Cooking and Me, a Therapeutic Experience

I wanted to take this time to express what cooking means to me and why it is such a large feature of Fork and Vine. There are many things that interest me from fashion, art and design, to wine...and of course food and cooking. I love fashion and appreciate great art and design, but they are not necessarily my passions. I love wine and am passionate about talking about it and learning more. Lastly, cooking is my therapy. I appreciate great food and relish in the experience of making it, but mostly it is a very therapeutic experience for me.

In the half hour to several hours of cooking nothing else matters. I do not think about my job, I do not think about the things I have to do, I do not think about bills...really I do not think about anything else, but the task at hand: cooking. When I am cooking nothing else matters to me; I am completely absorbed in creating something delicious. I turn up the stereo and dance and sing while I am prepping, cooking and waiting. It feels so good to have these moments to myself and then share the finished product with Will or guests after. I learn new things every time I cook; a better way to do something, or new flavor combinations I never thought of. After that is all said and done I then get to write about it and share the recipes and process with you. Not every thing I make is perfect, actually I often have failures, which only pushes me to make it better the next time around.

I spend a lot of my free time in the kitchen. On average, I cook about 4-5 dinners each week and spend much of my weekend researching and trying out new recipes. Sometimes, Will is concerned that it is a chore for me (largely because he is not interested in cooking), but I remind that I enjoy it and if I didn't want to cook, I wouldn't and we would go get burritos or takeout. I truly hope that this love and contentment shines through in my photography and recipes because I want all of you to experience the joy that cooking brings to me.