Mindful kitchen, mindful eating

 

The first thing to consider in the kitchen is what kind of diet you’re going to have. I think veganism is the least suffering diet you can adopt. Sure there are insects that are killed in the process of gathering the food off the land maybe even some small rodents and then when they transferred it to the market and insects can die in your windshield. You can create roadkill with your tires And plants do have some rudimentary feelings, yes, but if you’re really concerned about plant feelings--and people who bring them up aren’t--then you would just eat plants because eating meat involves more plants, more pollution, so if you’re really concerned about plant feelings, great just eat the plants cause you gotta eat.

Next thing to consider is the recipe. You’re developing yourself as a cook, so if you had all you had going was your mama always cooked for you and then you’re going off to college, all right so you’re starting out, but when I went to college, I could at least make macaroni and cheese, so that was my first official dish, of course sandwiches are pretty easy to cereal is the easiest thing, right?

So today I decided to make an eggplant hero. I got a nice eggplant, got some olive oil. I’ve got some hero bread and I’ve got some salad dressings and mayonnaise that I can put on the bread to give a little more zhuzh.

I’m going to try to cut this egg plant mindfully, uniformly, but also at the right depth. How do you know when you’ve got the right depth? Well you don’t you just gotta wing it. This is where instincts come in. You gotta just have an idea in your head, the size of your cuts, and then go for it. Too slow could make some problems and too fast can make some problems so you pick a speed of cutting. You can cut as you go, or you could cut them all first and then try to figure out how they’re gonna fit in the frying pan.

Stove mindfulness is another thing. You want things to be cooked but not burnt. You have various ideas about how well done and how rare you like things. If there’s heat danger is involved, You can burn yourself in the stove phase, you can cut yourself. Eggplant suck up a lot of oil. Calibrating the right amount of oil isn't easy for eggplant. 

Assembling the sandwich, take the choice cuts of eggplant and place them on the bread. I made 2 layers today. Probably put a layer of mayonnaise on the bottom then you close the sandwich up and you cut it in half and put it on a plate. I always love a cut sandwich on a plate, it brings me great joy. Kiss the joys as they go by. 

No I’m not a very good Buddhist because I like to watch TV while I eat. It’s probably a terrible habit which I’m trying to extinguish, striving for mindful eating, but I’m not there yet. Got a Lotta habits that I don’t think are conducive to the path and gradually trying to eliminate them all. I don't have a TV but I watch shows on my laptop. 

I'm not perfect in the kitchen either, today I was listening to the BBC News. Argentina elected a new president with pretty intense rhetoric, and they have crazy inflation. 

I used to listen to sports news, but I didn't want to hear about the Jets being shellacked by the Bills. Or th Knicks being in 6th place. Or how the Rangers are in first place in the metropolitan division after 15 games. 

They barely talk hockey and never soccer, and soccer is my sport now, so I've broken my addiction to sports news. I was on a retreat and someone suggested listening to sports new was, I forget the crime, but yea, I was guilty, but I denied it. Not any more. I get intoxicated by sports, I'm glad there's a boring international break and there's nothing to watch. USA men play Trinidad and Tobago tonight at 7. I don't have the services that are streaming it, and not into bootleg broadcasts. 

Made mushroom hero later, with some raspberry dressing.