Doing what you love

Are you doing what you love?  Do you awake each day looking forward to the day ahead?  I cook, it’s not just what I do it’s a large part of who I am.  The satisfaction of dishing up a meal that will disappear with relish by a hungry group of people gives me no end of pleasure.  I find every minute spent in the kitchen worth it.  Some people I know don’t like the process of preparing a meal, for me that just does not compute.  The Husband doesn’t understand it, The Daughter cooks to eat but is not quite into the “love of the process.”  Me?…I love the process.  The feel of the knife in my hand, the sound of the oil popping as the onions hit the pan, its music to my ears.

I had a conversation with the Hungry Neophyte a while ago on how I relax and my response was I cook, I don’t think that was the response H.N. was looking for, especially when I told him how long I would spend preparing an average dinner.  Granted it was for my own good as H.N. was/is helping me regain strength in my leg/back after my medical leave.  For me standing in the kitchen putting together a meal is like crack to a junkie, I can’t get enough of it.   It’s when my brain slips into neutral and I can ignore the pain or cut loose the minor irritations of the day. It is also the time when I can challenge myself.  Can I make item “X” play nicely with item”Y” in a way that is new to me.  Yes we have some odd “partners” on our dinner plate at times (we call them culture shock) but in the end for the most part it works.  Who knew that chipotle powder would work so well in a batch of fudge, or that The Husband would love BBQ sauce baked into his meat loaf.  Or that 4 simple ingredients would make a meal the Family would request  to have again and again.  I do big flavors.  I do bold, in your face flavors that make you sit up and pay attention.  Subtle is not a word used around here much, yes it has it place and ever so often “subtle” gets pulled out, but it doesn’t get top billing often.  Those of you who have had the opportunity to have eaten my cooking know what I am talking about. I figure why use just a couple of items when I can use ten and have layers of flavor.  You can tell when something is done with passion there is just a feel about it that is different.  It reaches out to you and draws you in, be it art, music or yes cooking.

So I ask you, are you doing what you love?  If not, why not?  Jump out there…take a chance…fall on your face. Scuffed knees and a bruised ego will heal.  Live bold.  Live  like there is not tomorrow…do what you love!

Now go play with your food.

WikiJan