Perfection

Much has been discussed throughout history with regards to perfection. An ever-elusive goal, perfection has been the siren's call for mankind. A conversation for philosophers, artists, engineers and Chefs alike.  For sure, there is no more innately human quest than for the compass setting to reach the elusive shores of perfection through the rocky, turbulent coastline of achievement. Sadly, (and somewhat discouragingly) when you consider that the carrot on the end of the stick will always remain unattainable, perfection is most commonly equated with an abstract scaling towards that which is good. The thought that a tangible, perfect item exists is erroneous; exponentially so when you factor in the plurality of everyone's individual ideals of perfection, and infinitely so when you factor in the ideals of perfection throughout the ages.  Many things elude to, but fall short of, the destination. Perfection is indefinable. It all (and we all) miss the mark. Instead it might be wiser to view perfection as a journey; a search for perfection whose path is paved with imperfect stones. Perfection, ironically enough, is easiest to find when looking at something done wrong. And what better place to find a kitchen anecdote than here?

It was a day like any other; production for the day’s service was moving along, for the most part. Today's perpetrators were lollygagging in their work, thinking that they were better prepared than they were (as is always the case). So, they were not moving at an optimal speed for success, nor were they paying proper attention to detail; not ideal characteristics for successful cooks. Unfortunately this particular station was all about details in advance, it was my garde manger station. And the task at hand was the ever humbling crouton. You see a crouton, when done correctly, is a beautifully cut dice (in this case) of bread which has been carefully trimmed of the crust and sauteed in butter until a golden brown crunchy pillow of bread is produced. They go on a salad (in this case).

Well that's the way I would like them anyway...in my perfect world. But, it’s not a perfect world, RIGHT?

As it turned out the rampant torpidity had caused the station to fall behind and the cooks make a last ditch effort to catch up. With time fleeting and no time to do the job properly, vis a vis saute the croutons in butter, the anxious cook tossed the delicate cubes onto a sheet tray, drizzled them sporadically with half melted butter and dismissed them into the oven. SLAM. The minutes passed when an attentive cook would have remembered to pull the mise en place out of the oven for service. A distracted cook might have even remembered to pull them when the first order for the salad came into the kitchen. However this kitchen "Nero" has the capacity to neglect them joyfully until a billow of smoke made everyone in the kitchen painfully aware that the guest would be waiting more than a few minutes for their simple salad.

Moments later the cook approached.

“Chef? Is this too burnt?” smoldering sheet tray in hand.
I don't know, what does one say at a time like this. The waste of time and resource, the disillusioned guest...

“No Nero, it's not too burnt....you burnt it perfectly.”
"So what should I do?" crocodile tears began begging for a lifeline.
"Again." I paused, "You should do them again."
"Really?" he questioned. "Again? Are you serious?"
"As far as you know Nero, I've never lied to you. So yes, again."
"Chef, why do you keep calling me 'Nero'?" he paused.
"Look it up. You might learn something. Right now, I want my croutons!"

It's amazing how fast a cook can produce croutons when they need to; especially when compared to the inordinate amount of time he fiddled about when carbonizing the first batch.

Can true perfection be achieved? Depends on how you look at it. If it is a perfect perfect than no. Objective, absolute perfection cannot be achieved in that abstract "good" way,. There will always be a flaw. Don’t fool yourself, you are not perfect. What you do is not perfect. Nor is anyone else for that matter. And if you think otherwise that’s just pride talking. Intrinsically we know this; even our superheros that we create have innate, built in flaws that somehow make us relate to them and feel better about ourselves. Instead, you should be realistic and know you will never attain perfection, but you might come closer than before or even closer than anyone else. But know this, you will move towards but never arrive at your destination. Take heart though, it is that pursuit which makes it worthwhile. Look forward to the time when you are less imperfect than you are now.

Absolute objective perfection…not a reality, not in this world anyway. Everything and everyone is, to some degree, imperfect. Embrace it, learn from it. Unless of course you are talking about a perfect imperfection...than yes, there are plenty of those already.

