There are some small things in life, which may seem ordinary but are very important. They can make your life happier, such as going home to cook.

A happy and satisfying life is always inseparable from a steaming kitchen. I used to read "A Bite of China", and there was a sentence in it that impressed me deeply:

Before becoming the editor of Beihai Canteen, I hardly cooked. If you're thirsty, there's milk tea, if you're hungry, there's takeaway. If one person is full, the whole family won't be hungry.

“It’s too troublesome to cook.” This is the norm for many young people nowadays.

But when I was riding an electric bicycle on the path that I must pass every day, I was caught off guard by the aroma wafting from the small building and made me salivate.

Instinctively, I sniffed hard and took a few more breaths of the charming aroma of rice. I couldn't help but identify what kind of ingredient the aroma came from.

Is it the small fish that is browned on both sides and the bones are crispy, or is it the egg pancake sizzling in the pot, or is it the stewed meat that is soft and bubbling? Where is the block?

Only then did I realize that my stomach missed the taste of home cooking far more than my brain and body. At that moment, I looked at the takeaway in my hand and felt disgusted for the first time.

Later, during the phone call home, I discussed more about cooking with my mother.

Later, on my days off, I would visit the vegetable market, choose carefully like an adult, and go home satisfied with a bag of ingredients in the sunshine.

After being splashed and smoked by oil again and again, repeatedly testing the taste, struggling with whether it was cooked or not, and relying on recipes and my mother’s remote guidance, I learned to make snails. Mustard soup, fried rice with preserved eggs, improved braised chicken, braised hairy crabs, boiled meat slices, home-cooked barbecue...

My kitchen has become a little more smoky, and it is no longer an ice pot and a cold stove. , the boring days seem to have new expectations. Even before the weekend, I plan what dishes to try and which friends to invite over to my house for a chat.

I never thought that one day I would fall in love with cooking.

I never thought that cooking could give people such a great sense of accomplishment and happiness.

More importantly, it gives life a sense of ritual. Going home to cook and eating seriously is a ritual life.

No matter how busy you are, you must always learn to take a rest. No matter how hard you work, you should cook a good meal to cheer yourself up and encourage yourself.

We may have eaten countless delicious foods in our lifetime, but no matter how delicious it tastes, it cannot compare to every simple home-cooked meal we make. Because behind every steaming meal, there is countless care and love.

There are thousands of reasons not to cook, but there is only one reason to cook.

That is love.

It is the love for life, the love for family, and more importantly, the love for oneself.

Everyone loves food because it is beautiful and because it has the power to heal people's hearts. I hope you have someone to accompany you at dusk and a bowl of porridge to warm you.