One of the biggest consequences of initially learning to cook by watching cooking shows is that I am inordinately obsessed with miss en place. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is that the people I watched cook all had their stuff in little bowls, and they dumped the ingredients from the little bowls into the pan.

So that's what I do. I have prep bowls like you wouldn't believe. All sizes, different materials, and if they're not the right size, I'll grab a regular bowl and use that. What this ends up meaning is that I rarely do that thing where you prep the later part of the dish while the earlier parts are cooking. What this also ends up meaning is a lot more dishes.  I am led to understand now that the fancy TV chefs have people for that. But I do it anyway.

There's something satisfying knowing everything's ready for the cooking part. Even if I have to juggle my eight total square feet of open counter space to make it happen.

Anyway, since it was a relatively uneventful week of just making sure we got fed and had enough leftovers for lunches, I thought I'd show what a semi-typical set of prep bowls for a Thai style coconut red curry looks like. Clockwise from upper left: baby corn and water chestnuts, marinated chicken, an as-yet unopened can of coconut milk, green chile (Anaheim), chopped bok choy, baby sweet peppers, and green onion whites, all waiting for the wok to get hot.

I can manage to open the can while the cooking's going on. I still have a few motor skills left.