7 Special Kitchen Moments to Fall in Love with Food
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that our kitchen is made up of everyday moments. Forgetting is an easy thing to do when you’re between schedules & breastfeeding sessions.
Chaos in the morning might mean breakfast is on the go.
Evening activities mean rushing back home at the end of the day…so dinner might also be to go.
And instead of the kitchen being a constant presence & a source of comfort food, it becomes a dreaded black hole.
A friend you used to have but never hit up anymore. You know the one I mean, girl.
So if it’s become hard to find the beauty in every day kitchen moments, then tuck in. I just wanna roll that back a bit to help you remember.
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beef pepper rice (Japan)
seasoned ribeye steaks
specialty ravioli at market
prepping Gyudon (Japan)
spicy, Thai shrimp soup
Homemade authentic Jamaican jerk marinade
Slowing down enough to smell the bread baking sounds nice to say. But in reality, it can be hard to do.
Except that, when you really think about it our kitchens don’t ask us for much. And yet they can open the world to so much more if we let ’em.
All any really solid kitchen needs is a little time, a healthy dash or two of salt, good ingredients & a good song (that’s your company stand-in when you don’t have any!)
In return what we get by mixing these elements together is the opportunity to save a memory. Connect on a deeper level with not just our food. But the people & stories behind our food too. The reward is just being able to enjoy something so comforting.
Someone’s probably written an epic love story about the kitchen. But I’ll bet you’ve already written one of your own without even realizing it!
These basic every day moments are guaranteed to appear if you spend any sort of time in the kitchen, whether you want to be there or not.
How many of these experiences can you relate to?
The Little Things That Start It All
That first sizzle of butter in a hot pan
It smells like comfort is on the way.
When you hear it, you just know it’s the start of something good. A simple sound of “ssssss, pop, pop”.
If you haven’t ever stopped to admire it before, girl, lemme introduce you! I love the way pretty gold butter starts to brown up in my stainless steel pan.
A pretty simple technique too for any nonstick pan. Heat the pan first. Then add your fat – good rich butter – homemade if you got it. Turn the pan down a bit. The butter shouldn’t brown too quickly!
Watch the way it melts & crackles. It should be soft & steady like the fire at a serene campsite.
It almost never really matters what you’re making with this butter.
Eggs.
Maybe you’re browning the butter for some decadent brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
Or maybe you’re going to fry sage for a luxurious, velvet brown butter & sage pasta sauce.
Butter sizzling away in a a nicely hot pan is definitely the “once upon a time” of every great recipe.
Finding a well-worn handwritten recipe card
So in all transparency, this one hasn’t happened to me personally. But I remember being a little girl playing at a friend’s house & making old-fashioned homemade brownies from scratch using a yellowed recipe card from her grandmom.
Physical cards, pages & notes are reminders that food is inheritance. They are our memories. And a really nice family food tradition too!
And while not everyone has them, that doesn’t mean you can’t write your own. To rediscover later sometime after you’ve develop the skills so much that you rarely use recipe cards anymore.
You can make your own to pass down to your kids or grandkids someday.
Recipes handed down from one woman to another give off the confidence of “I can do this!”
There’s also an unspoken expectation too that you carry on this meal. That sort of food legacy is powerful & empowering.
And it’s one reason why when my children were born I decided that at the onset of their adulthood, I would gift them with one year so that’s something they don’t have to worry about
The Small Moments Around Nourishment
The pause before the first bite
Sometimes we’ve been in such a rush of activity right before it’s time to sit down & eat that by the time I actually sit down to the table I just need to take a breath.
That breath.
It’s the exhale you need to release any & everything that just happened. Because what’s bout to happen is so great, you gotta make room for it.
Some dishes you sit down to & just wanna tear right into. But these slow-moving ones are something special. Deep down you feel it will warm your spirits or help you wash away the day.
Those are the ones where you sit down to see everything looking so delicious. But in that split second, something catches your eye. And you pause.
Admiring (or remembering). You are experiencing something special about that dish.
Tearing bread by hand at the table
Despite a recent shift in appetite towards protein over everything, at heart I’m still very much a bread girl.
Breaking bread together in the literal sense, just feels like home.
Homemade bread, whether you sourdough or not, fresh mill, or not, is a beautiful addition to any dinner table.
Maybe you have a kitchen aesthetic with pretty rustic bowls of bread on the table.
Maybe it’s simply a loaf that you can cut up to serve alongside some cozy autumn soup. That’s just as easy as it is beautiful because it really doesn’t require much.
The essence is all about taking something so very stupidly simple & experiencing food with your hands, most often in a community setting. Like…the family table!
Every region of the world celebrates this very basic staple.
Whether you break a loaf to dip into soup or use enjera to pick up some stew…
tear at garlic naan while enjoying a creamy makhani…
cut another hunk of mamma’s cornbread to sop up the last bit of chili…
or enjoy it toasted & rubbed with garlic & drizzled with quality olive oil…
This simple kitchen (or table) moment sets the stage for something intimate & very memorable.
Everyday Kinda Moments to Love
When someone lingers in the kitchen just to talk
This is my favorite kitchen memory of all. The one I ask for most when my husband or kids come find me.
“Can I help, Mommy?” or “What can I do for you?” is most often answered with “You can keep me company.” ❤️
Having someone hang back to be with you while you cook the curry or sear the roast is usually a welcome treat. It’s the hanging out while I stir.
Having company close while slicing onions or chopping up the greens for Thanksgiving. And with my husband, it’s always jokes (& probably a lil side of judgement while I cry over onions too).
Sharing the space & seizing the opportunity to grow closer together just by being in the same room. Especially since my babies won’t be this little forever. And all too soon, they may not visit the kitchen as often as they do now.
This kitchen memory helps me build relationships, not only around the table. It helps me build them right where the action is happening. In the kitchen.
Smelling dinner from down the hall
This soft, sweet kitchen moment is a classic memory I have growing up.
Without even saying it, you know that this is an experience too. But you know what makes it tantalizing? Somehow what your nose & tastebuds pick up on the air gets processed by your brain as “I can’t wait to sit at the table now!”
It’s usually a familiar scent that lingers in the air in the whole house. Almost like cooking up a hug that the family will feel long after they leave the table.
While the aroma does dissipate after a while, sometimes when you come back into the kitchen late at night, you’ll smile because you can still smell the jerk barbecue sauce from that night‘s dinner.
Or when your husband is on his way to work, he’ll remember the garlic and butter rice because it’s still floating about in the air.
Truly, this is one of my favorite kitchen moments. So I keep cooking to keep recreating it because the best kind of “welcome home” is the one you smell from outside as you put the key in the door.
Seeing someone go back for seconds
It is a major compliment to see my family go back for more. And not because they’re hungry.
But because the food made them feel something.
And girl! That’s what home cooking is all about!
It’s about being so involved in the care of your family that you have made them the ultimate source of nourishment, whether that’s legitimate health food (which is good don’t get it twisted) or whether you’re just nourishing their soul and spirit.
Sometimes, I’m partial to thinking that’s the better kind of food, but don’t tell anyone. 🤫 Second plates are what I live for at the table.
Looking for more ways to infuse meaning in your meals?
Then start here, girl. 😎🥂
Food that Actually Works
