I’m not a professional chef. 

 

I guess you could say that I like pretending to be one. Not because I feel that I could compete with the great culinary masters that inspire amateurs like me, but because I like what happens to me when I cook. It’s hard to explain it unless you’ve experienced this for yourself. After all, life experiences are so incredibly personal and unique that I doubt they could ever be truly explained.

 

Cooking, for me, is more than just "assembling" ingredients together. I'm not much of a recipe follower. For me, it’s much deeper than that. It is an opportunity to step out of the rush of day-to-day life; to slow down; to immerse myself under my own skin; and to go to a place that brings me incredible peace and fulfillment.

 

No. I’m not crazy.

 

I guess I’m just having an awareness that there are some moments in life that are more memorable than others. They are rare. But they seem to happen when I allow them to happen. It’s only taken me 50 years to learn this, but I sure am glad I got “here.” Hey – Thoreau went to the woods for this insight. I go to the kitchen.

 

As I reflect on this epiphany-like moment, I realize that some of my fondest memories revolve around a meal. I can easily recount dozens and dozens of those memorable moments in my life. I can tell you what I cooked; who I shared the meal with; what it tasted like; what it smelled like; and in many cases, what the table setting looked like. I can picture the scenes in my mind, like an old 8mm movie:  the laughs, smiles and conversations.

 

It hit me. It is the entire cooking experience that does it for me; from beginning to end. It is like pressing the pause button on life’s remote. And while life is on “pause,” I find that I live more fully – more awakened.

 

Yeah, a bit too metaphysical, I know, but… it truly is an opportunity to stop the busyness and let go of all the nonsense we tend to fill our lives with.

 

And THAT is the awakening I find myself in.

 

What can I say ... I love to cook. It’s my thing.  If cooking for you is just the dreaded act of having to put a dinner together just for the sake of eating, then this blog is probably going to be a little too weird for you. If, however, you are one of those awakened chefs that share this passion, then I hope this inspires you and I hope to be inspired by you.

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