able to have a fish fry (probably my favorite meal these days), but honesty won out in straight sets, and I got to cooking.

Nothing soothes me like cooking. The gentle rythm of cutting the vegetables, the harsh staccatto of the oil popping to its own beat, the smells, the memories, the tears. Tears? Damn that onion was powerful.

It was nice, getting into the kitchen and making my bastardized version of my family sauce into something that Maria will enjoy. I've actually created my own "family" sauce, so that feels good.

I'm relaxed now, able to work without feeling stressed, and handling the dogs better. It's absolutely amazing what getting into a kitchen can do if I'm cooking something I know really well. Very few things can be as calming. I sincerely hope that everyone has something like this for themselves that no matter how bad things are they can turn to it, and even if they don't "return to normal" afterwards, at the very least they are better during it.

Comments

[jfargo.livejournal.com]

I've kinda modified mine a bit over the years and each time I make it..

Isn't that the only way to cook? I'm slowly learning that strict adherence to a recipe is usually not the way to make that recipe come out its best. I come from an Italian family - you think I would have learned earlier.

[reverendfixxxer.livejournal.com]

--Isn't that the only way to cook?--

Yes it is. Any idiot can follow a step-by-step guideline. "Put exactly this many onions in, wait 2 minutes and add exactly this many carrots..." The person that only does that is not a cook any more than the person who assembles his cheap furniture via the instructions is an engineer. Truly cooking requires knowing the effect that your actions will have on the finished food product, and this is done via experimentation. That's what being a cook is about.

[jfargo.livejournal.com]

Usually the way I cook something new is try it by the recipe first, and then if it's worthy of a second try we (Maria and I) talk about what could have been better. In a week or so I try it again, this time with alterations in place.

I usually only alter it on the first try if there's something I know will make it better if I take it away/add it.