Three day quote challenge, day two

/ Su Leslie
My kitchen; part studio, part laboratory, part drop-in centre. My favourite part of the house and my happy place. Image: Su Leslie, 2018. Aged shot of modern kitchen with chrome appliances and red mixing bowl in foreground.

My kitchen; part studio, part laboratory, part drop-in centre. My favourite part of the house and my all-time happy place. Image: Su Leslie, 2018

“Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people get together to eat.” — Guy Fieri

I love food.

I love eating certainly, but even more, I love thinking about, planning and making food. To cook for you is to say “I care; you matter to me.”

Close-up shot of chocolate cookies, baked to deliver to the City Mission at Christmas. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Chocolate cookies baked with the boy-child, for delivery to the City Mission. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

It seems particularly appropriate to share quotes about food for this challenge as I was invited to take part by Ju-Lyn at Sunrise, Sunset, who says of herself:

It is no surprise that I find myself obsessed with food – after all, I am a Singaporean. We are a people who hold animated conversations about food while we are eating, who would comb the island far & wide chasing the promise of great food!

Thank you Ju-Lyn.

In the few days since I wrote a post for the DP Photo Challenge about My Place in the World is has occurred to me that, no matter where I am, the kitchen is my place. I love my own kitchen — the part of our house renovation I am most proud of — and I happily commandeer friends’ and family members’ kitchens when I visit. Even on holiday, I crave the chance to cook at least one meal — using whatever is to hand.

So I guess there is need for a second quote today:

“The kitchen is a sacred space.” — Marc Forgione

The Three Day Quote Challenge works like this:

1) Thank the person who nominated you
2) Post a quote for 3 consecutive days ( 1 post each day )
3) Nominate 3 bloggers each day

If you haven’t already been invited to join this,  and would like to — please do.

I for one am happy to read all the extra words of wisdom (or fun) that are sent my way.

36 thoughts on “Three day quote challenge, day two”

    • The cookies were good, though because we had made them for the Mission last. mad, the boy and I were very restrained and only had one each.
      Cooking for people is one of my great pleasures, and I realise I don’t do it often enough these days.

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  4. Sharing food and eating together used to be the every day heart of the family. I think many families do not do that now, so sharing a meal with friends or family has become an occasional treat, and a very special one

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    • You are right. It was unheard of NOT to eat together at the table when I was a kid except for the incredibly rare exceptions when we had fish and chip “picnics” on the living room floor — eating communally out of the newspaper.
      I remember when my son was little and would come home from play dates at friends’ houses amazed at the fact families ate separate meals and that the kids weren’t fed at the table. Equally I had to “encourage” more than a few of his friends to eat properly.

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  6. Although I am not a person who cooks with enjoyment (but I still cook every night) and our evening meals are often informal, we will always sit together for dinner, even if the young adult children are on a food fad which doesn’t include what I have cooked. Dining together is the way we stay connected as our lives become less entwined. On the evenings I am by myself for dinner, I miss the banter 🙂

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    • 😀 I’m the same. The Big T travels a lot on business and I eat alone fairly frequently now my son has left home. It really isn’t as much fun. I love your observation about how eating together helps maintain bonds that the rest of our daily lives loosen. 😀

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  9. As a family we always sat together to eat a meal, very noisy with all the chatter, and my children learned to eat quickly before one of their siblings offered to finish off any seconds. I’m afraid I have become bored cooking for the two of us now, though going veggie this year has got me looking at the recipe folder again. BTW tried your roasted BNS with rosemary last night. I didn’t have any limes so used a squirt of lemon juice instead and I also added sliced fennel (I know, going off piste as usual with any recipe). All good though with the pan-fried thick cod fillets. xx

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    • Ooh! I love fennel and can imagine it would work well. Sounds like you cook the way I do, with recipes as inspiration rather than gospel.
      I really believe that family meals are incredibly important and I remember the jostling to make sure I got my share before one of my brothers “liberated” anything left. Then only having one child meant there was no way we weren’t all going to eat together.
      I do get the boredom factor; I obsess about food and still have times when I really can’t be arsed thinking of a meal. It doesn’t help that I’m mainly vege and T isn’t 😀

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    • I think kids are amazing when it comes to food and that modern society does them a huge disservice with fast food and children’s menus. When my son was little I was amazed at how many people seemed to regard McDonalds as a treat that I was wilfully denying him, and how restaurant servers would automatically assume he’d want to eat chicken nuggets and fries.
      It is that sort of attitude that limits children’s palates and makes them “fussy eaters.”
      The boy-child has always been offered “proper” food and always been willing to try new things. There is stuff he doesn’t like of course, but he’s at least decided that after tasting it. He’s the one who ordered escargot in a restaurant in Paris (and ate them), and who happily ate fish eyes when they were offered as a delicacy. I have to confess to being a bit squeamish on both occasions 😀

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  13. Your kitchen looks wonderful, even more so when I remember all the lovely things you’ve created there and shared with us. And I love both quotes, they resonate deep inside me. 😊 xxx

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    • Thank you. I love my kitchen because T and I designed it and built it ourselves (with some help from IKEA). And when I say we built it, I mean I held the tools and made lots of tea while the Big T laid the floor and constructed the cabinets and …. well you get the picture.

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