How to cook when you have to: TIME!!!
Now-days, who has time to cook?! Who has time to do the dishes? Who has time to have a life if you have a career? Who has time to hear the nonsense your kids keep saying day after day? Who has time for themselves? Who has time? I don't.
I don't have enough time. I asked you what hurts you in the kitchen, and John T said just one word, all-caps, three exclamation points: TIME!!! Well, John T, I feel your pain. I feel it now. I have 5 minutes to tell everything I have to say about time - cooking time, time spent in the kitchen, time given to us. It's an impossible task. I might as well give up, because I don't have the answers. And I don't have time. So let's not talk about time. Let's talk about three things that will help us to transcend time. Today we are going to talk about Obligations, Ambitions and Priorities.
Obligations are the things you need to worry about.
Ambitions are the things you want to worry about.
Priorities are ways to arrange your ambitions and obligations.
Let's give a little example. Even when you are delivering a speech and you don't have time you still breathe. Because if you don't you'll faint and then your body will breathe without you knowing it. So in order to deliver a speech you need to remember it, organize it, get to the point, impress everyone. All these are ambitions. But breathing is an obligation, and it should be your first priority. So even if you're failing to impress your audience, even if you forgot your lines, even if you forgot your speech altogether - don't forget to breathe.
When you are coming home late from work you should feel really good about yourself: you have a home, you have work, and you get to see both same day . If you happen to see food on the table, your wife wearing her best dress and children, neat, quiet and lined up to greet you - congratulations, you just invented time travel or you are on a movie set. Also, it means you don't have to cook.
When you are coming home, and you are attacked by hungry kids - welcome to the club and congratulations: in addition to home and work, you have obligations. You have to cook. But first you need to understand, what needs to be done. What are your obligations, what are your ambitions what are your priorities.
1. Hungry kids. What are they hungry for? Flan? Meatloaf? White wine reductions? Or maybe they are hungry for attention? Maybe they need a hug? We all need a hug, most of the time. Maybe they need an audience? Maybe they need a challenge? Or maybe they just need to know that you're home. Maybe you just need to breathe together a little. And figure out what to do next. Don't worry. Your kids won't die out of hunger in front of your eyes. Don't worry, they are not going to time you and count your 'ah's and 'ahm's.
Breathe.
2. Ingredients. "Why did I buy so much parsley! It's going to die! It's going to rot! It will turn yellow and impotent! I am a bad person! I am a parsley killer! I am a bad housekeeper! I am killing the planet and the economy! " - Don't worry. Kill the damn parsley. It's just a buck worth of food. It's there, in your fridge to grow old and die in front of your eyes. It's there to rot. It's a little lesson for you, to manage your little ambitions in the future. Kill the parsley. Kill the planet. Kill the economy. Take care of your family and yourself. Breathe.
3. Recipes. I did not watch the food network much, but I've seen a few shows with Emeril. His favorite line was : "Now let's take it up a notch". That's when I would usually turn the TV off. I don't care how far up can you take a dish. There's no limit to people's ambition. Just like there's no limit to people's foolishness. You keep taking a dish up a notch - you're going to follow a slippery slope. You're going to mess it up, you are going to waste your time and you are going to waste the few non-rotten parsley leaves. You are going to stress yourself out and your kids are going to stand by, un-hugged, and watching you turn the next recipe of success into a disaster. Don't look into the recipe. Breathe.
So how do you cook when you have to? Maybe you don't have to cook. Maybe tonight you are not going to have dinner at all. Maybe it's going to be a night of building legos and reading Japanese haiku. And maybe just before it's time to sleep your kids are going to tell you they are hungry. And you are going to tell them: " "Well, today WE did not have time to cook. Maybe tomorrow. Now, before going to sleep you can have a glass of water and an apple or a banana. I promise you will not die out of hunger overnight." And tomorrow will you help me to make breakfast?
I don't have enough time. I asked you what hurts you in the kitchen, and John T said just one word, all-caps, three exclamation points: TIME!!! Well, John T, I feel your pain. I feel it now. I have 5 minutes to tell everything I have to say about time - cooking time, time spent in the kitchen, time given to us. It's an impossible task. I might as well give up, because I don't have the answers. And I don't have time. So let's not talk about time. Let's talk about three things that will help us to transcend time. Today we are going to talk about Obligations, Ambitions and Priorities.
Obligations are the things you need to worry about.
Ambitions are the things you want to worry about.
Priorities are ways to arrange your ambitions and obligations.
Let's give a little example. Even when you are delivering a speech and you don't have time you still breathe. Because if you don't you'll faint and then your body will breathe without you knowing it. So in order to deliver a speech you need to remember it, organize it, get to the point, impress everyone. All these are ambitions. But breathing is an obligation, and it should be your first priority. So even if you're failing to impress your audience, even if you forgot your lines, even if you forgot your speech altogether - don't forget to breathe.
When you are coming home late from work you should feel really good about yourself: you have a home, you have work, and you get to see both same day . If you happen to see food on the table, your wife wearing her best dress and children, neat, quiet and lined up to greet you - congratulations, you just invented time travel or you are on a movie set. Also, it means you don't have to cook.
When you are coming home, and you are attacked by hungry kids - welcome to the club and congratulations: in addition to home and work, you have obligations. You have to cook. But first you need to understand, what needs to be done. What are your obligations, what are your ambitions what are your priorities.
1. Hungry kids. What are they hungry for? Flan? Meatloaf? White wine reductions? Or maybe they are hungry for attention? Maybe they need a hug? We all need a hug, most of the time. Maybe they need an audience? Maybe they need a challenge? Or maybe they just need to know that you're home. Maybe you just need to breathe together a little. And figure out what to do next. Don't worry. Your kids won't die out of hunger in front of your eyes. Don't worry, they are not going to time you and count your 'ah's and 'ahm's.
Breathe.
2. Ingredients. "Why did I buy so much parsley! It's going to die! It's going to rot! It will turn yellow and impotent! I am a bad person! I am a parsley killer! I am a bad housekeeper! I am killing the planet and the economy! " - Don't worry. Kill the damn parsley. It's just a buck worth of food. It's there, in your fridge to grow old and die in front of your eyes. It's there to rot. It's a little lesson for you, to manage your little ambitions in the future. Kill the parsley. Kill the planet. Kill the economy. Take care of your family and yourself. Breathe.
3. Recipes. I did not watch the food network much, but I've seen a few shows with Emeril. His favorite line was : "Now let's take it up a notch". That's when I would usually turn the TV off. I don't care how far up can you take a dish. There's no limit to people's ambition. Just like there's no limit to people's foolishness. You keep taking a dish up a notch - you're going to follow a slippery slope. You're going to mess it up, you are going to waste your time and you are going to waste the few non-rotten parsley leaves. You are going to stress yourself out and your kids are going to stand by, un-hugged, and watching you turn the next recipe of success into a disaster. Don't look into the recipe. Breathe.
So how do you cook when you have to? Maybe you don't have to cook. Maybe tonight you are not going to have dinner at all. Maybe it's going to be a night of building legos and reading Japanese haiku. And maybe just before it's time to sleep your kids are going to tell you they are hungry. And you are going to tell them: " "Well, today WE did not have time to cook. Maybe tomorrow. Now, before going to sleep you can have a glass of water and an apple or a banana. I promise you will not die out of hunger overnight." And tomorrow will you help me to make breakfast?