Essential Reading

Anyone who knows me knows that I generally approach books like they are food. Some I devour, some I read and reread slowly so that I can savor them, some I try, push around the plate, leave alone and never finish. So, you can imagine my delight when a friend loaned me a novel about students in a cooking class. "How wonderful," I thought, "something that combines two of the loves of my life: cooking and reading." It gave me a huge desire to cook, which was a bit of a problem yesterday since I was going out to dinner for my brother's birthday. I fought the urge to cook until finally at 8:30 last night I walked into my kitchen, cooked a meal, and packed it up to bring to lunch today. Amazing for me...but not so amazing for my diet (brown pants, you will have to wait), especially since one chapter is about baking a cake.

I started reading Erica Bauermeister's novel The School of Essential Ingredients yesterday morning and quickly found it to be one of the most delightful books I have ever read. While it is true that all the characters are taking (or teaching) a cooking class, the truth is the book is really about discovering who we are, or rediscovering the who that we lost somewhere along the way.

I have this theory that books find you at the right time, that they somehow manage to come to you when you need them, and that when they get to you they speak to you in a unique and personalized way. I found myself saying to my friend this morning that I couldn't believe I hadn't read this book before. How had I lived without it? But, I think that it found me now because it is truly fitting for where I am right now in my journey. When each character in the book feels their identity click into place, I know exactly how they feel because I am, just as they are, starting out with my new, more complete sense of self. Now, for the first time, I have stopped viewing being single as a problem or an area of lacking in my life. Now, for the first time, I have embraced that part of who I am. Now, for the first time, I have let myself discover and enjoy everything that means for me.

And I think that finding who you are and celebrating it is the most essential ingredient of all.