Like nature, cooking has seasons. We are familiar with cooking seasonal foods, but what about cooking based on your life’s season? I used to spend hours cooking; Sundays were dedicated to pumping out as many recipes as possible. Working with my hands in the kitchen is my meditation.
I crave the smells, sounds, and experience of creating a new dish. I love food and cooking so much that I completed a graduate degree in Gastronomy from Boston University to propel my career in food. And it worked.
I have had an exciting career in food, but nothing brings me greater pleasure than creating in the kitchen. Today, however, with two boys under age five, those hours are minimal. After working all day, I usually throw dinner together right before the bell rings.
The weeks I do meal prep are still vulnerable to the last-minute craziness of getting dinner on the table. My cooking today is meant to please developing palates but also expose the littles to new flavors yet still satisfy the adults. My season has undoubtedly shifted.
My background in food helps me create meals quickly, trusting my nose and knowledge of complementary flavors to make recipes on the fly without instruction. Cooking without recipes is my preferred way of cooking, though to my family’s horror, no dish tastes the same as the last time I made it. When I do follow recipes, they are from sources that maximize flavor with minimal effort.
While living in Boston, I taught cooking classes at Christopher Kimball’s Mil.
