Rachel Ray is right

I am working in my kitchen today, getting ready for the week.  The week promises to be crazy busy (aren't they all?) going here, going there.  On the menu for the week is potato soup.  So...out comes the garlic, the onions, the potatoes....  Picture it:

I am all wedged in the corner of my counter smashing garlic with the knife so I can take off the skin, bits of skin are flying everywhere -- the floor, behind the coffee pot, under the toaster....  The board is covered with the little white bits and they are getting in the way as I'm chopping (or maybe it's mincing...haven't learned the difference from Rachel yet), when it hits me.....

I am being stupid and short sighted.

Rachel Ray is all about making cooking work into our schedule's right?  That is the basis of her whole show and probably one of the reasons I really like watching her.  She is also a big proponent of the garbage bowl.

If your not a fan of hers, let me explain.  The garbage bowl is where you put all the bits of stuff you aren't going to cook.  The ends of the carrots and onions, the shavings, and yes, even the bits of garlic skins.

If you have the bowl on the counter, you don't have to let the garbage accumulate on your board.  You also don't have it flying off your board and on to the floor.  And you don' t have to keep using your gunky hands on your cabinets to open the door to where you store your trash can.  Voila!  All of it is in the bowl and you only need to dump it once.

Long story short:  a garbage bowl makes my cooking easier and tidier.  Which makes my whole cooking experience more pleasurable (which increases the likelihood I will do it again).

The problem with a garbage bowl is that I am not habituated to using one.  It actually takes bits of garlic skin flying under my fridge to remind me that perhaps I need to rethink my system.  The bowls couldn't be more conveniently located in the cupboard directly in front of me when I am prepping -- but they don't do me any good unless remember to get one out and use it.

So all of that is you encourage you:  don't think just because you haven't mastered a new habit that you are unable to.  Just because it isn't your front line reaction, doesn't mean you can't train yourself in a different direction. 

Sometimes it just takes the garlic bits blowing around your kitchen to make you take the extra step of following through on a plan.