The Special Senses Chef
Do you find yourself frustrated in the kitchen while trying to follow a recipe when you realize you’re half a teaspoon short on cumin? If so, this blog is going to jumpstart your journey into becoming an at home cook that follows your senses, rather than a recipe, to create a beautiful and tasty meal at home (insert sigh of relief). Please don’t read that and immediately start sweating and flee this post all together. I promise there will still be recipes and guidelines, but also tools on how to use the senses as your main tool. Don’t fret, we will take baby steps together!
Yes that is my dog. His name is Baloo and he is pretty great.
Since this is my very first ever blog post, let me tell you a little bit about the girl behind the posts. My name is Sarah and I live in the beautiful and magical town of Bend, Oregon. I moved here in 2016 after the most random and wonderful of journeys. I live here with my boyfriend, Richard, our two pups, Honey and Baloo, nine chickens and one very vocal duck. We also share our home part time with Richard’s six year old son and his head of big, beautiful, curly blonde hair. I spend my time working as a personal chef and tutoring Anatomy/Physiology and Microbiology at the college here in town. I’m also right in the middle of a 200 hour yoga teacher training and look forward to pursuing that avenue and continuing to develop my own yoga practice. I love to spend my free time exploring this beautiful home of mine. In the summer I love to camp, hike, rock climb and spend hours at any blue body of water I can find. In the winter you will most likely find me at Mt. Bachelor snowboarding and sipping on a bloody mary.
I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma with my family of six and a large number and mix of pets. Although our family was dysfunctional at times, there was a lot of love in our home. I shared a childhood of free reign and steadfast perseverance with my three siblings. There was nothing we could not overcome together and the same is true today. Despite any obstacles, we were happy as we grew up playing in the dirt, swimming in ponds, playing dirtbike hide and seek for hours, and fishing barefoot in the middle of a weekday. We lived on a 16 acre wooded lot of land tucked away on the outskirts of town. It was a beautiful place to grow and call home. I was home schooled until 4th grade and spent most of those school days learning to cook in the kitchen with my cajun mother. This is where my love of food and cooking began. When I began attending what I called “real school” (although now I would argue that staying home to make gumbo with my mom was real school for me), I still dreamed of the time where I would get to go home after school and put random things into a baking dish and throw it in the oven to “help” my mom make dinner. It was such a wonderful feeling when I reached the skill level in my cooking that provoked my family members to actually reach for the dish that I had contributed to dinner.
After high school, I attended Missouri State University where I changed my major every semester, but for the most part took Nutrition and other science classes. My time there was incredible and I made so many wonderful, life long friends and learned many lessons but ultimately decided that I couldn’t stay in one place for that long and left after my junior year to work on a dude ranch in Colorado as a cook/kids counselor. That was the best decision ever because this is where I learned that I wanted to make food for a living. So I started to do just that.
Staying true to my lifestyle, a random and beautiful series of events following the end of my seasonal job at the ranch led me to Bend, Oregon. This is the place that has stilled my wandering heart and makes me feel at home and I am eternally grateful for that feeling. After spending my time here working in a variety of kitchens and taking science classes at the community college, I started my own business as a private chef and I absolutely LOVE it. Navigating what it takes to start, run, and essentially be the only employee in your business is, needless to say, overwhelming at times. Ultimately, I always choose to continue this journey because it’s what makes me feel excited about life. And honestly, I’m pretty good at it. Okay, enough about me, lets talk food.
I will do a series of posts outlining the basics of each special sense (smell, hearing, taste, sight, and touch) as it pertains to cooking. In each of these posts I will give some examples of how to use these senses and include a recipe that is both delicious and sufficient for practicing the special sense being discussed. I will also give any and all techniques I’ve picked up along the way that come to mind when discussing certain recipes. The more tools you have in your toolbox the more you will begin to realize that you can make anything you want. Nothing is unachievable in the kitchen and it can become a life long science experiment of satisfaction.
Until then, I want to invite you to practice mindful cooking and notice where these senses are showing up, or lacking, in your cooking routine. Waft the bubbling marinara sauce in toward your nose and note what smells you pick up on. Taste the sauce to see if it needs salt, another layer of flavor, or something to balance out the acidity. Touch and taste to see when the pasta is done instead of pulling it out right when your timer goes off. Listen for the sound your food creates when being thrown into a hot, oily frying pan and adjust the heat accordingly. Look to see if your pot pie is golden brown and bubbly before pulling it out of the oven rather than taking it out after the 20 minute timer goes off that your recipe recommended. The most important rule to accomplishing mindful cooking is to put away your technology. You can listen to music or a podcast (I also like to listen to audiobooks when I cook since I spend extended periods of time in the kitchen). Don’t turn on the TV and don’t check social media. If you are using a recipe from pinterest, write down the ingredients and basic instructions on a piece of paper and then put your phone away. It is far too easy to get lost in a blog post while looking for a recipe and end up forgetting about the food on the stove behind you that brought you to said blog post in the first place. Priorities, people!
The food we eat is what creates the foundation for our overall health; mentally, emotionally, and physically. Start to pay attention and treat your meals and your body with the love, attention, quality, and mindfulness that they deserve. Share this challenge with your loved ones and then compare any new realizations or techniques that you learn during this practice. You could also always visit Bend with your family or a group of friends and reach out to have me provide you with an in home cooking class in your rental and we can learn these techniques together in person. If you’re ever in my neck of the woods check out my L for Lavender website and reach out to get a quote for your group! For those of you that I have yet the pleasure of knowing, let me know how it goes! I want to be on this journey with you. Be on the look out for my first special sense post on smell coming soon.
XOXO and Good Luck!
Sarah
L for Lavender