LOVE is the most remarkable ingredient.

Cooking was my first passion.  Even as a little girl I loved it and cooked on my own, oven involved, before I was five.  I couldn’t read but I could cook.  If you are cringing at the thought of a five year old on a stool creating recipes out of her head just remember it was the early 80’s and things were different then. Plus my parents were trusting hippies who didn’t want to kill my creativity and therefore gave me free range in their kitchen.

Just for the record I never burned anything down. I did however make many inedible and elfin sized things.

When people tell me they don’t enjoy cooking it is really hard for me to understand because from my perspective there is so much to enjoy.  Plus there are very few things that are as simple to do as cooking. It doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact, simple is best. Did you know that most chefs are known for their least complex dishes?
My mom’s best friend Pam was the best cook I have ever known. She would give you the recipe. Tell you exactly what she did but it NEVER tasted the same as when she made it.   As a little girl I always thought that the ingredient we were missing was Pam and as the years have rolled by I still feel the exact same way.
I wanted to talk today about cooking with intention because I think the intention behind the act is often missed.  Whenever I cook, whether it is a simple salad or a complex dish I take a moment and I add some love in there.  I did it when I was a chef, which I did professionally for ten years, and I do it now in my own home for friends and family.  Truth be told, I love to feed people.

 

Next time you go to make something, take a moment and put some love into your food.  Remember LOVE is the most remarkable ingredient. Following are some suggestions of how to do just that:

· Take cut up ingredients like lemons or carrots (or anything) and make letters out of them. Place them in the dish so that they actually spell LOVE.

·      Sing to your food as you make it. Something beautiful. Imagine as you are stirring that you are stirring the song into the mix or soup.

·      Whisper a prayer over your food as you toss the ingredients.

·      Make heart shapes out of your food. For example: heart shaped mashed potatoes will guarantee a smile (all you need is a heart shape cookie cutter and the willingness to take the three seconds to get it done).
If you dust what you cook with the magic of intention I guarantee that you and others will taste the emotion deep on the undersides of your tongues.