I have a cold and so tonight I made apple sauce (from a few different apples and a pear).  I discovered Aurora's mother's copy of the The Tassajara Bread Book, relevant to all cooking and baking endeavors, in it there is a poem that begins like this:

A COMPOSITE OF KITCHEN NECESSITIES

Bring food alive with your

loving presence.

To have compassion, to have respect

for fresh foods, for broken bowls,

for dirty napkins, and little bugs.

To take care of leftovers,

not saying, oh that's all right, we have plenty

we can throw that away.

Because everything is saying love me, 

have compassion, hold me gently.

Please hug me now and then

(we're really one, not two),

but don't get attached

(we're really two, not one).

The bowls and knives, the table, the teapot,

the leftovers, the molding vegetables,

the juicy fruit,

everything is asking this of you:

make full use,

take loving care

of me.

The cups, the glasses, the sponges,

the sticky honey jar,

all asking to fulfill.

Just to make deepest love all the time,

concentrating not on the food, but on yourself:

making your best effort to allow things

to fulfill their functions.  In this way

everything is deliciously full

of warmth and kindness.