What’s Cooking?

 

I remember going to a cooking class to learn how to boil water when I was in grade school. 

 

After the water came to a boil, I learned how to add pasta.

 

In order to keep the pasta at a low boil, I had to know how to stir the noodles while holding the long handle of the pan away from myself. 

 

Doing all three things is when I knew it was time to go to the next recipe in the class. 

 

Do you remember what you learned to cook? 

 

It was then that someone could walk into the class and ask any of us what’s cooking. 

 

Great times followed as I learned alongside my friends how to make taco seasoned meat, hard boiled eggs and macaroni and cheese. 

 

We were set! 

 

All of it came as I learned to stir, hold a long handle and keep the pan away from myself. 

 

I have used these techniques time and time again. 

 

Many years later I heard this phrase from someone with a smile. 

What’s cooking came along with my husband’s grandma.

What’s cooking came along with my husband’s grandma as she made caramel or chocolates. 

 

To hear this sweet term as he was talking to her on the phone meant a conversation of smiles and quick wit was going to start. 

 

It could also mean that a recipe or two was going to be shared so I was poised to write down what was going to be passed from one generation to the next. 

 

I wondered if I could write as quickly as I needed during those phone calls. 

 

Then there were the in-person visits when the greeting was the same. 

 

The door would open at grandma’s house, and they would laugh while saying what’s cooking on both sides. 

 

This was when I would slowly pull out my camera to record the sharing of how to make that pulled cream candy. 

 

Demonstrations were given with near exact measurements as a lifetime of creation was shown with love.

 

Wondering about other times I’ve seen cooking come into play.

Wondering about what other times I’ve seen cooking come into play in life has brought me to this kitchen you see. 

 

Do you see the many details in this space that can make the best cook smile? 

Copper pots are hung along that back wall. 

 

A heavy-duty mixer is ready to have flour and sugar added. 

 

There are even tomatoes ready to create a sauce fit for some of my pasta. 

What else do you need? 

 

Not much as this is Julia Child’s Kitchen in the National Museum of American History. 

 

Yes, it is a replica of her space and has the original layout. 

 

I sat with a few things when I saw this. 

 

It felt like I was with the grandma who smiled when she spoke. 

 

The same feeling of someone who used her hands while describing the ingredients and how to mix them were similar. 

What’s cooking flowed through, over and settled in.

What’s cooking flowed through, over and then settled in the words that can be felt about food that not only feeds your tummy but your heart. 

 

Can you hear that voice in your head of someone who brought the feelings to you? 

 

Perhaps it was with a gentle chicken soup or that tasty, rolled treat. 

 

It may have been with the same pots, pans and mixers you see here.

Maybe a new cookbook is found at the end of a yellow brick road. 

 

I have a few of them that I roll through every once in a while! 

 

Could it have been in a kitchen that barely had room for two people and yet seemed to fit 30 during special occasions? 

 

What is it that you cook for others or yourself that brings the yummy feeling to your heart? 

 

Here is what I am feeling about it for now. 

 

There was a time when I filled a cart of food with cream, grated cheese, bright orange juice, whole milk, eggs by the dozen and croissants. 

 

I would cook three meals at each time of day. 

 

Smiling with each step in the dance and doing it for hours at a time. 

 

There is an inkling in my soul of what can be felt about feeding, creating a loved food and doing it at any time for the ones that bring a twinkle to your eye. 

 

There is joy in doing that. 

 

May you have a full recipe box and smiles for miles as you stir and hold onto what is cooking for you now, my friends.