"Pleasant task" sounds like an oxymoron to me. We have video games now, the spectrum for "pleasant" has shifted and household tasks are toward the bottom.

I don't believe cooking has spare moments, eg there is never a time when I could take out my phone and watch something for 30 seconds. I think that means I am filling the spare moments with efficient task scheduling (chop while sauteing) and washing dishes is just making it take longer.