Slowing down in the kitchen can go beyond slow cooking. After years of being borderline addicted to "quick meals", "15 minute dinner" and "easy lunches", I explore what slow might look like for me.
Things got a little hectic for us in our home last year and somewhere around August my wife decided to start making meals with the depth you're describing—those that take time to prepare—the smells, colors, and feeling of which fill our home with an atmosphere of presence and care. This delightful essay read like a good meal, well-prepared, and nourishing, and made me even more appreciative of her contribution to us Perzen. Thank you.
There's something meditative about just faffing around in the kitchen. I often go from wanting to cook a simple new dish to planning out an entire 4 course menu in the space of a few minutes. I'm happy that the smells and colours and aroma's made you feel cherished and nourished. That's exactly what a cook dreams of doing.
This is my favorite piece on a “word” for 2024! I love slow, I love being outside of my comfort zone. Those things can also drive me crazy. Also, I love that you’re kids are becoming seasoned sous chefs under you. I’m looking forward to continue to follow their own cooking journey. And once again, I’m thinking I need to make it *my* resolution to make one of your dishes. I sent your chai recipe to my sister actually (quite possibly after she made a questionable batch herself and after some sleuthing I realized she used coffee beans!). The simple recipes I’ll tackle, and I look forward to your Julie & Julia style recipes that you tackle!
Thank you so much! I don't know about seasoned sous chefs but can confirm they are seasoned sous mess-makers :P HAHAHAHAH re making chai with coffee um how did that happen??
If you want to start with simple, my suggestion is to start by experimenting with diff kinds of rice. There's so many different types of pulao's and rice versions to experiment with.
Of course I just love your boys getting interested in cooking! I used to make recipe charts for preschoolers where I worked. Drawn out recipes allowed these children to take an active lead in the kitchen without them knowing how to read yet. Children win in all directions with the kitchen experience, even if parents have to slow down a bit in the early years of teaching them. There's your word, "slow." My word will be 1) "breathe." So much trouble in the world it is easy to quickly feel overwhelmed. 2.) I embrace slow in the kitchen by playing music and often working in the early morning hours. I also gave up being on the Slow Food Events Team Committee...that released a fair amount of responsibility. 3.) I blog on veggies twice a week so I definitely am experimenting in the kitchen a few times each week. Pretty mush always with veggies. My last fun thing was baking corn bread in steamed cabbage leaves. This makes the corn bread super beautiful and more moist! All the best to you!
Oh I love the idea of drawn out recipes! Are these readily available? I'll search for these. We made coconut rice together yesterday and doing some "messy play" by marinating the lamb shoulder. I definitely want to embrace more vegetables in my food so going to go read your archive and see if there's some things I can try there.
I would happily send you my children’s cookbook if you have an address in the US. Otherwise I could send you some digital recipe charts. You will see how easy they are to make, even your children can help draw the charts. This is very exciting for me. I hope you’ll send me an email address. You could message me through 4waystoyummy Facebook or IG. Good luck!
I'm based v far from the US in New Zealand (which as I like to say is on the way to everything!). But I'd love a couple of the digital recipe charts as e-versions to see how I could get the kids involved with that. My email is perzen.patel@gmail.com.
Things got a little hectic for us in our home last year and somewhere around August my wife decided to start making meals with the depth you're describing—those that take time to prepare—the smells, colors, and feeling of which fill our home with an atmosphere of presence and care. This delightful essay read like a good meal, well-prepared, and nourishing, and made me even more appreciative of her contribution to us Perzen. Thank you.
There's something meditative about just faffing around in the kitchen. I often go from wanting to cook a simple new dish to planning out an entire 4 course menu in the space of a few minutes. I'm happy that the smells and colours and aroma's made you feel cherished and nourished. That's exactly what a cook dreams of doing.
This is my favorite piece on a “word” for 2024! I love slow, I love being outside of my comfort zone. Those things can also drive me crazy. Also, I love that you’re kids are becoming seasoned sous chefs under you. I’m looking forward to continue to follow their own cooking journey. And once again, I’m thinking I need to make it *my* resolution to make one of your dishes. I sent your chai recipe to my sister actually (quite possibly after she made a questionable batch herself and after some sleuthing I realized she used coffee beans!). The simple recipes I’ll tackle, and I look forward to your Julie & Julia style recipes that you tackle!
Thank you so much! I don't know about seasoned sous chefs but can confirm they are seasoned sous mess-makers :P HAHAHAHAH re making chai with coffee um how did that happen??
If you want to start with simple, my suggestion is to start by experimenting with diff kinds of rice. There's so many different types of pulao's and rice versions to experiment with.
Of course I just love your boys getting interested in cooking! I used to make recipe charts for preschoolers where I worked. Drawn out recipes allowed these children to take an active lead in the kitchen without them knowing how to read yet. Children win in all directions with the kitchen experience, even if parents have to slow down a bit in the early years of teaching them. There's your word, "slow." My word will be 1) "breathe." So much trouble in the world it is easy to quickly feel overwhelmed. 2.) I embrace slow in the kitchen by playing music and often working in the early morning hours. I also gave up being on the Slow Food Events Team Committee...that released a fair amount of responsibility. 3.) I blog on veggies twice a week so I definitely am experimenting in the kitchen a few times each week. Pretty mush always with veggies. My last fun thing was baking corn bread in steamed cabbage leaves. This makes the corn bread super beautiful and more moist! All the best to you!
Oh I love the idea of drawn out recipes! Are these readily available? I'll search for these. We made coconut rice together yesterday and doing some "messy play" by marinating the lamb shoulder. I definitely want to embrace more vegetables in my food so going to go read your archive and see if there's some things I can try there.
I would happily send you my children’s cookbook if you have an address in the US. Otherwise I could send you some digital recipe charts. You will see how easy they are to make, even your children can help draw the charts. This is very exciting for me. I hope you’ll send me an email address. You could message me through 4waystoyummy Facebook or IG. Good luck!
I'm based v far from the US in New Zealand (which as I like to say is on the way to everything!). But I'd love a couple of the digital recipe charts as e-versions to see how I could get the kids involved with that. My email is perzen.patel@gmail.com.