A Feast of Creativity
Today I am in chef mode. Top of mind is this Christmas Eve feast that I’m preparing for my family, so I thought I’d give a little insight into my plans for today. This year I’m making a Mediterranean dinner. I love cooking in the style of small plates, so I decided to make a nice lamb roast and allow for everyone to make their own mini-Gyros.
Since the pandemic began, cooking has become a creative outlet for me. I started challenging myself by looking up my favorite cuisines and recreating them at home. I began making street tacos, Pad Thai, burgers, baklava, sweet potato fries, flatbread pizza, ribs, steak, mac and cheese, and Thai coconut soup all from scratch. My family jokingly referred to my time in the kitchen as, “Aida’s Diner.” And these dishes didn’t turn out great the first few times that I made them. Most definitely not. I had to make them several times in order to improve from what I cooked the first round. But slowly, I started to see improvements. My dishes began to not only look edible, but mouth-watering delicious. But what surprised me even more is the amount of confidence that I gained within myself. The confidence not in me making the best food, but rather the confidence to even try out the recipes.
Cooking revived a creativity boost that I had been missing for quite some time. I allowed doubts to get in the way of certain projects I wanted to pursue. But when it came to cooking, I simply researched recipes I felt I could try, bought the necessary ingredients, and followed the steps. Now I could say that it was easy to do because I’m just following steps. However, that would be diminishing the patience, discipline, focus, and hard work that I put into the food I prepare. And with each finished dish, there’s that moment of disbelief that I, Aida, could make this. A sense of pride for not only providing sustenance, but sprinkling my creativity all around it. So in a way, I am grateful for my time in the pandemic. It sparked a light within, that I felt had dimmed quite low.
