Comments on: From Scratch

By: TheKitchenWitch

TheKitchenWitch — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:17:22 +0000

Cooking is easy. Life? Not so much. How do you throw away all the old baggage, the memories?

Loved this post.

By: Gibby

Gibby — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Oh, how I wish I could cook or bake from scratch! It seems so…clean. Pure.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:45:44 +0000

Yummy.
I am now emotionally fed -
and physically hungry.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:10:16 +0000

That analogy works beautifully for writing as well. When do you start over? When do you cut? When do you add? When do you revise? I think starting from scratch – be it life, writing, or cooking – is appealing because it is fresh and new. But sometimes, being able to take those leftovers and turn it into something delicious is a much better reward.

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:37:15 +0000

yes, very interesting metaphor. The risk of cooking from scratch is manageable – we can just toss it out if it doesn’t taste very good. The risk of failure in life is shaming. We attempt to make new friends, find a wonderful new job, throw the perfect party, whatever, but the results are not quite as quick or satisfying as baking at 350 for 30 minutes. It takes investment and perseverance and letting go of things outside of our control. A difficult recipe – living from scratch. Thanks for the reflection!

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:11:33 +0000

Wow…I love how you can write something, and then see it from a whole new perspective once people begin to comment. I like the idea that we never really start from scratch…that we take our past with us–be it kitchen failures and successes, or life wisdom. Cool thoughts…thank you.

By: Gale

Gale — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:30:50 +0000

Wonderful post. As your sister, it’s probably not surprising that I come to this topic with many of the same feelings that you do.

But to borrow from Aidan’s response, cooking from scratch in life is actually a hybrid of sorts. We may start fresh in many new ways, but we always have the same base upon which to build. And to think of it from a culinary perspective, my favorite recipes have come to evolve this way too – taking something I know and then adjusting and tweaking to make it even better.

By: Kristen @ Motherese

Kristen @ Motherese — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:15:33 +0000

This is such an interesting question. My mom is not a great cook. She’s all about ease and short-cuts; most of her recipes involve a can of Campbell’s soup. As for me, I like cooking (and love baking) from scratch. The act satisfies my precise nature and I get a sense of pride from eating something that took some effort. But – and it’s a big but – since having kids, I am more interested in really high-quality food that’s easier to prepare: I still haven’t resorted to cooking with cans of soup, but I can see their appeal more than I used to.

As for starting from scratch in life, I’m with Aidan. Just as our ability to cook from scratch is affected by our previous experiences in the kitchen, I think that any attempt at a fresh start in life is always informed by our previous experience in, well, living.

By: Aidan Donnelley Rowley @ Ivy League Insecurities

Aidan Donnelley Rowley @ Ivy League Insecurities — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:02:05 +0000

Wonderful post. Wonderful metaphor. As I am the anti-cook (not that I am anti-cooking, just that I never do it), I will address this from the life angle…

I do not think it is possible to start from scratch. Even after we are forced to step back, to reevaluate, to essentially “start over” – after loss, say, I don’t think we can start from scratch. I don’t think we can separate the raw materials, the loose ingredients, from the morass of our past. This is at once disconcerting and liberating, I think. Disconcerting because if we believe this then we are essentially endorsing the idea that we can never begin again. Liberating because it means that even when we think we are alone, starting afresh, we are in fact buoyed by the fare of our past.

I’m not sure I am making a ton of sense, but so be it. This is a ripe metaphor and I look forward to seeing what others make of it.