“Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom.”
- Shirley Conran

I have to disagree.

And yes, there’s a business Aesop at the end of all this. But for now, mushrooms.

Now, I am an enthusiastic if untalented chef. Eating good food is one of life’s great pleasures, and I like to create interesting meals.

Last Friday, I tried recreating something I’d eaten in Cornwall, and it was pretty successful. Here’s how it goes (serves 2):

Take 4 portobello mushrooms, the really big meaty ones. Chop off the stalks.

Brush a baking tray with oil, heat the oven to 200C (everything cooks at 200) and pop them in for 10-15 minutes.

While they’re baking, grate some good strong blue cheese. If you don’t like blue cheese, then use good strong not-blue cheese.

Make some breadcrumbs by whizzing a slice of bread in a food processor. Chop up some sun-dried tomatoes and mix with the breadcrumbs.

After 10-15 minutes, take the mushrooms out and fill them with piles of the grated cheese. Really let it pile up. Put them back in the oven for 5 minutes. The cheese should be melty. Now cover each with the breadcrumb-tomato mixture.

Put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes. When they come out, the mushrooms should be fully cooked and the breadcrumbs crispy.

I served it with a ratatouille, because that’s what I had stuff for in the fridge.

It was delicious, and remarkably easy to do. You should totally try cooking it.

And while I was cooking it, here’s the number of times I thought about marketing: 0.

If you’ve got your own business, you know how much it can take over your life. And that’s natural. Every entrepreneur I’ve met is the same. After all, this is your livelihood. If you weren’t hardwired to do your best to improve, you wouldn’t last in this world very long.

But that said, every mind needs a break. It lets you ignore things like invoices and customers and marketing plans, and when you come back to them, you come back refreshed, ready to take on the world and win. For me, it’s cooking. Time spent cooking is time I don’t feel guilty about not spending on work (after all, we all need to eat). For you, it might be something else. But it should be something.

Your business is important. But every now and then, it’s worth taking the time to stuff a mushroom.