Do you know how it is when you are sunk in love, absolutely soul sucking, heart wringing, life giving, in love. Love that leaves you breathless and thoughtless, and the smell of their skin intoxicates you.
I would say you might feel a need to touch this person, that it would be just a little bit of torture and not so good for the soul to always look the other way and never know the heat between your hand and the softness of their cheek.
You have to get your hands in there when you cook. It’s important to touch your food. It’s one of those things that is going to make it a lot more fun to make dinner. If you don’t want to touch your food, it might be the food–get new food. I love smushing ripe tomatoes in my hands that have been made red in the sun and smell like summer. I have no feelings for hard and tasteless grey toned, and lifeless orbs called by the same name.
Practice by making foccaccia. Buy a beautiful unbleached flour with plenty of gluten, a silky olive oil and sea salt and a gorgeous bunch of deep purple grapes. Mix and then knead the dough until it is satiny smooth; bake, let it settle, and then rip.
Use 2 1/4 cups of wrist temp water; mix in 2 tablespoons of active
dry yeast. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil and about 3 cups of flour and 1
tablespoon of salt. Mix with a wooden spoon. Add another 3 cups of
flour. You can all the way and do the whole thing by hand or whir in the food processor for about 30 seconds, then finish by hand, and knead til smooth, about another three minutes. (you may
have to do this in two batches if you are using your processor). Let this rise for an hour in a warm place. Push it down, and then let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours in oiled plastic bags. Allow to come to room temp, (about an hour) and then roll to fit into sheet pans.
Let it rise again on an oiled sheet with a brush of olive oil over each bread, and a scatter of grapes pushed in ever so slightly with your fingers and a sprinkle of sugar. Bake at 450 degrees until done.
Serve with a beautiful blue cheese or a salty hard ricotta salata and a salad of spring herbs and greens. Forget the fork.