I never hurry when I'm enjoying myself. Whether it is cooking or gardening, I take longer to do it than some of my friends, but it gets done right and the process is a pleasure. Zen time, for sure.

I prefer to have the appropriate time to cook and linger over the process. I always want to begin with a tidy kitchen: empty sanitized sink, immaculate and cleared counters, spotless stove. Otherwise I feel out of sorts. I like to knead bread by hand. I like company while I cook.

There are lots of Zen moments in my kitchen: watching bread dough go from "shaggy mass" to a taut, smooth round of responsive dough that springs back when you poke a finger hole in it. Even scrambling an egg can be pleasurable if you watch it closely while it cooks. And turning a pound cake out of the pan - sheer bliss!

Melting butter in the microwave is sooooo not Zen-like. Anything done in the microwave is anti-Zen, IMO. Sometimes I like to make a cake or a batch of cookies by hand - no KA mixer - just to connect myself to tradition and the craft of baking. Too much of our world is hurry-up, hurry-up, get 'er done, get onto the next thing. Cooking can allow you to slow down and enjoy the process if you will let it.

Teresa

One of my most Zen events, cooking-wise, is making Chase's Spanikopita. Twice a year I make room in the freezer for sheet pans and churn out 500 - 600 Spanikopita. I love the folding process and can stand for hours watching those wonderful little pillows of tastiness come to life.

Alexa

Well, it depends. Sometimes I just need to get in and out of the kitchen because we do need to eat but for whatever reason, my time is short.

But then sometimes I do love to take the time to do the process justice.

HOWEVER, I choose what I'm making accordingly. I pick simple recipes that don't need a lot of fuss to come out good if I'm in a hurry and save the long slow recipes for the days when I'm going to spend more time in the kitchen.

I agree that there is something about the microwave that's not zen. I use it mostly for reheating leftovers, sometimes for melting a stick of butter or softening one if I've not had an opportunity to let it come to room temp on its own. But there is something about melting chocolate in the MW that just doesn't work for me. Or cooking veggies in there. Lots of people do, including my sister, and the veggies come out tasting fine! I just don't want to.

Haven't really thought about it....but I am into my Zen moments.Baking, cooking and canning....all give me pleasure as I gaze or smell or taste.

Nancy

Both ways. I like them both for what they are. Like Barnmom, I have to have the kitchen spotless. Down to I want the dishes to be washed and put away, nothing in the dishwwasher even. I guess it bothers me to try to find ________ and it's not where it belongs and looking for it would get whatever is on my hands on the drawer pulls, or the dishwashwer, etc.

When I'm really in the mood to cook it feels like a zen to me. I agree with Barnmom that the kitchen and all pots, pans, dishes, cutlery, etc must be clean from the start. I don't want to have to stop to wash anything. I don't usually have someone in the kitchen with me when I'm cooking but I don't mind it when it happens. I kind of "get in the zone" when I'm by myself lol

My Zen-like moments take the different direction of provisions purchasing. I donÂt buy frozen or previously frozen meat or poultry so that means no easy trips to the grocery store or SamÂs Club. I love to get in my car and drive to the farmers markets, where I can have the Chicken Man bone my chicken breasts, slice them into cutlets, and put the bones in a separate bag for making broth. ThereÂs something so satisfying about the process. It always puts a smile on my face when I select a steak and the butcher automatically shows me the underside of it and asks if I want the abundant encircling fat trimmed.

When I turn down the lane to the dairy store, I can see the herd of cows who produced the milk IÂm going to buy grazing in the fields. ThereÂs a gazebo with benches where customers can sit and watch them if theyÂre not in a hurry.

I can drive up to the heavily guarded gate of a mushroom farm with a homemade fruit pie, be directed to park, and a few minutes later be rewarded with an overflowing bag full of mushrooms harvested while I waited. The bulk food store is so far out in the country that thereÂs no cell phone signal but theyÂll be cars with NJ and NY license plates whoÂve made the journey to that magical place with its permanent wooden fixture by the front door holding this monthÂs religious tracts.

I enter the fish store, excited to see what theyÂll have that day. The striped bass looks good. Should I have it filleted or whole? The skin removed from the fillets or not? The head cut off to come along home for stock? Or maybe IÂll bake him whole. Should I have the eyes popped out? Fins on or off? The woman standing next to me is getting her two fish filleted and asks if I want the heads and bones. Decision made  a whole bass for me with the head off and fins left on and crockpot full of bones cooking out on the porch that afternoon.

