When You Slice Tomatoes, Slice Tomatoes

“Then I asked the Roshi if he had any advice for me as the cook.  His answer was straightforward and down-to-earth: ‘When you wash the rice, wash the rice; when you cut the carrots, cut the carrots; when you stir the soup, stir the soup.’

‘Ok,’ I decided, ‘I’ll make those words my life.’ They became a life jacket, the proverbial Buddhist ‘raft’, something which keeps you afloat, even when you are going under.”

~Tomato Blessings And Radish Teachings

The Earth is shaking hard in my life right now.  It’s shaking and spinning and I just keep coming back to my writing and my food.  The above quote sit perfectly at the heart of what I call the presence in Food Practice.  Nothing ever exists beyond what you are engaged in for that moment.  And so today, while I sliced tomatoes, I simply sliced tomatoes.