It takes a unique individual to want to be a chef. There is a great physical and mental toll on you as you are consistently working long hours and will work for long stretches before having a day off. My current stretch had been six days of fourteen hours a day. Each day filled with non-stop action and incredible amounts of learning.
So yesterday I woke up and decided to treat myself to a massage after having slept for fourteen hours. I usually sleep around six. I usually get a massage about once a year. The one I had yesterday felt great though today I am in a little bit of pain and by a little you should read that my lower back feels as if a voodoo doll has my name on it somewhere and there are pins being placed in my lower left side. It is excruciating but I know that the benefit of the massage far outweighs the current pain. Some of which relates to an accident I had as a kid and the way that the temperature changes so quickly. It causes my back to expand and contract (as yours does too though you are probably unaware of it). The masseuse asked where my trouble spots were and I told her, hands, feet and lower back. After touching them for only a moment she knew that I spent most of my time on my feet. As she got to my hands she apologized that she was unable to do more for them and noticed that they were especially tight. (File that under extremely obvious… to me anyway).
After that I was feeling quite amazing. I came home and worked on my blog post from yesterday. The massage was having an impact on me and I had to go lay down for a while. It is nice to be able to listen to my bodies’ needs and desires. It is something that I have not done most of my life and have just kept pushing myself but I am now realizing the importance of downtime for my body AND my mind.
Short nap concluded I started to read through Michel Bras’ “Essential Cuisine.” Michel Bras is INSANELY talented. I only got into the book a little and will write more when I get a chance. Needless to say he is opening my eyes to a level of food that I aspire too (as are Alfred Portale, Heston Blumenthal, The Troisgros and Roux Brothers, not too mention Executive and Head Chefs among many others).
I wanted to take the time to write this post this morning before going to work as I may not have time later.
Another thing I wanted to include in yesterdays post but slipped my mind was how aware you need to be to be a chef. The other night after a long day at work I asked Head Chef if I could have a drink. He asked how many I had had that day and I responded none. He asked me to speak again and I said that after working a long day a drink is nice and that I’m not going to stop at a bar on the way home. He said yes. As I was changing into my civies I realized that one of Exec Chef’s friends had given me a sip of a beautiful full bodied red. I came out to Head Chef and mentioned that I had had a sip and that I was an honest person and it had slipped my mind. I had had the sip perhaps half an hour before and I remarked that it was amazing that he could still smell it. He then gave me an example of awareness that baked my noodle (Remember there is no spoon). He said not only am I aware of that sip, I can also smell a horrible perfume about thirty feet that way. Beef smells are still lingering and I can smell sea food. All of this caused me to see that I need to awaken my senses even more and I need to be a student of them.
I’ve come to realize through the love and support of my friends what my life is supposed to be. This realization or eureka moment if you will has really freed me from my past. It has opened the door to my present and set me on a course for the future. At the end of each of my posts I ask you what your dream is. What is your dream? Are you willing to work for it? Can you focus on it? Try! Look deep within yourself, then have conversations with those around you, you will see that the universe has a wonderful way of helping you once you have clarity. So today seek some clarity and dream inspired. Dream big.
T.E. Lawrence once said; “All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”
Try to open your eyes today and realize that possibility is only one step away. Can you take that step?
Be inspired today!
A la prochaine
SDM
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