Healing with Food Newsletter

Pleasure in the Kitchen

If cooking seems a drudgeery, here’s one magic trick to change that. Reorganize your space to make it more functional. This makes a profound difference.

You probably don’t need anything new for the kitchen. Possibly, what’s needed is shedding some clutter and repositioning your most used tools.

Observe any craftswoman at task and you’ll see economy and grace in her movements. Her flow is acquired from repeatedly reaching for the shuttle (or builder’s level or an upper octave C) and finding it in its designated spot. With tools in place, you’re free to create. Cooking then is pleasurable.

My hot pads, for example, hang on their hook next to the range. When my nose says “time to take the cookies out,” my left hand opens the oven door, my right lifts a hot pad and in one seamless motion, the goodies are out. Conversely, imagine needing the hot pads now, reaching for their usual drawer, and while rummaging for the hot pads, the corkscrew jabs your thumb. Whoops. What’s that you smell? Burnt cookies!

Poised for action, I keep sharp knives and a bowl of onions and garlic next to the cutting board and range. Onions are happier out than refrigerated. Besides, their comely shapes and rich purple and copper colors please the eye. Also, onions hold the promise of a tasty meal close at hand.

So, pour yourself a cup of tea, sit back and look at your kitchen as if for the first time. Assess the energy flow pattern around your stove, fridge and kitchen sink. Where are the “traffic jams”?  Muster the kitchen genie within you and make one quick upgrade right now. Now, relish your corresponding cooking pleasure.

May you be well nourished!

Rebecca Wood