Machiavelli once wrote; “The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.” How true?
When I was working at Reservation there was a fair amount of politics. The politics that existed between the front of the house and the back of the house. The politics that occurred between the entire front of the house. That of the back of the house. That of suppliers. Customers, etc. Politics abounds everywhere.
One of the things that always occurs to me is that in our society we exist largely in a meritocracy. I say largely because in theory we exist only in a meritocracy. Though both you and I know that this is far from true in any meaningful sense. Although it is a great idea to cling to.
At Reservation, there was an excessive amount of politics. There were those that were the elite and were treated as such. Then there were the plebes and then the slaves. As I look back at it now, though a good experience, I was nothing more than a slave. Please understand that this is nothing more than an observation. I was a willing participant and allowed myself to be taken advantage of. What that says about me is a whole different matter.
Now, at Without Reservation, I am watching as the ugly face of politics is trying to unseat the very real progress that I have made. The disconnect between the front of house and back of house is a little less so than it was at Reservation. However, the politics at Without Reservation seem somehow more vitriolic. More designed to instill pain and suffering and in my opinion it is because of a complete lack of understanding as to how a kitchen runs.
There are always going to be differences between colleagues for any number of reasons that are too many to list here but I am considering each and every one of them. As I am getting older I am able (for perhaps the first time in my life) to remove myself from the rabble rousing and saber rattling. For the most part because engaging in the politics of the workplace does absolutely nothing to help me, to advance my career or to help me get to where I am going. As a point of personal privilege here I would also like to say that I don’t consider what I am doing as a career. I think it is a personal choice that I have made to bring happiness, joy, satisfaction and the like into my life.
My fervent desire is that I see the political issues lesson as time goes forward. My belief is that they probably won’t. However, knowing this arms me with a massive amount of knowledge and leaves me the ability to formulate my next move. A lot like chess or war really. What would Sun Tzu say?
At any rate, as I consider this, I know that I am becoming something closer to what I have always longed to be. And though we are all political animals (in the Animal Farm Napoleon kind of way) I think that my lack of participation in the entanglements of politics is actually making me a better person.
Orwell wrote in Animal Farm; "All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings."
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Considerations (file under Life… A work in Progress)
I realize now that I have revealed very little of myself in a historical context. I have given little snippets here and there, but not much else. That is something I will remedy when I get a chance. Probably when I am doing my year in review around the end of January. But I bring this up because I beseech all of you, at the end of each post, asking, are you dreaming big and inspired. Look back and you will see that with the exception of three or four posts I absolutely beseech you to find you. Moreover I also say A la prochaine. This too is something that is indicative of who I am. I mention this because I wanted to share a poem with you that has been running through my mind a lot lately;
Dylan Thomas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas ) wrote “ Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” ;
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I have hit numerous obstacles in my life. And since I was a boy I remember thinking to myself, even as young as thirteen or fourteen, that Thomas was absolutely right when he wrote this piece. I’m sure to each and every one of you reading this the meaning is personal and varied. For me it is a great jumping off point to look at my own personal life considerations, truly a work in progress, and what it is I want to achieve AND I assure you I HAVE NEVER GONE GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT, NOR WILL I.
I am almost thirty four years old. I long for stability and work towards it every day. Mindful that life will almost always certainly throw a curve ball at you here and there. It is not the curve that is important but rather how you deal with it that defines who you are. But I digress.
Currently, I am looking at marriage (January 2010), a potential move to NYC to further my culinary career (and possibly be closer to the love of my life), how I want to get to where I want to go and the list goes on and on. I am considering, as an adult (loath though I may be to find myself becoming one at the tender age of 33) the things that adults consider. I am looking at the past, the opportunities that I have had, have made use of and have screwed up either through my own faults or none at all and what does it all mean. My culinary journey is the result of figuring out for myself that there is much more to life than the pursuit of money, comfort, status and the like. Things I have never been motivated by at all. Instead I find myself defining my meaning through a personal purpose, my own desire, to be honest, to work a hard day and come home fulfilled. I live each day as if I am raging against the dying of the light and to my good fortune the light always seems to return.
So where am I going with all this? What do I do? Do I screw off to Europe for six months next year while C is in NYC? Do I stay on the course that I am on? Continue working the line until I find the next place? How do I create meaningful relationships in a professional sense that are based on mutual respect and esteem (something which has always dogged me)? How do I fulfill my own timeline with respect to where I want to be? This is just a few of the life considerations that I am looking at right now. I guess a part of me is going through the exercise of putting this on paper so that you can ALL see that answers only come to those that ask the questions. Dreams are only realized by those that dare to dream them and have the audacity to work toward their fulfillment. It is not merely enough to state the dream. YOU MUST WORK AT IT!
Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest for the moment. Back shortly with another post.
