Kitchen Reflections

So, let me preface this post by saying there is not going to be a recipe in this one tonight. My personal computer is being repaired, and I don't want to hassle with getting cooking photos onto my husband's. This is going to be more of a "reflection" post, rather than a recipe.

On the way home from work, while my wonderful husband was driving and talking about the future, I found myself zoning (sorry honey) and thinking about my day. I did not have the best day at work/school, and I was trying to think of things that lift my spirits. Of course, God, husband, family and friends are at the top of the list. I am, however, an intense person, and I had to dig deeper. I have become very passionate about cooking over the past year, and some of my happiest moments have been at the stove.

Being ridiculous, I rationalized this. My day job is a chemistry/biology graduate student. I spend most of the day either at the bench failing at seemingly simple tasks, or burying myself in the literature at my desk, trying to figure out why I am failing at the simple. When I come home to cook dinner, I am basically continuing my work at the lab bench. Things are carefully measured, appropriate temperatures are reached, and patience is exerted. Chemistry, however, is not glorified cooking. There is thought to cooking, but comparing it to chemistry would be comparing a molehill to a mountain, not to be trite. Cooking is like chemistry, in that having good hands leads to success and experimentation can be handsomely rewarded. Cooking does not require a broader picture, like science does. My sense is that you cook because you enjoy eating, and all things accompanied with gastronomy. Science is not so simple. One is a scientist because they want to improve the quality of life of the next generation, or explain our reality, from sub-atomic particles to heavenly bodies. Perhaps my view is biased (no doubt it is), because science is my job and food is my hobby. The more I think about the comparison between cooking and science, the more similar they can be. A foodie may only cook food for his or her own pleasure, but my guess is that there are people who are enamored with food, looking for the types of food that cure cancer, give longer life, and ultimately improve the quality of life for humanity.

Maybe, we are not so different after all.