Right now I've been drawn into baking. I have never enjoyed baking, but now that I am more knowledgeable and experienced and have been baking at least one thing a week. The one thing I do avoid is cookies. I think they are too time consuming to satisfy me. So for me at the end of the night when the kids are sleeping I'll tackle something in the kitchen unless the steps are simple then I'll involve my daughter.

I am not good at meditation in the classic sense and have a hard time shutting my spinning brain off, but being in the kitchen allows me to focus on something that brings me great joy, relaxes me and takes my mind away from the worry and stress of life. It is my art, my creativity, my way to share of myself and brings me a feeling of zen in it's own way.

Having a food blog totally inspires me - eating "for an audience" makes me want to keep my diet interesting, try new foods, and get creative in the kitchen. It also holds me accountable to my eating disorder (I have a history with both bingeing and anorexia). Would love your readers to check it out too!
www.theactorsdiet.com

I'm in the southern hemisphere and summer is waving goodbye. Kids have started school and business are back to full opening hours, and there's that inexplicable blend of melancholy and expectation for this new year ahead of us.

As it happens every time the weather cools, I find myself thinking of food and cooking. This year is going to be super special though: my daughter, aged 6 months, has (kinda) started eating semisolids and next week we're moving into our first own apartment, where we've been gut renovating the kitchen for a month or so.

So yesterday as we were sealing the deal of the new appliances (the first appliances I've ever chosen and payed with my own money), I smiled to myself and thought that those appliances are going to witness the most important stretch of my adult life journey.

Because it all happens at the kitchen, doesn't it? The smell of food in the home and what and how we're fed... that's the mortar joining a family's bricks.

I cook as an expression of love. There is something so elemental about feeding those you love. The care and time I put into creating nourishing and creative meals is directly proportionate to the strength of feeling I have for those who sit at my table.

Sharing a meal with those close to me, or opening my kitchen to a new friend, is always a joy.

http://maisonbisson.com/nest/

I love picking out, washing and preparing fresh produce. I put into my body the positive, nutrient-rich energy I want to put back into the world with my actions.

As my grandmother watches my grandpa slowly drift away into Alzheimers, the only thing she has control over is her kitchen, and her creations. I watch as she bakes, and cooks all hours of the day while Grandpa stares at the television, not quite watching.
As I stand in my small, small kitchen, thinking about her while staring at an index card she has written for me, I can feel the pain in my heart, but the fond memories from childhood, eating her bread and cookies, seeing the differently shaped pancakes she could make.
I bake for her memory- out of the love, the compassion she has, and so that maybe one day she won't feel so alone.

I like to put on headphones and go to the market. I take a leisurely stroll through the store, looking at every single item and await inspiration. I often come up with my best recipes when some random ingredient tickles my fancy. It's also extremely relaxing.

I love this, Dana! Especially the "what am I hungry for?" question. I have been pondering this a lot in the new year, and though I don't yet have an answer, my perception of food and nourishment is continually evolving.

I love to cook for those I love.
I am also newly back in love with cooking, and all things cookbooks. This has partly been spurred on by the website WWW.COOKBOOKER.com. There, a nice community cooks, reviews, carries out challenges (with nice reward) and shares thoughts on cooking. I am using cookbooker with my 12 yr old daughter - she is learning to cook, photograph, and write reviews, without thinking of it as anything more than fun time with Mom. How I wish I could make these lazy weekend afternoons with her last forever.

This is a challenging one for me...

I've always been a baker and a lover of food and eating, but never the cook. The past few months have seen me through a breakup (with a wonderful chef, though he'd never call himself that), dropping 15 or so pounds (thank you breakup) and being forced to find my way in the kitchen (with a few less tools), trying to keep myself fed and distracted a bit too.

Eventually I hope to break into new territory and enjoy it without being frustrated. I've started small, and have forced myself to plan and shop carefully. The budget is a bit tighter, too, with all the expenses back on me. I'm still very far from where I want and need to be, but I'm taking things one step at a time. I'd like to think that gaining confidence in the kitchen may help in healing my broken heart and allow me to feel stronger and healthier out there on my own.

I'm glad to have the kitchn to help. I can't tell you how many times I've searched the how-to's here. I'm quite sure I'll be doing it many more times :)

Thank you.

I am a once-a-week chef; my commute and family schedule mean that I don't get home until just about when we should be eating dinner, so I prep everything in one day on the weekends. Today I was so tired, I didn't think I could get it done. But the chopping of vegetables, cutting up of two whole chickens and baking bread actually ended up re-energizing me. Looking forward to all the good stuff the new weeks holds, food and otherwise.

I really appreciate the weekend columns and posts in particular on The Kitchn. Thanks!

Lately I like thinking of our food as nourishment for every cell of our physical being, not just our stomachs. I've taken particular delight in avoiding gluten and embracing it as a chance to try new flours, going so far as to grind our own in the blender. I like thinking about everything that just went into the cookies I made, how the ground flax seeds don't just darken and add a nutty graininess to the cookie but suddenly it's bursting with omega3, it makes the cookies seem powerful.
Lately I've been more experimental, baking without recipes, it feels daring and exciting like I'm breaking all the baking rules and yet things still work out.
The cookies weren't crisp like I half expected, they were soft and chewy like little cakes. It was an excellent opportunity to see them as a pleasant surprise instead of a mistake.
I don't mind being a little surprised by what comes out of the oven or the pot. It makes the entire cooking process a little bit like magic.

Gessaki, that was really poignant. Thank you.