One in a Million

I have to say that throughout my life I have had a chance to encounter a broad variety of people and not one of them the same; we are in fact, unique. While our uniqueness quite often is taken as a priceless commodity, it is commonly translated into the misconception that we are indispensable. It is true there is no one like you, but that is not to say there is not some one out there who can replace you. In this competitive world, you need to decide what kind of one-in-a-million you are. Are you the hard working stand out one-in-a-million or the standing still with all the others, one-in-a-million? In order for you to set yourself apart, and in one way or another you will, you must decide which you are. It begins with this simple choice, your personal answer depends quite frankly on how you read the phrase,  "I am deserving..." Are you deserving in that you are working towards it, or are you deserving because you are there and entitled to it? In fact, do you do what you say, or say what you do? Moreover, how you responsd will continually define you throughout your career and life.
     Anyone who knows me knows I love my dishwashing staff. As a chef, I know there is no other more important position in the kitchen than that of this overlooked manual laborer.  The magnificent hum of a well orchestrated kitchen is nothing if this essential position is not operating at its peak efficiency . Needless to say, I treat my dishwashers well. That is not to say however that they themselves are indispensable, just the task. Just like everyone.

It was a typical Saturday night, so I thought, and the kitchen was getting hot and heavy into the first seating. Orders were coming in, the kitchen fervor building and from what I could tell from our first seating, it was going to be a great night. 
As we got into it however, it became apparent to me that one of our teams was not keeping up. Strange, it was a Saturday, I had my best in the kitchen. The laggards were in fact the dishwashing crew. The cooks on the line began to clamor for saute pans, and the wait staff for glasses and cutlery as we tried to regroup for the next big push. 
"A little faster there boys" as I shot a passing update, " we're gonna be busy here."
There was a slight uptick in one of the young gentlemen, trying to comply. He was a solid kid, always going above and beyond no matter what the job. They called him "Ardilla", I think it means squirrel in Spanish, because he was always keeping busy. A true "one in a million". But, what I noticed next was disturbing. The "head" dishwasher put his hand on his shoulder and scolded him, "No, slow." Ardilla looked crushed. He loved his job, but it soon became apparent the crew had decided to, as a team, slow down.
"Come on guys, I need you to pick up the pace. We are getting busy here!" The waitstaff was now bordering on panic as they tried to retrieve the glasses and flatware to reset the tables for the next turn. And quite frankly my sphincter was tightening up as I saw all the saute pans piled up not being washed; the kitchen printer began to whir....orders started coming in.
"Chef, we want to talk to you." the "head"dishwasher chimed in, almost on cue as we got slammed.
"Later sunshine, once we feed all these people."
" No Chef, we'll talk now" By now, they were at a dead stop. I was pissed to say the least. I won't go into my ability to treat someone well, but I will tell you they were well compensated individuals. I would feed them whatever they ordered and I would purposefully overstaff so I could give people a proper break or let someone go home if they wished or needed to; I was a good boss to have. All I expected in  return was good solid work. Well, as a side note and unbenounced to me, the crew had a gentleman who helped them get into the country, get them papers, and lodge them. In return, they gave him their paycheck and got a little in return to live on. They supposed if they could get a raise without him knowing, they could keep the difference; a fact I would find out in the near future, but a story for a different time. Right now, we were in service.
"You are kidding me right!?! We need to talk RIGHT NOW!?! Right now or what!?!" I was done being nice and out of the corner of my eye I noticed the whole kitchen was now on edge, including my "Ardilla".
"Or no more work." The ringleader now presented his hand. The rest of the crew, save one, folded their arms and stopped moving.
"Oh, I get it. You're not going to work? Unless I suppose I give you more money?" I affirmed.
"SI!" The crew nodded, again save one. I'll let you guess who.
There was more than a little tension in the kitchen at this point, everyone was screaming for the things they needed. My dishwashing crew had a lever right up my fulcrum at this point and they knew it. I could tell from the smug looks on the their faces.
"Well now, that makes this all so much easier...why didn't you just say so!" (sarchasm intended).
They all began to nod their smirking gobs.
"GET THE F'explicative' OUT!" I reeled, verbally smacking that stupid looks off their faces. "You really think you are going to get more from me by giving me LESS!?!" . I pointed to the back door, "OUT! NOW!"
I don't think they saw that one coming. They really didn't know what to do. Most people don't when their bluff is called, especially in a situation like this when there is so much on the line. They thought they had all the cards, but they obviously were not aware of what a Chef was capable of. I escorted them to the door by the scruff of their necks, not so gently or politely.
Kicking the door shut behind them I bellowed to the kitchen, " You, you, you and you" pointing to my line and a few bus boys, "scrape, rinse, machine, stack." My gesticulations coinciding to the person and their newfound position.
I jumped on the line. Grabbed the dupes off the printer and began to call out our next seating. 
"And I need pans, flatware and glasses yesterday!!! You hear me? Or do you want a raise now too!" (again, sarcasm, my preferred dialect.)
"No Chef, Yes Chef, coming right away!" They burst into action.
Before you knew it the kitchen was back up and moving, I mean really moving. Something really inspired those people; a little fear? Perhaps, not necessarily a bad thing though. But more so a reality check. And once again we were on the same page, serving the same purpose.
What happened to "Ardilla" you ask? Well that's a story for a different time, in the meantime...