Charles F. Kettering once said; “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Dylan Thomas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas ) wrote “ Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” ;
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I have hit numerous obstacles in my life. And since I was a boy I remember thinking to myself, even as young as thirteen or fourteen, that Thomas was absolutely right when he wrote this piece. I’m sure to each and every one of you reading this the meaning is personal and varied. For me it is a great jumping off point to look at my own personal life considerations, truly a work in progress, and what it is I want to achieve AND I assure you I HAVE NEVER GONE GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT, NOR WILL I.
I am almost thirty four years old. I long for stability and work towards it every day. Mindful that life will almost always certainly throw a curve ball at you here and there. It is not the curve that is important but rather how you deal with it that defines who you are. But I digress.
Currently, I am looking at marriage (January 2010), a potential move to NYC to further my culinary career (and possibly be closer to the love of my life), how I want to get to where I want to go and the list goes on and on. I am considering, as an adult (loath though I may be to find myself becoming one at the tender age of 33) the things that adults consider. I am looking at the past, the opportunities that I have had, have made use of and have screwed up either through my own faults or none at all and what does it all mean. My culinary journey is the result of figuring out for myself that there is much more to life than the pursuit of money, comfort, status and the like. Things I have never been motivated by at all. Instead I find myself defining my meaning through a personal purpose, my own desire, to be honest, to work a hard day and come home fulfilled. I live each day as if I am raging against the dying of the light and to my good fortune the light always seems to return.
So where am I going with all this? What do I do? Do I screw off to Europe for six months next year while C is in NYC? Do I stay on the course that I am on? Continue working the line until I find the next place? How do I create meaningful relationships in a professional sense that are based on mutual respect and esteem (something which has always dogged me)? How do I fulfill my own timeline with respect to where I want to be? This is just a few of the life considerations that I am looking at right now. I guess a part of me is going through the exercise of putting this on paper so that you can ALL see that answers only come to those that ask the questions. Dreams are only realized by those that dare to dream them and have the audacity to work toward their fulfillment. It is not merely enough to state the dream. YOU MUST WORK AT IT!
Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest for the moment. Back shortly with another post.
Charles F. Kettering once said; “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Love’s Return (file under I’m in Love)
As many of you may or may not know, the love of my life is currently doing a program at Stella Adler in NYC. Since September she and I have only been in the same place at the same time for five days. It’s been quite a semester for her. I am so proud of C for living her dream. Having the courage, in spite of great difficulty, to spread her wings and soar, in the pursuit of something more. Something that is hers and hers alone. So I just wanted to say congratulations to her and to all of you that have the courage, drive and determination to stick with it even in the face of great obstacles. Her reward, tonight, is a brilliant home cooked meal, by none other than myself of course.
Tonight she is getting a potato leek soup and a goat cheese and leek stuffed chicken in a chive white wine butter sauce. There will of course be wine, laughing and loving. Congrats babe and welcome home, even if only for a while. And, moreover, I could not be more proud of what you have achieved and more abundantly proud for what I have watched you become. Keep growing, keep shining and keep being the you I know you to be.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.”
A la prochaine
SDM
Tonight she is getting a potato leek soup and a goat cheese and leek stuffed chicken in a chive white wine butter sauce. There will of course be wine, laughing and loving. Congrats babe and welcome home, even if only for a while. And, moreover, I could not be more proud of what you have achieved and more abundantly proud for what I have watched you become. Keep growing, keep shining and keep being the you I know you to be.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.”
A la prochaine
SDM
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Trans Fat (file under the winds of change)
We live in a time of massive change on multiple levels. Many have no idea what Trans Fat is and why it is both an issue and important. For a good Trans Fat primer go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat .
I bring this up because I believe that slowly but surely the winds of change are sweeping away the use of Trans Fat, at first voluntarily and now through both consumer demand and regulation. I, as almost every other food provider, am guilty of using Trans Fats in cooking (primarily in the fat fryer) and am proud to let you know that we have no switched over to a Trans Fat reduced product.
As many of you may or may not be aware there is a movement in the United States http://www.bantransfats.com/ to completely ban trans fat, which to my point of view, is a VERY good thing, not to mention necessary. Cities, towns and even states are moving to ban or reduce the level of trans fat in our food, notably, New York City and more recently California. It has come to my attention that the City of Toronto is asking food service providers to voluntarily reduce or completely remove trans fat from menus. A voluntary ban in my experience eventually leads to regulation which requires it. But it is important to note that food giant are paying attention and responding to consumer demands, such as is the case with Kraft Foods (http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/HealthyLiving/Articles/NutritionBasics/TransFatUpdate.html ).
If you check out the two sources that I have provided you will see that this is an issue that is going to become very prominent in the next few years. I feel that the most important thing that we can do as consumers is to be educated so that we can make our own decisions. For me personally I would like to see the use of Trans Fat banned completely as one of the controllable factors of poor health in North America. But you let me know.
The World Health Organization states in “WHO global strategy on diet, physical activity and health: South-East Asia regional consultation meeting report, New Delhi, India, 10- 12 March 2003” that; “Multiple studies have corroborated that trans-fatty acids are probably one of the most dangerous elements in the diet for atherosclerotic risk, as they have a combined effect of increasing LDL cholesterol and decreasing protective HDL. Deep-fried fast foods and baked goods containing hydrogenated fats are major sources."
