Kitchen bowls are vessels with qualities of emptiness and form, whose functionality becomes the means to bring bounty to the table. Here, one of my favorite bowls glistens with light and shadow, patterns, and color. I enjoy choosing bowls to go with various foods, finding resonant frequencies between the food and the vessel. The bowl actually isn't empty at all, but brims with beauty and has a deep well that waits to be filled.

The recipe has eluded me this week and I wondered what to share. Then I saw this bowl, so beautiful in its essence.

It's quality of emptiness became a silent invitation to explore how this spiritual state works in my life. Being a living vessel, my essence cannot be realized if my mind is cluttered with worry or endless questions.

Emptiness has been the theme for us this week. We've cleared out our garage at long last, and the energy in the house has noticeably changed. Things feel better. The cleansing has brought a softness, a gentleness, more love.

This is much like the undefinable, or inexplicable, effect of merging consciousness (when done with love) with the meal making process. Its natural effect is that the food tastes better and looks more beautiful.

For us, eating is as much about the preparation (or growing) of the food as it is about the finished product. In Like Water for Chocolate, the heroine, Tilo, finds her tears and passions entering into the feasts she prepares, and the guests and family members experience her deepest feelings, sometimes to their dismay, sometimes to their delight.

In this light I remind myself to listen to my intuition and to engage the many hidden ingredients of food preparation: reverence, appreciation, harmony, energy, joy, creativity, celebration, and more.

Sometimes the simplest food, glowing with essence and fertile beauty (like these figs), calls for an unembellished presentation.

Everything in creation that we are given to eat is of the most profound nature. These foods have surrendered everything to us so that we may live—and for these gifts we are both humbled and amazed.

PS...We're leaving for Hawaii in a couple of days.... so we'll be back with The Healing Feast in two weeks with stories of our adventure in paradise!