I jump on Amazon from time to time to check out new books. I have always been quite fascinated with how the French live. (see my blog entry here about how I am inspired)

I recently saw this book called ” French Women Don’t Get Fat”.  So I took a “peek” inside and found this great list called “Cooking is”. I think that it reminds us of how important home-cooked meals are and how to enjoy our lives. I had to share this list….

~ Cooking is an act of love, for sure, as those of us who’ve cooked all our lives know that to spoil others is a great source of pleasure, even though for some who cook dinner every night it may sometimes seem like a chore.

~ Cooking is self-expression, a way of finding the aromas, colors, and flavors that define your personality.

~ Cooking is contemplative experience reaching and probing deep in our thoughts and emotions.

~ Cooking is memory, as it links to a person’s culture and values. Whenever we eat something, the taste and memory of all the times we have eaten that dish live in the present.

~ Cooking is seduction, from creating the atmosphere and setting, to the giving of what is loved and shared, to the cumulative engagement of the senses and being.

 My Mediterranean salmon 

~ Cooking is relaxing, and focusing on your preparation can be a getaway from daily stress.

~ Cooking is good for the mind, good for mental health, using your hands to craft a delicious and complete finished dish or meal.

~ Cooking is conversation, as a meal gathers values, tastes, rituals, and words that are passed on for generations and play an extremely important social role not only over holiday seasons.

~ Cooking is reading from a recipe in a cookbook or on the Internet, thus absorption and learning.