Contemplations

I have been trying to find my place in the world of cooking. Long contemplation of quieting and doing something else that brings in more bread have occupied my mind. Does the stove win the match this time around? Then I see a smiling face biting into something I created and it refreshes my vision. It is what I love.

Food is what I think about when I wake up and before I go to bed. Not in the sense of what I want to cook next but what I am yearning to learn. Its hard for me to see myself in a static kitchen pumping out the same boring dish hundred of times in a shift. I want variety, robust flavor, and knock your socks off tongue teasers. This is what I hope to find on the outside but going deeper I saw that something even more magnificent exists. What I truly yearn for is the experience. Now some would say go get a job in a kitchen somewhere. See how they do things and get a feel for the business. All I see are factories pumping out the same mediocre plates to all those desensitized folk with no sense of what great food is. Experience in my book is not producing fuel to sustain human daily activity. It is simply working side by side that frail, short Thai woman with broken English pounding and grinding down fresh ingredients to create curry paste. How about that cranky grandmother rolling out her pristine pie crust that will eventual house fresh rhubarb awesomeness? We cant forget that lady who says use a little bit of this, a little bit of that and then the food makes you lapse into a coma of pure bliss. Now that is experience. I have had my far share of these moments but I am always looking for more. Hoping someone will see my eyes light up with child like joy over a scrumptious chocolate bar. I have been getting to know Gabrielle Hamilton, owner of Prune, and how she brought people and food together from her book. It was ultimately her life experience that brought her customers not extravagant culinary training from the top chefs in the world. The world became her teacher. So with all this in my head I push forward on my journey. I remind myself that the voyage is just as important as the end result.

Im not trying to win a popularity contest, become "The Next Food Network Star", trump Rachel Ray in her magazine sales, or have thousands of subscribers. The purpose? To share my passion for great tasting food and to bring people together through sharing experience. I hope all of you who have been following my progressions see that food is more than fuel, it feeds the soul!