Everyone would love to think they are indispensable. In a temporary sense, some are and some aren't. But you can look through a history book or a cemetery and realize that at some point or another there will not be a you; and the world will go on. What we are capable of being is indispensable "now". You can choose to work hard and do your best and act like what you do is vital,and it probably will be. You should find yourself in a place where that act is additionally vital to someone; and you should continue to do it with the same vigor and passion you had at the start. In turn you will build your self worth and a proper place in the world. Or you can think that you are vital, and that people should find in you worth knowing that your uniqueness means what you provide is thus rare and valuable. You would be wrong in this assumption. Thinking you are the only one who can do the job is a dangerous and short lived way to find security. It's what you are capable of doing not being that formulates your success. As well, I can assure you, it is a far more satisfying route and leaves you more in control of your career and life. You're either the needle which is sought out or one of the many wisps of hay in the stack.
So, which one in a million are you?

You have to want it

Some people are just more likely to achieve than others. Some people attribute it to intelligence, but studies show that is not the best indicator. Some people attribute it to position, but being born with it doesn’t mean you’ve achieved anything, actually it's quite the contrary. Studies also show more and more successful people come from poverty. So what “determines” our ability to achieve? That’s right, determination. It’s been a hot topic as of late, people trying to figure out what makes one person more likely to achieve than others. We’ve been told from an early age that you can do anything you put your mind to. While I know that literally anyone cannot do anything they set out to do, the evidence supports the notion that it is a good indicator for success. A desire, a need to overcome, creates within us a determination to do something; and this determination is the leading cause of success. If I may quote the wisdom of Solomon, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes to poverty”. Such sayings speak directly to this innate human psychological need.
 
I often give tests. On one occasion I decided to place within the 100 question test (#42 to be precise), a sub-test on following directions. Question #42 simply stated “For the sake of the environment, please submit your test completely blank and you will receive a perfect score.” For while I was handing out the exam I told everyone to read the exam thoroughly before beginning, including writing your name. I was surprised at how many of those tests I had to grade. There was one young lady, though, who carefully read through the pages; the rest dug right in after a cursory perusal. After about five minutes the diligent young lady approached me. “Chef, are you serious ?” She pointed to the question. “Absolutely.”, my hand outstretched to receive the pristine paper. “But…” she hesitated. “What ? You don’t want the 100 ?”, I taunted. “Yes, but I really want to take this test. I know I can ace it.” “But can you get 100 right here, right now?", It surprised me only a little when she went back to her seat and, nose down, hunkered in, determined to ace the test. It was an amusing hour. About 35 minutes in, people started getting to #42. The room was filled with sighs, groans and a couple of cusses too. “Shhhhh! We’re in the middle of a test people.", I chuckled as I looked up and caught that one young lady’s eye as she wagged her head at me.

Let’s face it, you've gotta want it. Not even necessarily the goal, the perfect score, the extrinsic thing, but the desire to get it, the act of accomplishing, the intrinsic internal satisfaction derived from the doing. Deep down inside you create this desire to control your situation and its outcome. You actually revere the pursuit and becomes its own reward. And when the achieving the reward in fact becomes the reward, it become a marked step essential for self fulfillment, a fundamental human need. In essence, doing for the sake of doing trumps doing for the sake of reward. This determination is the first step towards success. Next, recognize this relationship we have, of ourselves to our environment and others. And how our determined action plays its part. Once we own this, we can recognize the value in what we do; we have agency and self importance. Our achievement becomes connected in a human need way, that of connectivity. The next step of a determined, motivated person is demonstrated by the value of what they are doing and its relevance to the world. Once we grasp the intrinsic nature and relevance of our determined act, we can set ourselves towards a truly motivated achievement of the goal. We recognize the value to the group, now we recognize the value to self and our autonomy. How we fit our independent achievements into the collective enables us to find our meaning, our purpose. So what should we take away from all this ? Set your sights, be resolute. You want to achieve something? Set your mind to it, realize its importance, and internalize it. Know that what you are doing is important and needs to be done. Not just to get it done but to be getting it done. Once you’ve got that under your belt, get off your butt and do something about it; act. Don’t just think about it, do it. Remember, it wasn’t about having the perfect score, it was about getting the perfect score. There’s a difference, it’s called determination.

