I love the crisp....
I think I love this time of year the best (I say that at the turn of every season though!). I love the crisp, cool mornings and how the days are starting to slightly shorten while darkness descends just a bit earlier each evening. And I love all the beautiful seasonal fruits and vegetables that are available for the novice cook like me.
Whenever I start to think about tinkering in the kitchen, I remember cautionary advice that a sage Shui master once gave me. He said that it was considered taboo in almost every Asian tradition to bang or hit utensils on the side of the pan while cooking, as this changes the extraordinary energy of the food. He also warned that you should never, ever swear or curse while cooking, as that will infuse the cuisine with churlish and negative energies.
He offered that when anyone is cooking, they should stand and be grateful to the food for the gift of nourishment that it will bring, and for all the activity it allows our cells to perform in support of our being. He told me to pray over each meal, not only thanking my higher power, but also thanking the spirit of the food itself. I thought this such a beautiful teaching, and aside from a few sailor-like slips where the cursing is concerned, I have embraced this slightly different sort of cooking technique ever since.