Eat, pray, smell

The day I learned a valuable lesson in cooking...

You will find that I write a lot about food. It's constantly on my mind – probably more than it naturally should be. I love to cook, taste, eat, take pictures of food, and eat some more.

When my friend from France came to visit me in November, we cooked together. One time, she was teaching me how to make gratin dauphinois. She leaned into the simmering pot of crème fraîche sauce, gave a dramatic sniff, and declared, "My mum gets so annoyed that I always want to smell everything. But I just like to."

I realized then that I was missing out on a very key part of cooking. You sniff flowers, wine and perfumes, why wouldn't you with the food you're preparing? My friend showed me that it's not only about the taste, but also how you can incorporate another sense to add a layered approach to your technique, to make the preparation and the outcome that much more joyful, more delicious! All this time I've been missing out on the complexity of curry, notes of honey, punches of cilantro, richness of cream, freshness of herbs... everything I cook now tastes richer and more layered.
I keep trying to share this new-found joy with The Fella, as I shove yet another stirring spoon under his nose in hopes that he can appreciate it, too. Smell this! It's so lovely! Try as hard as I may, terrible sinuses deprive him from partaking in this dimension of cooking and eating.

My friend may have brought me A Little Taste of France, but more importantly, she taught me a wonderful lesson in cooking with the gift of scent.