You could see this as any of the following:
a) The end of all your New Year’s resolutions about productivity.
b) How you can cook more in 2007!
c) A comforting reminder that cooking is actually much easier than playing video games.

A copy of Cooking Mama for Nintendo DS (Nintendo’s handheld game console) was waiting for me in the mail last night from a friend who must think I deserve a night out of the kitchen.

In Cooking Mama, you can create up to 76 dishes–from miso soup to Salisbury Steak–under the auspices of Mama, who guides you through a series of mini-games in which you chop, peel, measure, mix, and cook your ingredients…with a time limit, of course. Crimp all your shrimp gyoza in the time allotted and you’re on your way to a gold medal. Spill spaghetti in the sink or burn the dumplings and watch flames shoot out of Mama’s eyes, accompanied by the caption “Don’t worry, Mama will fix it.”

It’s fun retreating into a fantasy kitchen where my knife skills are brilliant, where my virtual fingers are always tucked in, and where overzealousness is never punished with a sliced hand. On the other hand, I suddenly have new appreciation for the mundane and unfrenzied act of peeling a potato, and the fact that I don’t have to blow at intervals on a pot of spaghetti to cook it properly.

There is some educational potential here, especially for children just learning how to cook. If competitive cooking is more your style, a sequel called Cooking Mama: Cook Off for the Nintendo Wii is planned for release this year.