Picture this: It's 6:30 PM. You're hungry, tired, and cooking dinner feels like another chore. You start chopping an onion while heating oil in a pan. Suddenly, the recipe calls for minced garlic that you haven't prepared. As you rush to chop it, you smell the onions starting to burn. Meanwhile, you realize you're missing an essential ingredient, and the whole meal threatens to become a disaster.

Now imagine a different scenario: You walk into your kitchen, and within 20 minutes, you're enjoying a delicious home-cooked meal. The process was calm, focused, and even enjoyable. What's the difference? One simple technique: mise en place.

French for "everything in its place," mise en place is the secret that transforms cooking from a stressful rush into a composed, enjoyable activity. It's not just for professional chefs — it's possibly even more valuable for home cooks who want to make daily cooking easier and more pleasurable.