What's your food therapy?
For me, it doesn't matter what it is, I just have to make something. Yesterday was one of those days and when I came home from work I expected to settle in and relax. Instead I felt like crawling the walls. To calm myself down I headed for the kitchen to whip up some onion herb flat bread to go with dinner.
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34 Comments:
My food therapy: chopping. Not to be mistaken for shopping. ;)
avaryne at 11:01AM on 10/30/09
I agree with avaryne... chopping.
But, anything to do with cooking or baking can be theraputic for me -- especially on a cold or rainy day. My kitchen feels like home to me.
Brownie at 11:12AM on 10/30/09
Cooking use to actually make me tense...(still sometime does!) but grocery shopping particularly in a great or very interesting store is the best! Retail therapy at its cheapest. When I travel I always have to find a market or a grocery store to fully experience the culture.
PoorOldMama at 11:22AM on 10/30/09
Definitely grocery shopping - good call out @pooroldmama!
Also, anything with baking, but normally something that is labor intensive, not just whipping up brownies and letting them sit in the oven. Cookies are better, or things that have multiple steps.
Traveller at 11:37AM on 10/30/09
Um, I eat. When my phone broke this morning it was uncooked oats with milk and lots of brown sugar.
sorahatch at 11:41AM on 10/30/09
I take a two-step approach: make something that's a comfort food and that enables you to pound around the kitchen. I like mashed potatoes; they're delicious and require a good pounding, as does bread and refried beans.
PumpkinBear at 12:21PM on 10/30/09
Risotto. standing and stirring.
it's zen in a pan.
valser at 1:07PM on 10/30/09
I agree with Traveller - any baked good that requires multiple steps. Like soft pretzels. Or whoopie pies. Or...
great. now I am hungry again.
arwenb at 1:31PM on 10/30/09
@pooroldmama - yep its the grocery shopping that calms me.
I tend to rush/panic my cooking if I'm stressed.
EATING is the best fix! :D
hungrychristel at 1:40PM on 10/30/09
Soups and stews and chili... things that require gentle poking and prodding over a period of time.
Onepot at 1:46PM on 10/30/09
It doesn't matter what it is, just the act of cooking or baking, of making something wonderful and with love, for myself or for others is my therapy.
CJ McD at 2:08PM on 10/30/09
Chopping, kneading, and eating are all very soothing to me.
emgroff at 2:10PM on 10/30/09
Forgot to add-
Eating it with pleasure is my second form of therapy.
Someone else can do the dishes....please. :oP
CJ McD at 2:10PM on 10/30/09
Shopping and chopping here.
dhorst at 2:15PM on 10/30/09
I agree with lots of the comments here. Anything that requires me to pay full attention to the food, and not worry about whatever else is going on.
I made a lamb stew last week...just sliced lamb, potato, leeks, celery, garlic and spices in a cream sauce, based roughly on the classic Bigos stew from Poland (because ours was lamb-based, we jokingly called it 'builders' stew' in a nod to our Irish and Polish friends.
The lamb was from the farm down the road, was free-range, and very tasty. We don't eat much meat, so when we do, we get the best. I sauteed it in butter, dill, garlic and sage, sliced it, then added it to the potatoes, onions and other veg boiling away in a large pot full of stock. I added a pot of cream near the end. It was nice. A loaf of bread and some butter helps. You can add some kielbasa or any other spicy sausage if you like. Basically, you can do anything with it. Just...keep...stirring...
NotAmerican at 3:09PM on 10/30/09
I like to roast a chicken. A whole, perfectly roasted chicken is about comfort and possibility.
BananaMonkey at 4:15PM on 10/30/09
Love to Chop
sammie at 4:43PM on 10/30/09
I had a manic moment and needed to make a roast.
smallkitchen at 4:58PM on 10/30/09
@ NotAmerican-
After reading your post (BTW, the stew sounds wonderful...) I just realized my third form of food therapy is reading about cooking.....
As I've said before-- slightly obsessed here... But it makes me happy.
