What Cooking Taught Me About Being in a Good Mood
I love to cook. Unfortunately, I’m not very good at it. I have learned a few things as a result of my trial and error when it comes to cooking, though. Here’s what cooking taught me about being in a good mood.
Things don’t always turn out the way you thought they would – Sometimes you add a pinch too much of something, or that first bite is salty when it should be sweet. Occasionally, things don’t turn out exactly the way you want them to. Life is that way, too. Everyone is dealt different cards, but how you choose to play them is up to you. You can be bitter and resentful that your pot roast tastes like dog food, or you can feed it to the very happy dog.
Take it one step at a time - Often times when I’m cooking, I try and do too much at one time. I don’t know how Rachel Ray makes it look so easy on TV. Probably because they have been training their whole lives as career chefs, but nonetheless, I can barely keep track of more than one dish at a time, let alone smile and talk in front of a camera. Take your time, and don’t try to take on too much at once.
Put the things that need to simmer on the back burner – If you try to cook too fast, you’re going to burn something. Sometimes, it pays to be patient and let those things that don’t need immediate attention to simmer on the back burner. This applies especially if you’re juggling a lot of different emotions at once. Let those things that require more time to think about get exactly that.
Improvise – If you don’t have thyme, use rosemary. If you are out of red wine vinegar, maybe some apple cider will do the trick? You don’t know what’s going to work unless you give it a shot. I’m sure some of the most interesting flavors created by chefs were the result of accidents.
When all else fails - order in! – You’ve done the best you can do, but there is no sense in trying to scrape the burned part off, and no amount of parmesan cheese can cover the flavor of that failed pizza. Sometimes you just have to throw the towel in and call for back up.
It can all pay off in the end – Cooking is hard work. You have so many elements to keep in place, but in the end, the effort all pays off in the form of a delicious meal. Finding a good mood works the same way: it might take some effort to get there, but once you find it, everything is a-ok.
-Lisa
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