I've been toying with the idea of a posting about adversity for quite sometime. Not just the word in its most elemental form but the concept of adversity and how it shapes your life. And since I write predominately about food, I have struggled to tie the subject together in a cohesive manner.
It is safe to say that everyone faces their own adversity at some point (or points) in their life. That one defining moment when you realize that there is a lot riding on your next few actions and the correct decision is not the easiest one available. As a chef or restaurateur, or anyone in the food service business really, you experience differing levels of adversity every day. Do you face the unhappy customer and admit that your product wasn't the best it could have been? Maybe you just learned that you had to pull a double because someone was too 'sick' to get to work...your feet are hurting so bad they throb and you will be hitting 50 hours in the first 3 days of your week. While directing my first really large, all-or-nothing type of event here in Springfield, I was faced with a decision for action that, if incorrect, would have not only cost my job but most likely my career. All I could do was make a decision, sit back and go with it. I still have a picture of me sitting on the stairs of the venue, waiting for the outcome to materialize.
While these scenarios are certainly stressful and provide a certain opportunity to show your mettle, I am most impressed by the person who faces real adversity yet perseveres. Sure, there are countless examples of people in history and on the news who have faced adversity but I challenge you to look a bit closer to home. Study...really study your family members, living or otherwise, and I bet you will find true examples of a person who confronted that proverbial fork-in-the-road and prevailed. I have opened my eyes a bit and have taken the time to study the people close to me and have been left with a great sense of amazement of the small, personal achievements that were hard fought yet go unnoticed. Take a look around...you will find the same things I have...and your life will be better for it.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Dinner From Last Night
When planning dinner, I usually eschew all things leftover. Its not that I don't think they are tasty, I am just over it. Leftovers are so yesterday (or the day before or the day before that). However, when you have Chorizo, Potato and Goat Cheese Tacos the night before, all general precepts of leftover usage are out the window.
As anyone who knows me will attest, I am a sucker for ground meats. Chorizo, the tasty sausage from Mexico or Spain (depending on whether it is cured or fresh, mostly) stands up there with things I love most...right behind my children and very much above my new dog is about where my love of chorizo sits.
Seeing as how I had bits of the taco fixings leftover from the night before, I decided to make a fritatta of Chorizo, Red Potato and Goat Cheese. Unfortunately, I grew lazy and opted for a basic scramble instead of the fritatta. Either way, it was tasty.
As anyone who knows me will attest, I am a sucker for ground meats. Chorizo, the tasty sausage from Mexico or Spain (depending on whether it is cured or fresh, mostly) stands up there with things I love most...right behind my children and very much above my new dog is about where my love of chorizo sits.
Seeing as how I had bits of the taco fixings leftover from the night before, I decided to make a fritatta of Chorizo, Red Potato and Goat Cheese. Unfortunately, I grew lazy and opted for a basic scramble instead of the fritatta. Either way, it was tasty.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Vanishing Act
Its been a couple weeks since I last posted...not because I don't have anything to say, I just haven't been in the correct frame of mind to actually post something worth reading. For me, posting to this site is as much an act of self-talk as it is the process of posting an occasional recipe. You see, each and every recipe I post to this site conjures up certain feelings and memories that, for whatever reason, I have associated with the dish.
Whenever I think of smoked meats, I not only reminisce about my stint as Sous Chef at the Norwich Inn (due to the giant smoker we had in the back) but I also am reminded of my life while living in Vermont. The trials and tribulations of trying to make a career for myself along with having a wife in law school and two small children are forever embedded in my food memory of smoked brisket and house made sausages. Its just how my brain is wired.
The other possible reason for my lack of posting is that I have become relatively obsessed with researching my familial roots. So much that I am often up way past midnight pouring through online records of family past, totally forsaking my need for general sleep. Much like my waxing and waning obsessions with certain types of food, this genealogy thing has gotten a bit out of hand!
Nevertheless, I am on the back swing to food and it feels good. A short diversion is all it took to get me back to the nature at hand.
Just in case you were wondering, I was able to make some connection, albeit rather vague, between my recent genealogy research and my cooking...with this picture of my late grandmother, Helen. Maybe my two mini-obsessions will combine, perfect storm style, to form one
mega-obsession....foodealogy?
Want to read more? Follow Full Flavor and subscribe to the RSS Feed, receive email updates or check back often
Whenever I think of smoked meats, I not only reminisce about my stint as Sous Chef at the Norwich Inn (due to the giant smoker we had in the back) but I also am reminded of my life while living in Vermont. The trials and tribulations of trying to make a career for myself along with having a wife in law school and two small children are forever embedded in my food memory of smoked brisket and house made sausages. Its just how my brain is wired.
The other possible reason for my lack of posting is that I have become relatively obsessed with researching my familial roots. So much that I am often up way past midnight pouring through online records of family past, totally forsaking my need for general sleep. Much like my waxing and waning obsessions with certain types of food, this genealogy thing has gotten a bit out of hand!
Nevertheless, I am on the back swing to food and it feels good. A short diversion is all it took to get me back to the nature at hand.
Just in case you were wondering, I was able to make some connection, albeit rather vague, between my recent genealogy research and my cooking...with this picture of my late grandmother, Helen. Maybe my two mini-obsessions will combine, perfect storm style, to form one
mega-obsession....foodealogy?
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