Welcome, My name is Ric Orlando is this My TV Kitchen. My
motivation to be on this TV kitchen is to share my opinions with you. I am a
deliciously opinionated chef. I have cooked a million meals and after the first
500,000 I noticed that there was more to making food than just skill and
technique. There is a sensibility and conscience. I want to share that with
you. My mission is to get you to love to cook---to get you to use your hands
and to connect---to get you to think about that connection between your mind
and your soul and your body and your food and the world around you.
You know we have developed a pretty hectic life-style these
days and the comment I get the most often when I speak publicly is "I'm in too
much of a hurry to cook" and "What do you have that's quick and even I can
make?" and "Can you show me some of your professional shortcuts?"---frankly,
what I'm going to tell you is more therapy than cooking secrets.
Cooking is not where you should be cutting corners. I figured
thus out all by myself because running a restaurant and cheffing with three
school aged kids and a loving wife in law school is pretty complex, too.
When I ask people what the rush is---why do you need to have
a meal started, cooked, eaten, over and done within an hour I'm told the same
story----"I get home from work, and I'm too tired to cook so we have something
quick and then I veg out and watch some TV until I crash."
Let me tell you a story that most of you must already know
though sometimes it is good to hear it from somebody on TV, we have authority!
I too have a TV and I turn it on occasionally, usually late. I have something
like 400 channels---and on these 400 channels, 390 of them are showing
incredibly stressful material.
When I lay in bed and flip through the electronic guide I find
murder, mayhem, revenge, more murder, rape, controversy, horrible news, bad
mannered pundits interrupting each other, disinformation, lies, deceit ,
conceit, propaganda, violence, what my wife's family in Queens calls it the
"Rape Slain Show!" The amount of stress inducing programming on television is
so out of whack with reality that the idea of rushing through an unhealthy
chemical laden supper just to "veg out" to the content of 21st century
television is so far from relaxing--it is inconceivable!
As a health oriented chef I am often asked questions like
"What can I do about my blood pressure?"---"What am I doing wrong, what should
I be eating?" Well, there is a simple answer. If you are choking down processed
food just so that you can get stressed out by a triple homicide adventure
show---I needn't go any further---you know the answer already, don't you? Do
you need a picture? prioritize, baby!
Let's start again. Let's say you got home at 6 and you were
done with dinner by 6:45 because you microwaved some processed--but
low-fat---counterfeit food and then you plunked in front of the television
until you became comatose ---you are never winding down. There is no chance to
let the day go. You are never connecting to your physical and sensual world.
You need to play with your food sometime during the day! If you are not giving
yourself the opportunity to use your senses of touch, taste and smell, you are
missing a great ingredient of your life. Reestablishing that part of your life
to create simple but wholesome food will help you to relax. It will bring you
down to earth. Doing it as a hobby ---a little gardening a few weekends a year,
a dozen dinner parties a year is nice, but a daily escape is better. My
prescription for peace of mind is to spend some time in the kitchen every
day
Try to make dinner 4 or 5 days a week--- where you actually
prepare a meal and then sit and relax and enjoy it with someone who you can
speak with. When you prepare the meal by touching--- cutting the vegetables,
washing the fish, trimming the meat, feeling your hands in the grains ---you
are getting in touch. The more you use your hands, the more whole you become
and the more whole the feeling you have for eating and cooking becomes. Then
instead of saying that you are in too much of a rush to cook because you want
to watch TV and chill, that evening melts away into a relaxing pleasure. When
you get home, put on some music. No commercials, no news. You don't need to
know. Once a day is enough news for anyone--and now with these news update
tickers on the bottom of the screen, we are hypnotized! Give it a rest. And
skip the ads, please. They're just there to make you feel inadequate anyway, so
give 'em a break, too.
So where were we---oh yes, you've put on some music and you
have laid out some ingredients---now spend a half an hour making a fresh meal.
Maybe your kids or partner can help. Take your time---be a European--- and
don't plan on eating until 7:30 or 8 pm. Now, when you eat, linger for an hour
and digest. Talk about things, not just the bad things but the amusing things
too. Then by 9 or 9:30 if you are ready to turn on the tube, you've already
unwound. Wait 'til you see how absurd that channel guide looks like once you
have let some of the sap out of your spine. This really is the ultimate
therapy. Using your hands and your soul and your mind to create sustenance
takes such an edge off of life. The nutritional advantage of making your own
food is crucial also. When you combine fresher and cleaner meals, made from
scratch with patience and meditation during the preparation and the eating of
the meal, all of your life improves. Now try it--a little wine, a little
dinner---it is not unreasonable--that is the healthy choice---it is a worthy
life-style choice.
Cooking is like therapy---it's like taking a bath!
