Life can feel like it is passing by but sometimes it is nice to just capture a moment and reflect on it. A moment in the kitchen, for example.
The Kitchen: My Retreat
It feels like a lifetime ago when I started this blog. It was planned to centre on food and wine. That changed, of course, but is part of the reason for the strange title of the homepage.
Still, cooking for me is very important. Like so many things it has been changed a little by, you guessed it, MS! These are positive changes. I used to be very much solo in the kitchen but now? Extra hands are welcome as is the company. When guests ask if they can help they are surprised by the answer of ‘yes!’ if they have known me for some time. But still, long cookouts are not really my thing anymore.
The kitchen is still my retreat. In the summer, as long as it is dry, it spreads outside. In the winter, just a small, warm space often with music on in the background. Comforting.
The Picture
This is just salt crystals and fresh thyme that I was about to pound together and mix with olive oil to make a Thyme Salmoriglio. This is not an invention but something I make quite often to go with a barbecued steak. The recipe is from a book I bought around twenty-five years ago, ‘The River Cafe Cookbook’. A restaurant I always wanted to go to until a friend sent me the receipt of a recent visit. Maybe that can wait.
I am not sure why but I just snapped that picture. I liked it. Nothing deep, meaningful or artistic about it. I just snapped it and then pounded the thyme flat. Luckily my pestle is heavy, I am not that great at crushing anymore. But that is another story.
Peace of Mind
The steak was cooked on the barbecue although, as the evening cooled down, the meal had to be eaten inside. The Salmoriglio was nice but it is something that I have made so many times for so many people and is a nice retreat when you have a large amount of thyme in the herb garden. Still, with my fragmented brain, I need to look up the recipe every time! Just to make sure the amounts are right.
A lot of words about a simple picture but it reflects the peace of mind that the kitchen can give me. Something I should say a little more about although I am not sure what, to be quite honest. It is not like I create lots of recipes or anything like that. Perhaps the feelings? That good feeling when a full plate is delivered and friends express their enjoyment, although they are probably being nice. Still, it can feel nearly as good as the feeling at the top of a mountain I had just cycled. It is good to write about that, the good feeling that comes from something different.
A small reflection, amongst the occasional difficulties, of the wider joy that comes with life.
