looking good...

i just bought some new sushi plates. (i ordered them online from crate & barrel and had them delivered only to remember that there’s a crate & barrel down the street. so much for decreasing my carbon footprint.)

you would think that i’d opened the door to balloons, tv cameras, and ed mcmahon holding an oversized check. nope. just sushi plates. but to me, they were the sweetest little thing in the mail. sleek white ceramic with a slight upturned edge, a small bas relief of swimming fish and ocean waves. beautiful.

it made me think: cooking is not just about the food. it’s all the fun that goes with it. it’s the presentation—all the pomp and circumstance . you can make the greatest pasta in the world. but if you don’t have a nice plate for it to sit atop, all you’ve got is a mound of glutenous wheat by-product on your table.

and think about the number of times you’ve looked at a cookbook, magazine or television show where the finished product is placed in front of you with a culinary flourish, et voilà. makes your mouth water, doesn’t it? who knows, maybe that dish of pad thai, grilled fish, or steak tartare tastes like crap. but if it looks good, you want to tear into it. maybe, if you like cooking as much as i do, it makes you want to shop for ingredients and prepare that same dish immediately.

either way, the point is still valid: food is nothing without the presentation. it’s not only got to smell good and taste good. it’s got to look good. it’s one of the things that makes cooking great: you use all your senses to experience it.

so pull out those good dishes. who cares if it’s a wednesday? use the good china.
don’t save them for a special occasion when every night can be a special occasion!