CJ McD at 5:12PM on 10/30/09
Chopping for sure! Okay except when I sliced my thumb last night. . .that required actual therapy, in the form of compression and a large band-aid.
cb1414 at 5:18PM on 10/30/09
Bread baking! Nothing more calming than kneading a big batch of dough, then enjoying a glass of wine or cocktail while its rising.
ec_washington at 5:22PM on 10/30/09
BEER... I like shopping for strange beers and then coming home and cooking somethin complicated while I drink.
:)
happyeats at 5:29PM on 10/30/09
@CJ McD--I am with you too about reading about food. Sometimes that is good enough for me. I love to pull out a cookbook or read foodblogs particularly if they are food items that are out of my league...for now!!
BigMan says that if I cooked as much as I read about cooking it would be all over cause we would be so huge.
PoorOldMama at 5:34PM on 10/30/09
I like to slicing raw meat, especially trimming the fat off.
catmistress at 11:52PM on 10/30/09
"@CJ McD--I am with you too about reading about food. Sometimes that is good enough for me. I love to pull out a cookbook or read foodblogs particularly if they are food items that are out of my league...for now!!
BigMan says that if I cooked as much as I read about cooking it would be all over cause we would be so huge."
@PoorOldMama- I have found a kindred spirit.
CJ McD at 12:17AM on 10/31/09
I love making stuffing when I'm having a hard day. It's such a comforting, homey food but not all that difficult to throw together. Plus I love the tactile experience of crunching up the bread and then mixing all the wet ingredients with your hands.
grizzlybear at 1:43AM on 10/31/09
Brunoise.
therealchiffonade at 6:21AM on 10/31/09
Anything in the kitchen, including washing dishes by hand and cleaning the oven or refrigerator, is therapeutic and healing. Or next to the kitchen, at the table, like looking through cookbooks or eating. Actually, one of my 10 favorite things in life is eating while reading cookbooks.
This topic reminded me of a recipe I copied out of a magazine in 1970. Christmas came two months after I got married and I made these cheap and easy cookies to include in goodie packages. It's been a holiday staple ever since, not because they taste great--they're just so-so, but because of tradition.
Aggression Cookies
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon soda
2 cups oatmeal, not steel-cut
Put all the ingredients in a large bowl. Squish, mix, pound, pinch, knead and crumble everything together--don't be shy and nice--until the oatmeal is moistened, the mixture can be formed into a ball of dough (slap the ball once or twice if you feel the need) and all your tension has dissipated, at least five minutes.
Form dough into one-inch balls and place on ungreased (or parchment-lined) cookie sheets. Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about ten minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
betteirene at 5:06PM on 10/31/09
I forgot--I love those shopping trips that don't include lists of things like toilet bowl cleaner and laundry soap, especially when I'm in a hurry. You know, those market visits that allow for leisurely trips down the foreign food aisle, into the cheese display and forays into the spice, produce and cracker sections to see what's new. Those kinds of shopping trips not only can clear a mind that's swimming, they can also spark some imagination.
betteirene at 5:15PM on 10/31/09
Aggression Cookies - I LOVE IT!
I find taking root vegetables and firm peppers and making perfect tiny dice out of them conquers two problems. 1. I'm not cutting up the object of my aggression and 2) I'm left with a fridge full of beautifully diced produce.
Brioche is another "stress reliever." You really have to beat the bejeezus out of that bread while kneading it. I have an ex-husband who's alive today because I brunoised every carrot I could get my hands on and made a TON of brioche.
therealchiffonade at 7:10PM on 10/31/09
Am I weird? I do not like to eat and watch a food show or read a cookbook. I like to do one or the other. Somehow when I combine them, I ignore the food I am eating, moreso than a regular tv show or book. Its like the virtual flavors take control.
As for therapy, cleaning. I organize and wash the kitchen and pantry. I also look through cookbooks.
blizcheetah at 9:27PM on 10/31/09
Cooking is like my daily meditative art. If something is bothering me, it's apparent by the complexity of what I'm making and whether I'm not bothering with a recipe or measuring.
yayfood at 9:48PM on 10/31/09
Preparing a large baking dish full of diced, minced, shredded vegetables.... for the oven... cause I like to snack as well! ha ha
Giasbash6260 at 10:46PM on 10/31/09
I like to reduce onions to sugar in a skillet of butter. Add mushrooms and I am slap happy.
Maria S at 12:40PM on 11/17/09