cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
Scrape, slice, deglaze… some kitchen tasks are just so satisfying - The Guardian
It’s the simple things that give me pleasure while cooking – and even improve my sense of wellbeing
After another shapeless, meandering day of working from home, trying to read the entire internet by way of displacement activity, I know exactly what I need to help me destress: a cucumber and a teaspoon. I head to the kitchen and peel the cucumber in long downward strokes, attempting to get each ribbon off in one, itself a victory of sorts. Then I slice it vertically in two. Now I take my teaspoon and run it with extreme prejudice straight down the vegetable’s central canal to remove the seeds. I watch the watery mush fracture and roll away to leave the pristine, scooped-out hollow. I do this to the other half. And breathe. God, but it’s satisfying. Sometimes I make cucumber salad just so I can deseed a cucumber with a teaspoon, rather than the other way round.
I have never been quite as aware of my charmed life as I am during the current crisis. I have a home, a garden, a job and a family that doesn’t seem to hate me, or at least who hide it well enough if they do. But I also have another benefit. I like cooking, which is helpful given how much of that we’ve all had to do. However, the thing I’ve really clocked during the past few months is that there are certain jobs during cookery, certain simple tasks, which give me such intense satisfaction they can improve my very sense of wellbeing.
It’s the simple things that give me pleasure while cooking – and even improve my sense of wellbeing
After another shapeless, meandering day of working from home, trying to read the entire internet by way of displacement activity, I know exactly what I need to help me destress: a cucumber and a teaspoon. I head to the kitchen and peel the cucumber in long downward strokes, attempting to get each ribbon off in one, itself a victory of sorts. Then I slice it vertically in two. Now I take my teaspoon and run it with extreme prejudice straight down the vegetable’s central canal to remove the seeds. I watch the watery mush fracture and roll away to leave the pristine, scooped-out hollow. I do this to the other half. And breathe. God, but it’s satisfying. Sometimes I make cucumber salad just so I can deseed a cucumber with a teaspoon, rather than the other way round.
I have never been quite as aware of my charmed life as I am during the current crisis. I have a home, a garden, a job and a family that doesn’t seem to hate me, or at least who hide it well enough if they do. But I also have another benefit. I like cooking, which is helpful given how much of that we’ve all had to do. However, the thing I’ve really clocked during the past few months is that there are certain jobs during cookery, certain simple tasks, which give me such intense satisfaction they can improve my very sense of wellbeing.