And the produce, the orchards, the bakeriesÂ. There must have been at least a hundred times in my life that IÂve just stopped and looked and thought "OMG, we live in such a land of bounty!"

Oh I agree with all of you! Yes, Eileen, I want my kitchen clean too before I start. I can get very cranky if dh has cooked and left me a cooktop that needs cleaning. There's no zen in a cluttered kitchen or one that needs cleaning.

Beachlily, it's always preferable to enjoy cooking. Sometimes I don't always, and it's usually when I have to hurry-up and get it done, or my kitchen isn't ready for me.

Like Lowspark, I pick my cooking choices based on time. Sometimes the microwave is simply the best choice for cooking bacon in a hurry, and to get it as crisp as I'd like. Reheating things are what the microwave does best in my kitchen! I don't want to cook my vegetables in there either. For some reason, standing at the stove is one of the things I like best. Like Nancy mentioned, it's the best place for smelling, gazing and tasting.

I also agree with Teresa about melting butter. I'd rather not have it explode in the microwave, and melting it on top of the stove makes me feel like I'm really cooking.

Alexa, it sounds like you relate well to production cooking! Which reminds me, it's time to make yeasted waffles again.

Ruthanna, I'm right there with you, buying the food. I like the anticipation of looking forward to preparing and eating it. The Farmers Market is always a favorite place; you sound like you have great places to shop locally...I want to go shopping with you, just from hearing you describe it!

Speaking of shopping, my friend mentioned the meat she served us came from the ''organic'' booth at the Farmers Market. It was tough as an old boot. I bought a horribly expensive chicken from them once on her recommendation. Normally, I don't mind paying the price if the product is worth it, after trying it several times I conclude none of their meat is. My feeling is they're preying on customers who want a natural product, but don't know the difference in something that is well-grown. I hesitated before I decided to tell my friend I wasn't impressed with their meat. I'd rather eat less meat grown with hormones, than eat it often when it's tough and stringy. Our local meat market is a much better place to shop!

I'm convinced some people don't actually taste their food when they eat it, so preparing it well isn't as much of a concern. Or, they're big eaters, and quantity is more important than quality. Sometimes, I think that people who don't cook also can't always tell the difference. Whatever the reason, it's a different approach than the one I prefer.

I find it soothing and calming to prepare good food. As others above, it's important for me to start in a clean, cleared space.

I don't mind people being around, but I hate having anyone hover over me and watching me cook or bake - the exception being when someone asks me to walk them through making a dish.

I can get through it, but I lose the zen quality food prep gives me when someone is gabbing away and I have a hard time keeping track of my measurements, particularly w/ baking. Last week we had a houseful and I remember wondering if I'd added only 1 or both tsps. of baking powder to my recipe....

I love to share my food creations with family and friends, but I prefer them out of my prep area when I'm cooking. I have the same feeling about clean-up, too - most times prefering to wind down while cleaning and knowing that all my tools and utensils are put back where I can easily find them.

When I have an immaculate kitchen, which is typical, I enjoy cooking. But generally, I cook because I enjoy the process and more, because I enjoy eating and dh needs a good meal.

I am a fast cook. I like to get it done and in the oven. Stay on top of each step and still enjoy the process.
I have been accused of being very rude when I am cooking because I cook fast. (think top chef and all that running around) Rarely do I leisurely prepare a meal unless I have 3 hours to devote to it, nothing else to do, it's raining, or I've just read a great inspiring cookbook.

I do take my time cleaning up afterwards. Everyone has gone to bed or watching a movie I don't care to watch so I slowly clean and store everything properly. (we eat late, about 8:00) I love coming into a neat clean kitchen in the morning.
Ready for the next quick fire dinner event!

Now, if only dh would share my love for a clean and neat kitchen....

I do both, depending on time, mood, etc.
I often cook large meals and freeze or refrigerate for meal later.
I love a lazy Saturday morning with several things in mind to cook or bake.
On the other hand, I have no problem coming home from work and zapping some leftovers for dinner. It gets me to the garden faster if I need to water or harvest.
I can do the production mode, or patiently stand over a simmering pot of soup, or jam.

Just being in the kitchen is zen for me! It's one of about 3 favorite places. Kitchen, garden, sleeping!

Deanna

Maybe it's not zen....but when I decide to cook something...it doesn't matter if the kitchen is cluttered or the sink of full of what was cooked just before...as long as I have my little spot, I block all else out. my kids wonder how I can cook where all isn't cleaned up and put away....but perhaps that's one of the things that allows me to happily cook at church with a bunch of other people doing other things at the same time.

