January 4th Challenge: Cook with love and mindfulness

There's few things in the world more primal than eating.  We do it mindlessly every day.

But feeding ourselves or others is an act of wonder.  We take matter and transform into into our own flesh.

We can crack open a can, pop a box in a microwave, drop into a fast food joint.
Or we can take this everyday act and elevate into the sacred.  The key ingredients are less the matter, and more the mindfulness.

Today, fix yourself or another some food, and do it with intent and love.  Find a family recipe, a dish you've never tried, or an old comfort meal.  Go to the grocer and find the more perfect blood orange, set it on the nicest surface that feel right.  Sniff it, pinch the skin to release its oils and dab some under your ears, on your neck , or your wrists.  Think of how it came to be on that plate-- did it travel far?  Was it from a small personal field of a small farmer, or machine harvested as a corporate crop?  Does the store where you bought it seem proud to offer it to you?  Really get to know that orange.  Thank it for letting you eat it.  Now it's part of you for, if not ever, a darn long while, adding fuel and microbes and nutrients.  You are in the orange and the orange is in you.,   Peel it by hand.  Notice its individual pips of pulp.  Pill them individually into your mouth, roll them around until they release their juices,  noticing how the juice tastes sweet or sour or salty depending on where it is on your tongue.  Really exp lore it before you chew and swallow it.

Or bake something from your family culture.  This east European pie tastes better than it sounds: stuffed with cabbage and mushrooms, onions and boiled eggs, spices and cream cheese, it's the culinary equivalent of a cozy couch by a warm fire on a cold damp day, the closest thing to gramma-love I can get in my kitchen.

Even if you have a Shepherd' lunch of cheese, apple and bread, give it the gravatis and thanksgiving it deserves.   And while you are eating-- just eat.  Experience what it has to offer.

Read by clicking this tasty article for some inspiration. And I'd love to hear what you made and any thoughts you had about the process. 

See you Sunday.   Eat well!

These magic socks were made with love and time by a friend
I wear them on special mindful cooking occasions to ground me
in the care that went into their existence