{"id":152,"date":"2008-10-24T19:06:48","date_gmt":"2008-10-24T19:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=152"},"modified":"2008-10-24T19:06:48","modified_gmt":"2008-10-24T19:06:48","slug":"cooking-fear-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/cooking-fear-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooking Fear? Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Prescription for Perfectionism–Relax<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Previous posts<\/a> opened the subject of cooking fears and where they might have come from. <\/span>My theory: <\/span>Blame the Olympics!<\/a> <\/span>In fairness, however, the Olympics aren\u2019t really to blame<\/em>. <\/span>They are just a symptom. <\/span>The perfectionism, complexity and audience intolerance they encourage are just where we find ourselves at the dawn of the 21st<\/sup> century. <\/span><\/p>\n

The bigger question is: <\/span>What can we do to avoid the pitfalls of this trio? <\/span>How can we ease our fears and make cooking a more pleasant experience, as it should be. <\/span>After all, food is a pretty nice part of our lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here are four solutions I see, all maddeningly simple: <\/span>Relax. <\/span>Limit your exposure. <\/span>Have fun. <\/span>Dispense with naysaying. <\/span><\/p>\n

Start with the first prescription: <\/span>Relax. <\/span>Relax the expectations. <\/span>Relax as we cook. <\/span>Relax at the store.<\/p>\n

Of course that\u2019s what the experts say about all our stress-related maladies. <\/span>Just relax. <\/span>I\u2019ve been tempted to wring some necks when given that advice. <\/span>\u201cGive me a specific remedy, a list of things I can do<\/em>,\u201d I wanted to shout. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are indeed specific things we can do<\/em> to make mealtimes more manageable and enjoyable. <\/span>That is what my book<\/a> is all about. <\/span>But to begin with, we\u2019ve got to feel good about heading to the kitchen, and that takes relaxing our expectations. <\/span><\/p>\n

No doubt about it, that is hard work. <\/span>Imagine putting a plate of black beans and rice on the table with a simple zucchini saut\u00e9 on the side and being completely at ease. <\/span>No garnish. <\/span>No MSG-hyped flavor. <\/span>No exotic ingredients. <\/span><\/span>No designer dinnerware. <\/span>Just reason to sit down, slow down for 15 minutes, relax and savor. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the section of my book on \u201cDeadly Expectations,\u201d I tell the story of a friend who is both a cookbook author and experienced dietician, i.e., the last person on earth you\u2019d expect to have problems cooking. <\/span>Nevertheless, she was distressed one day about the sorry state of her meals. <\/span>From the way she talked, it sounded like she and her husband were living on fast food burgers and take out pizza. <\/span>Actually their meals were not so bad at all: <\/span>vegetables every night, lots of fruit, balanced meals, and whole foods without a lot of excess fat or sugar. <\/span>The distress she felt was just because her meals were a little less interesting than usual, and with good reason,since she was busy finalizing a book and had little time for cooking. <\/span>So there you have it: <\/span>unrealistic expectations robbing us of mealtime pleasure. <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the participants in my KitchenSmart series came back after the first class having discovered a great antidote for unrealistic expectations: <\/span>a glass of wine while making dinner! It put everything in just the right perspective, she informed us. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tomorrow, how limiting exposure<\/a> can help. . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How can we avoid the pitfalls of perfectionism, complexity and audience intolerance at cooking time? Relaxing expectations is a good first step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17,1],"tags":[133,141,193,479],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healthy-cooking-basics","category-opinion-and-editorial","category-uncategorized","tag-cooking-fear","tag-cooking-stress","tag-expectations","tag-relax","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}