Everything in Its Place

So after the disaster with the avocado soup, I decided to buy 101 Things I Learned in Culinary School. I want to be prepared for the next time I'm met with a fat/acid scenario or any range of problems that an experienced cook anticipates. The book arrived this morning and the first lesson that's a good one for me is the practice of mise en place (MEEZ en plahs).

From the book:

Everything needed to prepare a recipe or to be used during a cook's shift--recipes, ingredients, utensils, pots and pans, stocks, sauces, serviceware, and so on--must be planned for, gathered, and pre-prepped before direction preparation begins. Mise en place--French for "everything in its place"--allows a cook to work in a state of constant readiness without having to stop to find or assemble basic items.

This explains a lot in my cooking world, like why short weeknight dinners that should only take 20 minutes prep and cooking time start to finish take me 45 minutes. I don't prep everything ahead of time. On The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Ree Drummond's first sequential photo is always of the ingredients assembled and waiting. I assumed it was an artistic choice, but now I realize it's probably intentional. It would make things move more quickly if I prepared everything ahead of time: ingredients assembled, vegetables chopped, pans at the ready.

For that matter, it would probably be an effective life philosophy too. To mise en place!