Friday, January 29, 2010

Food Friday: Lesson Learned

image found here

Have you watched this show yet? It's on Sunday nights on the Food Network, and the premise is that 12 terrible home cooks are taught how to do it right by professional chefs. Each week, two people are eliminated, and in the end, the best of the worst will compete by cooking for food critics, who think the food has been prepared by their mentors. We are hooked on this show (and it makes me miss Mad Men a little less).

I love shows that you entertain and teach, and this is one of them. The first thing the chefs taught was the term and principle of mise en place. Watching this, WBH commented "So, it's french for 'get your crap together.'" Technically it means 'everything in place,' but the sentiments are clearly the same. Getting my crap together has changed the way I'm cooking. It's so much easier for me to clean up, I'm less frantic in the kitchen, multitasking becomes so much easier, and I feel it when I don't do it. With diminished energy and patience, this principle is rocking my socks when it comes to cooking.

Imagine what would happen if I could just apply it to life.


3 comments:

Tami said...

I need to get my crap together too. Is it a life long process? Some of me is way more together than other parts of me. It's a good goal!

50s Housewife said...

One of the best lessons I learned early on in my cooking "career" was to start with a sink full of hot soapy water. That has helped me to clean as I go so I don't feel overwhelmed by the end of a meal.

I hardly ever get control of the remote at my house :) but I'll have to see if I can catch this show sometime.

Tina said...

I love this show too! Love this post!