Food for thought

"Cooking something delicious is really much more satisfactory than painting pictures or making pottery. At least for most of us. Food has the tact to disappear, leaving room and opportunity for masterpieces to come. The mistakes don't hang on the walls or on shelves to reproach you forever. It follows from this that the kitchen should be thought of as the center of the house. It needs above all space for talking, playing, bringing up children, sewing, having a meal, reading, sitting, and thinking... It's in this kind of place that good food has flourished. It's from this secure retreat that the exploration of man's curious relationship with food, beyond the point of nourishment, can start."

Jane Grigson from Good Things

This feels particularly appropriate tonight, after the dough in my first bread machine attempt failed to rise. I've never had much luck getting the right temperature to activate the yest (granted, I've never used a thermometer). Fortunately, I'm stubborn and will try again tomorrow!