Music is always playing in my kitchen.

Like cooking, music is a spiritual experience—at least it is for me. It’s emotional; it calms me, excites me and relaxes me.

And just like discovering new foods and new restaurants, I love discovering new music. That’s where my good friend Val Haller of Valslist.com comes in. Val’s got a boutique music website (and a new mobile app Valslist Radio) that helps crazy busy adults (like us) keep up with what’s new in music.

Just as a good cook chooses the best ingredients, Val handpicks every bit of music on her playlists. This is music to get you cooking! I’m so excited to have her guest-post today!

The Missing Ingredient ~ Who Knew?

 It’s the week before Christmas and my kitchen is stocked ~
Soup to nuts I’ve got it covered. And with music, they’ll flock …

I’m the mom of an all male household. I have four sons, a husband, additional friends and a pile of their shoes/coats/sporting equipment the size of a few more bodies. Suffice it to say I’m the Queen Bee. The guys are charming and mannerly and love to hang around in the kitchen and chat.

Until it’s time to cook. The scatter factor is high. It’s like they’re allergic to slicing & dicing or something.

Val Haller
CEO/founder Valslist.com & ValslistRadio (new mobile app) valslistradio.com

At holiday time I’ve resigned myself to cooking alone, just me and my 13” under-the-counter kitchen TV dishing me news of the day as I solo cook. It’s all right, I like watching seven hour John Wayne movies as I pound the chicken to a pulp, or the Weather Channel storm chasers as I bring the pasta to a rolling boil. QVC is tempting as the onions blur my eyesight – that peach poly one-size-fits-all tunic is a must-have.

This Thanksgiving everything changed. I have a brand new daughter-in-law and SHE joined me in the kitchen. Instead of kitchen TV and the guys’ football blaring in the background… we added a new ingredient – a spice (of life) to be exact: music.

It was a cook-magnet. The guys flocked in one by one wondering what we were doing. We lured them in with lyrics, “well, shake it up baby now, twist & shout…” and hooked them with horrible homemade harmonies that made our ears hurt. This cooking session rocked. At one point there were six couples dancing their way through the fourteen recipes we were making for the feast.

The music turned my kitchen into a cooking community. I will never fly solo again. Even if I’m alone, it will be me and my cooking music.

Find many playlists to fit your mood on our brand new iPhone app for busy adults: VaslistRadio.com.

Happy Holidays!