Exploring the world through our kitchens

Image by Freepik

Sometimes you find yourself in a moment where all of the confusion, all of the swirl in your head calms. The fog clears you know you are walking the path you should be. I haven’t written since November. As I previously alluded to, we’ve been dealing with some health issues in my household. As a result, my focus and intention has been where it needed to be, with my family. We’re coming to the other side of things now, for which I am incredibly grateful.

I was off work this past week and, thanks to a Winter storm, iced in. Additionally, we had family in town. Because of the storm, they ended up needing to stay with us all week. Every day, I’ve spent time in my kitchen, prepping and cooking dinner. Occasionally making breakfast or treats for the day. I’ve loved every second of it. Even washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen afterward was therapy for me. There is something special about having a full belly and and a clean kitchen that allows for complete relaxation at the end of the day. It got me thinking about times I’ve considered some of my happiest; those weekends I’ve spent working on culinary projects. 

I mention all of this to say that this last week has been enlightening. I feel like I got the clarity around my culinary and fitness goals that I’ve been working through over the last couple of months. I began to understand what was actually important to me versus what seemed most important in the moment. My guilt for not putting energy into everything washed away. It’s OK for some things to just be something you do, without being your identity, and for others to just be something you do occasionally for fun. I tend to be all or nothing, so this has been a lesson that I’ve struggled to learn. What I learned was that of all the activities in my life, cooking is my “All”. To that end, the future direction of HomeCookedHappiness took shape.

With this post and going forward we will explore the world through food. I’m planning to work through the majority of, if not all, countries of the world. There are some that are so small as to be so culturally similar to their surrounding region that it doesn’t make sense. For instance, the smallest country by population is the Holy See, or Vatican City. I’ll dive into it more to be sure, but I can’t currently see how this would be very different than Rome itself. In some cases, such as you see with larger countries like the US and China, there are many different regions that are culturally distinctive, especially with regards to food. While I will explore restaurants where possible (especially if a country is represented by a restaurant near me), the focus will remain on home cooking. The hope is that we learn about new cultures, our connections to each other as humans, as well as broaden our palettes as we explore the world through our kitchens. Settle in. This will be a journey.