Are you finding yourself
hard-pressed to count blessings these days? They’re still there. More than
many. If you can’t do great things - do little things in a great way! Nourish
your soul…
Today’s “Aspects” is going to be about some ‘Lighter Fare’,
if you’ll excuse the pun. I’m going to talk about food. Food, you say?
Yes, because hey, food is good! It’s also good for us… and it’s
necessary! But it’s more than that…it’s a perpetually Zen experience and
more! (O.K. - so you’ve guessed I like to cook…)
Mindfulness of it (as with most things) has all but flown
right out the window in only one generation, and I say we need to welcome
it back in again and reorganize our wayward priorities. If I see one more
TV commercial for instant nuked bacon or “portable oatmeal” bars, I’m going
to scream! By the way, do you tap your fingers standing in front of the
microwave? Then you my friend have a problem. And no matter what you do,
Time will never be on your side! Is it ever? Mindfulness is about
making and taking the best of each moment… a lost art t’be sure.
I happen to be blessed with a German-Hungarian background,
my folks having come from a time and place where nothing, no resource was
wasted, when know-how was essential, and before “getting back to the land”
was a quaint alternative. Food was ‘what you did’, what you worked for,
and what you sold. We here now think of it as hard labour and poverty I
suppose, but it wasn’t us that invented “multi-tasking” folks! It provided
all that they needed, as well as for trade-in-goods. And while cooking
was designated to the womenfolk (make no mistake - they worked ‘outside’
the home too - in the fields, in the shed, in the barnyard) it was actually
my dad who taught my mom! So here I say that anyone who likes to eat, should
in fact pick up the joy and the knack of how to cook. Start young. Finish
old and happy! The fundamental things apply! Why, even the Dalai Lama is
quoted as saying, “Cooking and Love-making should be approached with reckless
abandon.”
Cooking, that is, preparing ones share of the bounties
of the earth, is about far more than acquiring sustenance. Oh, we’re always
in such an almighty cursed rush! Here are some superior payouts other than
shallow Instant Gratification: It is said that food made with Love always
tastes better. It’s good for the soul! And it’s not Rocket Science! But
it is a little about ‘Chemistry’, the melding of properties and ingredients,
common or rare, new combinations, or standards. It’s about creating a comfort
zone while seeing to basic needs. It’s about resourcefulness and improvisation,
whether you’re pressed for time, or can plan ahead, when you’re in a pinch,
or the cupboard is bare. It’s a most noteworthy “transferable skill”, as
well as fun and adventurous! It’s about self-sufficiency, taking charge
- being Master of the nutritional ‘subjects’ in your own Fiefdom. It’s
about getting to know God in your own kitchen - through inspiration, creation,
and imagination! It’s about Art, mixing your greens and yellows and reds,
textures and sizes, and you don’t need a degree. It’s Child’s Play - you
should get dirty, and you should make a mess! And there’s
no better Aromatherapy in all the Herbal Gardens or Shops of the World
than the smell of something delectable simmering on the stovetop or in
the oven.
But as well as all these, it takes us into the moments
since we began as Hunters and Gatherers, learning the art of procuring
pleasure and comfort in the thoughtful endeavours of our creativity… when
we knew we belonged to the Earth, and not the other way around…
~ “Earl Grey Tea -
Hot.” -Captain Jean Luc Picard, speaking to his food replicator (what fun
is that?!?)