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
SDM
I bring this up because I believe that slowly but surely the winds of change are sweeping away the use of Trans Fat, at first voluntarily and now through both consumer demand and regulation. I, as almost every other food provider, am guilty of using Trans Fats in cooking (primarily in the fat fryer) and am proud to let you know that we have no switched over to a Trans Fat reduced product.
As many of you may or may not be aware there is a movement in the United States http://www.bantransfats.com/ to completely ban trans fat, which to my point of view, is a VERY good thing, not to mention necessary. Cities, towns and even states are moving to ban or reduce the level of trans fat in our food, notably, New York City and more recently California. It has come to my attention that the City of Toronto is asking food service providers to voluntarily reduce or completely remove trans fat from menus. A voluntary ban in my experience eventually leads to regulation which requires it. But it is important to note that food giant are paying attention and responding to consumer demands, such as is the case with Kraft Foods (http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/HealthyLiving/Articles/NutritionBasics/TransFatUpdate.html ).
If you check out the two sources that I have provided you will see that this is an issue that is going to become very prominent in the next few years. I feel that the most important thing that we can do as consumers is to be educated so that we can make our own decisions. For me personally I would like to see the use of Trans Fat banned completely as one of the controllable factors of poor health in North America. But you let me know.
The World Health Organization states in “WHO global strategy on diet, physical activity and health: South-East Asia regional consultation meeting report, New Delhi, India, 10- 12 March 2003” that; “Multiple studies have corroborated that trans-fatty acids are probably one of the most dangerous elements in the diet for atherosclerotic risk, as they have a combined effect of increasing LDL cholesterol and decreasing protective HDL. Deep-fried fast foods and baked goods containing hydrogenated fats are major sources."
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
SDM
Lament for a Potato (file under Spud Killer)
Only a Mick,
Such as I,
Would hold court,
To lament the fallen spud,
Fallen by my own hand,
Only to reveal,
The potato phoenix,
Reborn into something new and beautiful,
Tasty and bountiful,
In this year passed,
I have been the judge, jury and executioner,
Of too many to count,
And their death,
Most certainly not for not,
As I have transformed their rugged beauty,
Their palette of flavour to reveal,
With delight,
Mash, medallion and fry,
I have taken them to a Zen like state,
From which joy abounds,
For those that receive it.
Only a Mick,
Such as I,
Could possibly lament,
For the potatoes that I have killed,
Only to rebirth them into something more fantastic,
Something more appealing,
Something revealing,
That from one comes another,
And from another comes pleasure divine,
Only a Mick such as I,
Would redefine Ambrosia,
To now become,
The potato and its many uses,
And in its death,
Finding beauty,
I still lament,
As I accept,
My fate and theirs,
To something more.
Only a Mick such as I,
Could take something,
Which once starved an entire population,
Strangling it and forcing the perilous journey across the Atlantic,
To new and wonderful worlds,
And like the potato I now lament,
Onto ever greater things,
The manifest destiny,
Of mash or fry,
Shepherds pie,
And ever more.
Fear not potato,
You have not lived in vain,
For though I lament,
I too celebrate,
Your simple beauty and truth,
And all the joy that you can bring,
As I transform you,
And in so doing,
Become transformed myself.
An old Irish Proverb states; "Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony."
SDM
Such as I,
Would hold court,
To lament the fallen spud,
Fallen by my own hand,
Only to reveal,
The potato phoenix,
Reborn into something new and beautiful,
Tasty and bountiful,
In this year passed,
I have been the judge, jury and executioner,
Of too many to count,
And their death,
Most certainly not for not,
As I have transformed their rugged beauty,
Their palette of flavour to reveal,
With delight,
Mash, medallion and fry,
I have taken them to a Zen like state,
From which joy abounds,
For those that receive it.
Only a Mick,
Such as I,
Could possibly lament,
For the potatoes that I have killed,
Only to rebirth them into something more fantastic,
Something more appealing,
Something revealing,
That from one comes another,
And from another comes pleasure divine,
Only a Mick such as I,
Would redefine Ambrosia,
To now become,
The potato and its many uses,
And in its death,
Finding beauty,
I still lament,
As I accept,
My fate and theirs,
To something more.
Only a Mick such as I,
Could take something,
Which once starved an entire population,
Strangling it and forcing the perilous journey across the Atlantic,
To new and wonderful worlds,
And like the potato I now lament,
Onto ever greater things,
The manifest destiny,
Of mash or fry,
Shepherds pie,
And ever more.
Fear not potato,
You have not lived in vain,
For though I lament,
I too celebrate,
Your simple beauty and truth,
And all the joy that you can bring,
As I transform you,
And in so doing,
Become transformed myself.
An old Irish Proverb states; "Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony."
SDM
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