In My Kitchen

There are a lot of potential meals in my kitchen, that is, ingredients to cook with.

I am well stocked with pantry items: pasta, grains, dry herbs and spices, coffee, tea, chickpeas, lentils, seeds and nuts.

In the fridge, always, whole milk, eggs, Greek yogurt, tahini, parmigiano, feta, wine, vegetables and fresh herbs. In the freezer, ice cream and frozen berries.

Bowls of fruit on counters.

We eat at home a lot.

Firewood next to the fireplace. Pressed linen napkins folded in the cupboard. Generous white paper napkins, long-burning tea lights and candles in the drawer.

I buy groceries every day because I like the fresh stuff really fresh.

I also like not wasting anything. The least ecological food is the one that gets thrown away. So as a rule of thumb, yesterday’s leftovers are turned into today’s lunch by adding a fresh ingredient or a simple salad on the side.

We are a three meals a day household. Most days there is some kind of breakfast, lunch and dinner happening in the kitchen. Candles are lit first thing in the morning and napkins used for every meal.

For a typical dinner in my house, we make a couple of mezes to share – tabbouleh, avocado hummus, oven-roasted vegetables, some type of fish maybe – or a one dish meal such as traditional Finnish salmon soup, Italian vegetable soup called minestrone, or a pasta, curry or stew.

I believe cooking transforms the way we eat, the way we think of food and ingredients, and the atmosphere in our home.

Putting your love and energy into making food is not only uplifting to you – it transforms the food, and how people eat it, and how profoundly they are uplifted and nourished by it.

For me, this is just not a nice thing to say and write, I believe this is how it is.

And I cook every day.