The Culinary Arts

I don’t draw or paint well. I wish I did.

Since I was young I’ve always wanted to show the world the vibrant thoughts swirling around in my mind. When I was a kid, the kitchen was the equalizer for me against the artfully inclined.

The kitchen is where I unleashed my creativity and could experiment. For me, it was a place without boundaries -- except maybe the boundaries of taste.

Many of you are probably the same way. Your creative outlet is the kitchen. For a lot of us, decorating sugar cookies was our first art class. And after the first class you, like me, were hooked.

After sugar cookies, you couldn't wait to find out what else you could help with. Cereal for breakfast? Heck no! Didn’t you see the recipe I left out for french bread french toast with cream cheese? My mother was probably exhausted, but I didn't even notice. She endured and indulged me and fed me what I needed most...an outlet for my creativity. Love you, Mom!

My 10-year-old daughter is like this. She loves cookbooks and always wants to help create in the kitchen. Cooking isn’t a means to an end for her. To her, cooking is like painting with ingredients.

She loves to see the magic of chemistry erupt when things are heated, whipped or seared. And like all budding chefs, she (like me) ponders the mysteries of the culinary arts, like why some chocolate chip cookies are soft and some end up hard and flat.

No matter the outcome of what she cooks, she’s an artist. She creates and then waits to see how the people in her world view her work. She loves the details.

This is why the kitchen is the great uniter. We’re all experiencing the same vulnerability -- wondering what the world will think of our work. All cooks...no matter how famous or renowned they become. That’s why cooking is so wonderful; it exposes our humanness. It connects us. And that is what enriches a life.