慢熱，只是在等剛好的溫度。
印度廚房裡，印度藏茴香不是直接下鍋的。
做法是先在乾鍋裡烘三十到六十秒，或者在很熱的酥油裡爆一下，然後才放進菜裡。這個做法是為了把藏在果實裡的精油逼出來；如果沒有烘過，它只是幾粒比米粒還小的淡褐色東西，辛而帶苦，沒有甚麼香氣可說。
值得留意的是時間：三十到六十秒。它需要加熱的時間其實很短，只是不能完全沒有。
印度藏茴香的氣味，帶有百里香那種辛辣感，後面跟著一點茴香的甜，再底下一絲藥草的苦。無論是精油還是煮食，用很少量就足夠。但這股香氣在未加熱的時候，一直安靜地收在裡面。
你有沒有這樣的時候：一群人已經熱起來了，你還是冷靜地坐在旁邊，好像怎樣都投入不了。不是不想投入，只是狀態還沒到。那種時候很容易懷疑自己是不是哪裡有問題。
如果近日你因為自己不夠熱情而有點懷疑自己，請你記住：
慢熱從來不是缺陷。給自己一點時間，你仍然散發著獨有的魅力。
以香為語，安在當下。
A little warmth is all it takes.
In an Indian kitchen, ajowan does not go straight into the pot.
It is first toasted in a dry pan for thirty to sixty seconds, or flashed in very hot ghee, and only then added to the dish. The point of that step is to draw the oil out of the fruit; untoasted, it is only a few pale brown specks smaller than grains of rice, pungent and faintly bitter, with no scent to speak of.
What is worth noticing is the timing: thirty to sixty seconds. The time it needs over the heat is very short. It just cannot be none at all.
Ajowan has the pungency of thyme about it, a little of fennel's sweetness behind that, and a thread of herbal bitterness underneath. In the oil or in cooking, very little of it is needed. But until it is warmed, all of that scent stays quietly folded inside.
Have you known times like this: everyone around you has warmed up already, and you are still sitting there quite cool, unable, however you try, to join in. It is not that you do not want to. You are simply not there yet. At times like that it is easy to wonder whether something is wrong with you.
If you have been doubting yourself lately for not being warm enough, remember this:
Being slow to warm was never a flaw. Give yourself a little time; your own particular charm is still there.
𝘽𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩.