Mantra (file under awakening)

So I’ve been reading a lot this year. I would say that I’m reading a book every three days. Most of them are food related but others are related to becoming a better man, a better lover, a better friend and true to myself a better cook (can’t quite call myself a Chef and even when I can I think I’d rather be thought of as a cook). I’ve been reading everything from James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” to The Dalai Lama, Osho and Einstein just to name a few. You know a little light reading. At any rate, it really does feel wonderful to be on the path that I’m on. Life is revealing to me that the universe works in wonderful ways and that I am more than just a cog in the wheel of my life. I am the wheel. So let’s roll!

At the start of each day I write a note at the top of my notebook. For example on April 12th I wrote; “Love is my teacher, passion my guide and life my resource and I AM THAT!” These Mantras are a great way to frame my day and direct my mind in the right direction.

I’ve started tracking everything at work. I track the products that come in, the weight, whether they were of good quality or just so so (not that it happens but when it does I send it back to the supplier). I’ve started tracking the yields of the stocks that I make as well as the demi that is produced. By tracking all this I am able to get a good idea of whats needed in the future based on the knowledge that I have of the seats in our restaurant and the number that are filled for service. This is absolutely invaluable to me and the mission that I have.

I have also started paying attention to things such as product weight as it relates to the portion costs. L and I were having a conversation about it in relation to cheese. I was cutting the cheese (lol) for a cheese platter to be served at brunch. Looking at it he said that I should cut the cheese differently as the sizes I was cutting would force the customer to take my big size whereas if I cut it smaller they would take two or three but that was roughly equivalent to the size that I was originally cutting. It might make a four cent difference on that particular piece of cheese. But when you are cutting two thousand pieces. It all adds up. And this is something that I need to become more aware of. If you want to own your own restaurant you need to have a perfect understanding of where every dollar goes. Even if it is one cent at a time.

So here is my two cents for each of you today brought to you by none other than Osho; “Any human being who is becoming independent of conditionings, of religions, scriptures, prophets and messiahs, has arrived home. He has found the treasure which was hidden in his own being.” I have found the treasure inside my own being by accepting what was inside me all the time. I have become the man I always wanted to be. Are you willing to look inside your being?

Dream big and inspired. I will be back with more in a few minutes.

A la prochaine

SDM

We’re All Just Sensitive People (file under With So Much To Give)

I want to start this post by saying that I’m so proud of the love of my life, my future wife and the mother of our children for the great success she has had in NYC. Babe, I’m so proud of you. I knew that you would kick ass and you did, have and will continue to. You are a true rarified and unique gem and I’m grateful to know you, to be with you and to share love with you. You are amazing. That said…

What does it mean to feel? To taste? Smell? Hear? What does it mean when one person likes one thing and another something else? I know that these questions might seem like a reductum ad absurdum but I assure you they are not. In the kitchen I now find myself wondering why what is crunchy to one is not to another. How the sound is heard, analyzed and internalized. Flavour is an easy one because every one has a different palate and different taste sensations. Is everything that I am doing now subjective? Or is there objectivity? Is there a way to create a universally appealing dish? Anyone? These are questions that I have running through my head at least eighteen hours a day.

Another question I have running through my head right now is; if you could have any meal what would it be? I’ve now come to expand it to any meal at any time. Before expanding it my answer was the Emperor’s Banquet inside the Forbidden City. I know that at this particular moment given the fact that China has the Olympics and that there are all kinds of geo political forces at work that it may not be the politically correct answer but really. The Emperor’s feast. For those of you who are unaware of what the Emperor’s Feast is just go here; http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=234 . Now obviously the feast has changed a bit. But still can you imagine being a party to something like that even today.

In terms of the historical context it is hard for me to decide which meal I would want and in what time period. There are so many people that I would love to have dinner with from history that the question could literally take ten lifetimes for me to answer. What about you? What meal would you want?

So in the past week I have read about four hundred and fifty very dense pages on the culinary arts. I didn’t write yesterday because I was trying to figure out how best to present it to you. I decided to give a salient top down view of what I’ve learned.

Obviously I wrote last week about the culinary journey I took around the world. That journey now complete I have started trying to figure out if there is a way to mix, as example) traditional Polish food with French? Or Japanese with Southern? Or you get the idea. Food is meant to be played with, experimented with and enjoyed. If you enjoy something from one culture and another, why not find a way to marry the two. Harmony of course being the goal. I believe that the answer to harmony will come from being true to the ingredient, exposing its strength as well as its weakness and letting the palate work it all out. But we’ll see as time goes by how that changes for me.

I learned all proteins as well. The various cuts, what they are used for and some of their flavour profiles. On my next day off I will spend some time explaining further. As it is right now, I’m going to study.

I hope you all are doing well. I trust that you are all working on isolating your dream and taking the first steps to get there.

The Dalai Lama once said; “I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”

I hope you all find inner peace. I have and am grateful to those both outside and inside the kitchen that have helped me find it.

Dream inspired.

A la prochaine

SDM