Timing

by Ginamarie Cohen

I never really liked to cook. For the first 50-or so years of my adult life, cooking was a chore. I was never confident. Always nervous. The food must have picked up those feelings and thus was never as tasty as the recipe said it would be.  It never tasted just like my aunt's cooking - though I was using her recipe. But, Aunt Florence was the epitome of love while she stood over her stove. Her kitchen was always bright and sunny. I think that was the difference. 

 

A few months back I was speaking with my cousin Emily, talking of my kitchen anxiety; comparing myself to her very accomplished sister, and our self taught confident aunts, when Emily said the wisest things to me.......never compare, never compete, cooking should be joyful. Simple ingredients made with a happy heart make the best meals. She promised me that if I entered the kitchen with lighter steps, the lightness would shine bright in my food.

 

Well, I've heard words like that before but the timing of what she said must have been just perfect because the next day, I lightly stepped into the kitchen, the belly of the beast, and I began to make a meal. I pulled simple ingredients. I channeled my aunt's ease at the stove, I remembered Emily's words and cooked a simple meal that came out great. Then it happened another day. And then another. I kept surprising myself and those around me. How was I, Miss Anxiety herself, able to all of a sudden make delicious meals?

 

Months later, I'm still happily cooking. Something that I never thought I would ever say or feel. I channel my aunt Florence and I enter an actual state of flow. All of a sudden, ingredients appear in my hand and then into the pot. I taste what I'm making, and hear my Dad say, needs a little more of this or that, or better yet, I hear him say - that's perfect, let's eat!

 

Now that my kitchen continues to remain sunny and bright, and my meals glow from the inside out, I give all the credit to my younger, wiser cousin, who promised me that this would happen. The timing of her perfect words; her total lack of judgment; all made it possible to channel my ancestors, take a deep breath and lightly step forward into the belly of the beast, where I now know that the beast wasn't the kitchen, the beast was in me.

 

 

Love you Emily - the above is a true story (as you know). You've helped me to grow in so many ways!!  💝💞

 

 Ginamarie Cohen