On love.

We all express love differently. Whether it's to a significant other, a friend, a family member, when we love, we show that affection through the things we do. Maybe we offer gifts, or perform acts of service. Perhaps we offer words of affirmation. (Maybe someone tells you about love languages.)

One of my favorites has always been food. Whether it was my mom making dinner for the family after a long day at work or me learning how to sear a duck breast perfectly for that special girl, I've found the act of preparing food to be intimate and expressive. Understanding what your audience wants and providing it for them. Creating something with your hands to share with another. All the skill and training in the world can only take you so far. If you cook without love, without care, it is evident in what you create.

And create is the proper term for it. Because you're not just making something to cram into someone's face hole (although that can be another expression of love), you're creating an experience. You're engaging all the senses in a way that can never be exactly replicated. You're forging a finite moment, something with a definite beginning and end that will live on only in memory. And that's beautiful to me. Because it means every time I cook, I have to try just as hard as the last time. I have to put just as much heart and soul into it as I did the day before. It's not a tennis bracelet or a flatscreen TV that can be bought and left as a constant reminder of love. It's an act, a proof of the continuation of my love for that person.

And in saying this, I include myself. Sometimes it's easy to just jam a cheesesteak in me, or throw a Stouffer's lasagna in the oven. It's easy when you live by yourself to forget to cook, to let yourself be sustained by whatever crap you pick up along the way. But sustainment isn't nourishment. For me, it's important to cook for myself. To love myself, whether I'm just melting cheese on chips or orchestrating a short rib braise in coffee and stout and a blue cheese risotto.

So if you're into food, and I'm guessing if you're reading this blog, you are, please. Take the time to cook for yourself. Take the time to love yourself as you would another. Because you're worth it.

Besides, it's good practice for when it's time to love other people.

And by love other people I mean seduce with food.

Happy Valentine's Day, guys. See you next time.