The Kitchen

The ultimate space for improvisation. Timing is both your enemy and companion. Too many cooks in the kitchen? Too many bodies in space reaching for the same goal.

BEHIND

CORNER

Navigating ones limbs amongst temperature sensitive items. I once got a third degree burn on my arm while straining potatoes when I was nine. Good thing my father was a chef, he whipped out the tricks to quickly address the scorching liquids contact on my skin.

Have you ever gotten a new set of knives and had to acclimate to their power? It’s as if the more we use them the easier they are to function with...you get used to the strength of them and suddenly slicing an onion isn’t the most frustrating thing on the planet. Dull knives plus waxy skin = slippage central.

Is it that a good multitasker is successful in the kitchen or does one become a good multitasker because of what is expected to happen in there?

Recipes and dances are very similar. Tasks, parameters, and end goals. Perhaps the relationship between process vs. product is different, but the first bite of a meal made with love isn’t that different than a finished dance. Satisfying and filled with pleasure.

Made with love-I picture that statement swimming…traveling to ones limbs, both feet to stay grounded, reminded of the earth and all of its inhabitants. Arms with direct contact to the thing that will enter our bodies, giving us powers to do it all over again. Perhaps cooking in the kitchen is some sort of magical cycle of embodiment, repetition, and an attempt at perfection and humble appreciation.

Julie Child loved the kitchen. She loved it so that she wanted to share its magic with others. I think that’s the greatest gift of this space, that it’s conducive to expansion and community.

What’s your favorite thing to make? Be careful when straining potatoes but feel free to call me if you do, I’ll conjure up my father’s kitchen secrets.