Tonight I taught my last class at Boston University. All that stands between me and the end of the semester is grading. Wow. After how much I agonized over this for the past few months it seems surreal to say this. I realized tonight that I enjoyed the experience, however I will admit I’ve taken on a lot this fall so I’m looking forward to getting back to a (slightly) less chaotic life. To celebrate I poured myself a small glass of Alexis Bailly Vineyard’s Hastings Reserve, a fortified dessert wine made in the style of ruby Port. (This is the same port I used for the lamb I made earlier in the week.) The night would have been even better were Grey’s Anatomy not on hiatus until January. I’ve been watching the show since it started, which happened to be at an emotional point in my life – when I graduated college, got a condo by myself and started a “big girl” job for the first time – so it’s always held a soft spot for me. It’s amazing to think back to how different my life was then, almost five years ago.
Of all the characters on the show, Izzie is decidedly my least favorite except for one thing – the baking. Whenever she needed to work through something, be it stress, grief or anger, she’d head to the kitchen to whip up a batch of something sweet. It was her means of coping and I can relate since it is mine as well. On any given night when I need to relax a little, you can find me giving my Kitchenaid mixer a whirl. Baking has a way of clearing my mind in a way that other activities, yoga included, just can’t. I may find myself struggling to calm my ‘monkey mind’ when meditating at the yoga studio, but in the kitchen it comes naturally. All I think about is measuring the ingredients and stirring the batter just so. Using food as a way of coping, whether it be in the preparing or the eating, seems to get a bad wrap, but for me it’s entirely necessary. I am without apology a girl who cooks through my feelings.
What about you? What roles in your life do cooking and food play beyond simple sustenance?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations on completing your teaching this semester! Loved your lamb shanks in the last post, super delicious!
I still watch Grey’s as well… and am looking forward to new episodes!
Cooking and baking are absolutely therapeutic for me. Cooking challenges my creativity and baking soothes away stress. Food is comfort, plain and simple.
Baking has the same affect on me, it centers me and calms me. So does prep work like chopping veggies for sauce or stew.
You typed out my feelings towards cooking perfectly!! I think that’s why I headed to the kitchen a few yrs ago–to flee from all the ridiculous teenage drama. As soon as I’d get home from school I’d be cooking till night. Now that I have my own kitchen, it is even more special!! Especially with the pressures of college, it’s great!!
We must get together and whip up some stress free sweets!!
Congrats on being done with your class! Cooking is definitely stress relief for me, along with working out.
As much as I love to cook with other, especially my son, I really prefer to be alone in the kithcen. It relaxes me, I’m focused on the food and everything else in life goes away while I’m busy cooking or baking. It’s meditative, therpeutic and a chance to be creative and free for 1-2 hours.
aww… what a beautiful share lady thanks! I shall try head into my kitchen with wild abandon and a positive outlook from now on!