potato chicken leek

dunno why but felt like banging on the keyboard tonight. Probably nonsense so best click away now.

Last chance.



There is something calming in watching steam filter out from under a pot's lid. Especially when it's a glass lid, the rhythm of vapour, condensation and liquid repeated over and over again. Time ceases to be units of seconds or minutes or hours, but you know its time to turn the chicken when steam starts to spill out from the sides of the lid.

Cooking like ironing turns out to be quite the philosophical task. If ironing teaches you that any crease like any problem in this world can be straightened out with patience and pressure, cooking, on the other hand, reminds the person that though things might not seem to fit outright, but with enough persuasion, you may end up with something beautiful. Different ingredients with different properties end up contributing their different qualities to create a wonderful new taste, colour, smell, look.

Good food however cannot be rushed, patience must always be observed, no matter how hungry, how much the stomach growls for food. The fire should remain at medium. The chicken needs more time. The fish's almost done. The tomato can't take it anymore.

Of course you could just get instant something from the store, but then the metaphor ceases to function. There is no instant life from the local grocer. But you can get the different ingredients, you may already have some. And everyone has a recipe to share.

Whoa. Good thing dishes are just a painful task.