The Splendid Table

I often seek out culinary advice from a coworker who has a prowess for all kitchen matters. He directed me to an NPR podcast called “The Splendid Table”. While I have yet to listen to it, I’m simply going to steal the name for this blog entry. ☺

Last year I shunned cooking. It was hard, stressful and quite often disastrous. I missed popping in to Publix to pick up something half prepared. I missed the ease of opening a frozen food bag and 10 minutes later having a full-on skillet meal.

Something has happened in the last three months. I’ve begun to discover the (dare I say) joy of cooking, but not necessarily cooking for myself. I find that people open up and conversations become deeper and more meaningful when gathered around a table filled with food. While passing dishes, refilling drinks, and brewing coffee, it seems that the veneers come off, people feel at home, and cries of the heart, dreams of the future, and frustrations of the present are revealed. To me, that’s what makes a table splendid.