In the culinary world, Mise en Place is a term for the preparation of ingredients needed in order to make a dish: the measurement of spices, slicing, dicing and mincing of vegetables, sorted into separate vessels, and ready to be incorporated into a recipe.

In my “kitchen”, ingredients are rarely ever in place. They’re frequently missing, have the wrong measurements, or added in the wrong order. I have to make substitutions. The heating element is out of order. The pilot light is out. The oven’s too cold. The timer doesn’t go off. The oven door is open too soon and my soufflé collapses.

My timing is always off. I’m never in the right place at the right time. I’m always a day late and a dollar short, even though I’m running twice as fas...

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