Agreed, working in the kitchen is all about figuring out how to do things in parallel without messing them up. You can chop and dice while the pot or pan is heating up, you can do the dishes while the sauce reduces, you can make a salad while meat rests, etc.

> In cooking there’s no such thing as waiting.

I tend to go hyper mis en place when I cook. So by the time "active" cooking is taking place, it's a pretty chill affair and I often end up reading my book in the bits of down time.

> So by the time "active" cooking is taking place, it's a pretty chill affair

Nice! As my mom used to say: A good cook leaves the kitchen cleaner than they found it.

I do a mix of mise-en-place and frantic chopping in between things. Depends on what I'm making and how the different activities gantt chart together.