Cooking. Simple.

It's been a couple of months since I started my full-time MBA at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. During that time, I've lived alone, feeling in over my head being in a new environment and on lockdown, learning new subject matter, and processing all the possibilities now open to me simply because I willed myself to grab an opportunity before it passed me by. 

 And in that time, I found that cooking my own food helped me deal with all that stress, and of being away from my family, a first for me since my kids were born. Cooking simple food, all-time family favorites, and dishes from other cultures that I’ve learned to cook only because I’ve eaten them over and over, allowed me to trust my intuition again. Experiencing the nuances of what I was making refreshed me; like the smell of browned butter, or the feeling that pasta gives me to let me know it’s ready to be drained. 

I’m reminded of a quote from a person I looked up to, Anthony Bourdain. He said:

 "Good food is very often, even most often, simple food."

In this time of uncertainty coming from so many different directions, that resonated with me. Very often the food we now know and love was borne out of adversity and hardship. And it was simple because it was meant to be shared. It comforted, and it rejuvenated.

Recently, I’ve been posting my food on IG. Now I’m no chef, but I’m hoping these little acts of simplicity help those I know find that joy I find when I hit that spot. Hopefully it dispels the myth that food needs to be complicated, or orderly, or exact, to taste good. And hopefully it helps stretch that student wallet out a little bit more too. #mbameals #cookinginlockdown