On dinner party nights, from about 3 PM to 5 PM is Zen prep time. 6 PM to 7:30 PM (sit down time) is increasingly urgent rushing. 7:30 PM through the last course is heads-down cranking - finish, plate, serve, clear, finish, plate, clear, finish, plate . . . Then I get to sit down and have dessert. Cleaning up is Zen again. Sometimes I like cleaning up the best. Weird.

"Tell me Grasshopper, what are you pondering on preparations of your path to peacefulness in paradise?"

"Master, my body is a tree in the glorious spiritual garden, and my heart is a pure mirrored stage of the blissful heavens. I shall maintain cleanness fastidiously, to ensure mundane dust and dirt collect on neither."

"But, grasshopper, the body ultimately is not a tree, and the heart is not a stage of mirrors, they will become nothingness at the end of your journey. If you can transcend now to nothingness, worldly dust and dirt cannot collect on nihility"

This grasshopper, I, can overlook a lot of pandemonium in the pantry and see a lot of joy in cacophony in cooking. As long as sanitary standard is maintained. I donÂt care much. ThatÂs the true meaning of Zen as far as I am concerned.

However, a clean and orderly kitchen is my favorite place to have a cup of coffee and read the papers.

dcarch

I'm not a Zen cook at all, but then my life is not very Zen either. My kitchen tends to be messy and chaotic, and I don't enjoy cooking, just do it becuase I enjoy eating good tasting, healthy food. I have more than a few failures which discourages me and then I get in a bad mood. Things sometimes come together in my kitchen and I can turn out something really yummy, but that is more a random act of grace than Zen. Keep at it long enough something good is bound to happen, or to be Zen about it, "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."

However, I was actually influenced a bit by a Zen monk in my early days as a cook. If you're interested in this kind of thing, check out the classic "Tassajara Bread Book" by Edward Espe Brown. It is the anthitheses of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" lol! I guess there is also another cookbook with main dishes, and I think both are out of print. I also saw a video made about him, he cooks for a Zen monastary in CA. The video was OK, nothing spectacular. But then that's Zen too, lol! "If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are." A favorite Zen saying of mine.

I linked to the video below.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Cook Your Life

I think it's slapdash and zen at the same time. Is that possible? I take shortcuts and move fast, but I've done it all so many zillions of times that it's soothing anyway.

The word "zen" is not in my vocabulary since I'm neither Japanese not Buddist. If you mean do I enjoy cooking the answer is yes. What I really do hate though is to spend an enjoyable evening cooking, only to be too tired to clean the kitchen and then have to wake up to a dirty kitchen. I try to avoid that at all costs. Nothing worse than having to clean the kitchen before I can cook.

Hi, I am new here but this question caught my eye and I wanted to respond. I'm definitely the kind of cook who likes to enjoy the entire preparation of the meal, from shopping to sitting down and eating it. If I have to rush to put things together, it's just doesn't feel right to me. Which is not to say I don't have those kinds of days, I just prefer not to! I think in life in general, I strive to take things slowly and enjoy the moments.

Hi Lisa-in-me! Welcome to the Cooking Forum. I'm glad to see you posted; Thanks for responding. I don't like to rush either, and I'm right there as far as enjoying the moments.

Sunday I made chocolate cherry bread which Ann was kind enough to post a recipe for when I asked. Now THAT was some zen cooking. Working with the dough, waiting for it to rise, and then the results! Major zen event.

I also cooked dinner for last night and tonight on Sunday. In between the rising and the baking (and the running across town to a friend's house on the spur of the moment) I boiled noodles, made a cheese sauce, browned sausage and pounded chicken among other things.

On a weekday, when I get home from work, after doing an hour on the treadmill, I'm not prepared to stand up in the kitchen for an extended period of time. But on a Sunday, it's wonderful to just park myself in the kitchen and cook. Very zen.

Wow! How many pages back did you have to go to find this thread... LOL! the zen of internet searching! I'm looking for a certain fabric and getting bug eyed!

May, I'm glad to hear making bread is your ''moment'' of zen. It' definitely mine too, as long as I'm not doing too much of it! I saw the picture you posted of your loaves; they looked simply delicious!

Linda, that's one way to put it! (The zen of internet searching...thanks for that grin~) ;)

Well, this topic keeps attracting me! Maybe a sign from the universe?