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The Copywriter has flown the Kitchen for a few weeks’ travel and work in India. This post is by guest blogger Cathryn Johnson. Thanks Cathryn!
With microwave dinners, fast-food joints and busy lifestyles, cooking has almost become an ancient art. Many of us fondly remember Mom’s cooking, but secretly fear that our children will not have such memories. Cooking seems like such a daunting task. And many, who did not learn as they were growing up, fear that they are too old to learn now. But, Julia Child once admitted, “I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.”
Thus, it is never too late to begin cooking. And, honestly, it is healthier for you and your family, and it isn’t too time consuming or difficult either. An old Estonian Proverb says, “An empty belly is the best cook.” Thus, if you love to eat, you can become a great cook!
There are some great fast and easy recipes on this website to get you started. Simply find one that interests you, make a list of ingredients, run to the grocery store, and start cooking. You’ll find that, with a good recipe in hand, you are a better cook than you had thought.
7 inspirational tips from famous foodies
Here are seven simple tips on cooking from famous foodies to inspire, motivate and challenge you as you begin your new adventure in cooking:
- Put your heart and soul into what you cook
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.
~ Harriet van Horne – an American newspaper columnist and film/television critic - Put time and care into your cooking
Enchant, stay beautiful and graceful, but do this, eat well. Bring the same consideration to the preparation of your food as you devote to your appearance. Let your dinner be a poem, like your dress.
~ Charles Pierre Monselet – a 19th century French author - Don’t try to make it too fancy
Make [food] simple and let things taste of what they are.
~ Curnonsky – dubbed the Prince of Gastronomy, was the most celebrated writer on gastronomy in France in the 20th century - Keep in mind why you are cooking
Food is not about impressing people. It’s about making them feel comfortable.
~ Ina Garten – an American author, host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and former White House nuclear policy analyst - Ask experts for advice
If God had intended us to follow recipes,
He wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.
~ Linda Henley-Smith – author, educator, speaker and opera singer - Be patient
Cooking is an art and patience a virtue… Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing - love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist - not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love.
~ Keith Floyd – a British chef and television personality who hosted numerous cooking shows for the BBC - Start with the basics and the rest will come
Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it’s French or Italian or Japanese - you really don’t need a cookbook anymore.
~ Thomas Keller – an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer
And a bonus tip
Boil your onions!
This is every cook’s opinion -
no savory dish without an onion,
but lest your kissing should be spoiled
your onions must be fully boiled.
~ Jonathan Swift – an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin
Cathryn Johnson is a self-proclaimed health-nut and a content writer for Online
Photo of Thomas Keller courtesy of ASmythie
