A lot what I’ve learned about life I’ve learned in my kitchen.

Lesson #1: The youngsters in my life have much to learn about food and cooking. Cooking, and nourishing oneself is a life skill just like balancing a checkbook or washing a load of laundry without turning a white shirt into a dull shade of grey. Sure, cooking involves learning how to prepare a scrumptious meal for a dinner party, but more importantly cooking is about learning how to plan meals, shop for ingredients, and cook, day in and day out. I guess I haven’t quite figured out who’s teaching our kids how to cook if we don’t?

Lesson #2: Getting better at cooking takes practice. I’m a better cook today than I was 6 months ago, 1 year ago, or 6 years ago. The main reason I continue to improve is I practice everyday. I practice everyday. I practice everyday. Ask any writer, musician, or sculptor how they hone their skills and I’d bet they’ll tell you it’s practice. They write, they play the piano, they sculpt. In that same vein, I go to my kitchen to cook, and make mistakes, every day.

Lesson #3: Planning, shopping, and cooking for a family takes a large dose of elbow grease especially on those days when I just plain don’t “feel” like it. I’m sure most of you are aware; meals don’t fall out of the sky onto our plates. The routine of menu planning and regular grocery shopping makes ingredients materialize. Then the routine of showing up at my cutting board late every afternoon, turning on my favorite public radio station for news and tunes, and basically getting down to the business of cooking those ingredients is how our meals appear.

Lesson # 4: The daily commitment to feed my family bears much fruit. Everyone feels more secure, sleeps better, and acts calmer when we know our next meal is not far from the table. Research supports a theory: children develop a higher level of trust and a sense of security from the adult who regularly prepares their meals. Taking this one step further, eating together as a family reinforces this trust and security. Isn’t that what kids need? They need to be kids who can count on us. We need to accept our responsibility for buying, and preparing, regularly scheduled meals and snacks for them.

Lesson #5: The world of food and cooking presents countless opportunities for innovation. As with any endeavor, one day without learning equals two days moving backwards. When I put into action something new I’ve gleaned from a cookbook, or magazine, my depth of knowledge naturally expands. As an example, until last month I had never made pesto with arugula in place of basil. After giving it a try I realized once again the value of taking time to learn about using a familiar ingredient in a new whole way.