🧑‍🍳 TREE 296: Own your Christmas

One.

Katerina Pavlakis, The Intuitive Cook

How about tuning out the noise of how it ‘should’ be to uncover what we really want it to be: What does Christmas really mean to you, personally? (Even if you don't celebrate it as such, my guess is that some kind of festivities are dear to you at this time of year.)

Take a moment to ponder: What memories do you cherish? Which festive rituals do you love most, and which conventions do you hate? What memories, sounds and smells does it conjure? Which particular dishes do you crave, or rather skip?

It’s an opportunity to tune into what you love the most about this special time, while giving yourself permission to drop the parts you carry along just because ‘it’s done that way’.

My own memories of Christmas very much gravitate around the food; of fun and laughter in the kitchen while cooking something special and exciting (though not necessarily ‘traditional’). I also love the twinkly lights and candles giving these very darkest days of the year a special festive glow (there is a reason why lights and winter festivities are associated!)

But while I love all the kitchen excitement, I like to remain unfussy, even at Christmas. A bit of extra effort is OK for a special day, but in my world, ‘special occasion cooking’ never equals ‘slaving in the kitchen’.

This week I'll be sharing some ideas on keeping it real, simple, and most importantly, your own.

Two.

Collage by Phoebe Weston. Enjoy more of Phoebe’s work here.

Three.

Katerina is taking us around the world musically this week. We start in Greece.

If you feel like you could use a little guidance with this whole intuitive cooking thing, Katerina is doing Zoom workshops on Friday and Saturday this week. There’s a discount if you book by Wednesday. (I’m not getting paid to tell you this. I’m telling you because I believe in what Katerina is doing and I’ve been on one of her workshops.)

I got a little behind on the Spotify playlist. It’s all caught up now.

Cook joyfully
Jeff