Thursday, August 16, 2007

Fast is not always better

I don’t have fancy pictures to put up on my posts…..I’m really not a photographer…..I’m a chef. And hopefully, I am perhaps a better writer than photographer and maybe even a better chef than writer. Anyway...
Today was my Mom's birthday – she turned 79. She wanted to go to Typhoon (restaurant) at the Santa Monica Airport. I picked her up at her house and we drove to the restaurant – a delightful venue overlooking the runway with sightings of small aircraft taking off and landing right before our eyes. During lunch I gave her a framed photo of me in my Chef jacket (same photo as on my blog). She got teary-eyed taking in the photo for a minute and then said....”you look so happy.” Truer words could not be spoken….yes, I am a happy cook.

Why do I love to cook and why am I so happy?

I love the scents, the colors, the textures. I love feeling the food in my hands…working with it, looking at it, selecting it, holding it, washing, chopping and mixing it. I even love treating it like precious jewels that I care for by mindfully wrapping it for storage when necessary. It’s my art and it is my therapy. I love to present a pretty plate with vivid colors and textures placing them just so, so that they create a pleasing picture.
Much of my time is spent thinking about what I will prepare, how I will create it and what I need to create it. And that doesn’t even include the time it actually takes to prepare it…..as you know…..it can be time consuming. Which brings me to share this: Several days ago I watched, for the very first time, the Food Channel Show “30 Minute Meals” with Rachel Ray. I was fascinated. Fascinated at her ability to put together some pretty good dishes in less than 30 minutes, but also I was a little unnerved at the franticness of being sooooo fast. I don’t want my life to be so fast that I can’t savor the moment. However, I do respect her for her passion about fast and good and I give her credit because she is good and slick. I see how our lives here in the US, and especially California, have become based on how fast we can accomplish things. That is the message I got from “30 Minute Meals”.
So, this evening I spent 3 delightful hours in my kitchen preparing a meal and eating it with a friend. I loved every minute of it and I am grateful I have the time in my life to spend doing what I love – cooking.

4 comments:

karmla said...

hi rebecca,
good post..i like your passion about healthy cooking and taking the time to prepare it.... while recognizing the need at times to prepare fast and healthy food too.
eyeryone needs something to be passionate about and you are good at what you do.
M<>L

The Passionate Palate said...

Fantastic post...and you are so right. Fast is not always better. I am glad you celebrate the slow life, slow food and slow cooking! I hope that more of our fast-paced Americans will learn to slow down.

african vanielje said...

Oh, I love this rebecca. Yeah, where are we all dashing to? I think it was Fred Astaire who made some sort of comment to the effect that he counted himself lucky every day to not only be doing what he loved most (dancing) but to be paid for it as well.

Rebecca Schneider said...

Thank you Mark, Jeni and Vanielje for taking the time to comment. I sure appreciate you.
Rebecca