Cooking is Life

"Mustard seeds explode in the hot oil. She holds a lid over the pan to fend off the missiles. Rat-a-tat! like hail on a tin roof. She adds the cumin seeds, which sizzle, darken, and crackle. A dry, fragrant smoke chases out the mustard scent. Only then are the onions added, handfuls of them, and now the sound is that of life being spawned in a primordial fire"

-Abraham Verghese in Cutting for Stone

*perhaps one of the most evocative and powerful passages about food I have read in a long time...

Namaste

The gesture of prayer and calling up to a higher power seems to be a fairly universal action. The action itself of putting your hands together, I have found, can be an extremely powerful and moving exercise. My experience with yoga has taught me to really explore the space of my body in different ways, detecting miniscule adjustments of muscle and bone, awareness and sensation.

Putting my hands together, I try to push equally in opposite directions, left towards right and right towards left. I try to feel all the pads of my fingers equally, each knuckle and all the edges of my palm. Trying to find that perfect balance, I can be overcome with such a deep sense of concentration -- a feeling that can take my breath away. So I breathe into it and try to find that connected balance.