Two Dozen Things I Love About Cooking.

1) The sound of onions hitting a hot pan.

2) The smell of onions hitting a hot pan.

3) Cocktails with lavender in them.

4) Blue cheese with honey. Try it.

5) Goat’s milk brie.

6) Drinking the same wine you are pouring indiscriminately into the spaghetti sauce.

7) When i get the doneness of a steak exactly medium rare without having to cut into it to check.

8) Raw oysters.

9) Raw beef in any form: thin sliced Carpaccio or soft savory tartare, if there is raw beef on a menu I will always order it, and I will always be glad.

10) Eating on the porch in the Summer time.

11) Thanksgiving. The ultimate, cluster-fuck beauty of too many family members in too little house, drinking wine at 11:30am, singing Alice’s restaurant off-key at noon, chopping vegetables, chopping herbs, eating dad’s guacamole, challenging dad to a Guac-off, knowing that dad will never accept said challenge, and therefore I can never surpass him as the guacamole champion, drinking home brewed beer, trying out Uncle Jeff’s new kitchen gadgets, getting the history and unique pedigree of the obscure hand-ground spices cousin Danny has acquired, or finding out what makes that particular bottle of spirits special, seeing my sister, seeing my parents, exchanging conspiratorial glances and mean-spirited inside jokes with cousin Rebecca, not having to choose between pumpkin pie or apple pie, Aunt Pam’s turkey, which will always, always be perfect.

12) Coming back to your bread dough and finding that it has risen perfectly.

13) Getting pancake breakfast almost completely ready by the time Mr. Gastro gets out of bed.

14) Coffee on the couch with the windows wide open on a beautiful day.

15) My mortar and pestle, which weighs more than a bowling ball and makes me feel old fashioned, and slightly witchy.

16) Farmers market tomatoes.

17) Rows of mason jars full of rice, nuts, grains, and seeds.

18) My fridge when it is freshly packed full of fresh vegetables, meat wrapped in paper, pretty little brown eggs, four types of cheese, jars of olives, bouquets of herbs, pints of cream and bowls of fruit. Oh the possibilities.

19) My Kitchen Aid Mixer, which will outlive any car I will ever own, and probably get more use.

20) Hand-me-down cookbooks. With stains.

21) Three egg omelets with butter and nothing else.

22) Champagne with strawberries.

23) The fact that sometimes a bowl of fruit can be prettier than a vase of flowers.

24) The sound my knife makes hitting the wooden cutting board.