Easy is its own punishment

No one said it’d be easy. As a matter of fact, as I journey from day to day, I am constantly being reminded of the contrary, life is hard. Our delusion that somehow things should come easily is perhaps mankind's most common anti-evolutionary battle cry. The rest of the natural world fights it out for survival, what makes us different? Why do so many people think they will be successful at whatever they endeavor, and with minimal amounts of effort at that?  Our need to succeed is innate, yet we are also inherently lazy; we try to optimize our successes with minimal amounts of effort. We insist on doing this disservice to ourselves and our herd by negating the beauty of working hard for something. I blame our newfound obsession with immediate gratification; we’ve been conditioned to not wait for our satisfactions. Amazing technology that makes our known world more convenient (cell phones, fast food, fingertip connectivity) leaves us not wanting for access to all we demand. Inundated by the instant, our ‘don't make me wait for it’ generation, has bought into the marketing of all the available things QUICK our magnificent world has to offer. However, we need to take this sparked curiosity one step further and look at ourselves, research our abilities, and set out  to accomplish that which we desire in a responsible manner. We need to be aware of our aptitude and apply it properly to what we set out to do. And once again there is no better mirror for this reality than the kitchen.

It was a typical day and one of my cooks was attempting his fourth shot at making mashed potatoes (that's  right, you heard me, mashed potatoes...and yes, four times). After so many tries this person's clock was counting down to service when this component was desperately needed. Needless to say, he was feeling the pressure. As simple as the procedure is, if pieces of it are neglected or omitted the result is tragic, something this young individual failed to learn on the first three tries. You see a potato, in its simplistic beauty, contains starch. When the starch is properly cooked and dried and folded with the correct amount of fat, it produces a smooth, unctuous, creamy salve that elicits many a childhood memory and acts as a structural base for plating... and is a darn fine bit of food.

Attempt #1: when too much water was left in, the potatoes yielded a soupy mess. Garbage.

Attempt #2: potatoes cut too small in an attempt to have them cook quicker. Unfortunately the potatoes disintegrated during cooking. Garbage.

Attempt #3: running out of time and undercooking the potatoes and trying to mash them anyway. What a treat that was. Garbage.

Again and again, he tried to shortcut, take an easier path than the direction he was given. In his laziness he actually created more work for himself.

So, last but not least, attempt #4: a last ditch effort to redeem every precious moment lost; potatoes cooked in the cream they were to be mashed with. A sound concept if everything is measured correctly, yet a drastic mistake when not and compounded further by the use of a high speed stick blender to finish the job. At 10,000 rps it’s a short trip from soupy to glue. The blades quickly broke  the light fluffy swollen cells, released their starchy interiors and formed glue. I could tell from a distance we were in trouble as the powerful motor of the blender began its muffled groaning descent into the coalescing mass.

“Chef, can you come check my potatoes?”, I heard from across the kitchen. Aside from being devoid of any seasoning, the texture was at best, terrible.

“What made you decide upon the stick blender?” I asked painfully calm.

“Well, I was watching Food Ne….”, I cut him off.

“So! Instead of the directions I gave you...In the middle of the state of chaos you have wallowed into….on your FOURTH attempt at something soooo simple…” (Dramatic pause)

“You put your trust in a television program…..and not your Chef.”

“Just because you see it on TV doesn’t mean you should do it.” I ripped. “I mean I (gerund explicative) watch Animal planet; but you don’t see me trying to wrestle an alligator do you?”

And...Garbage. (and by garbage I actually mean the compost bin.)

What’s the quickest, easiest way to do something? The right way. Chances are if you are cutting corners, taking shortcuts or neglecting directions and procedure you are on your way to finding yourself in a time wasting situation of having to correct or redo something. Which, ironically enough, expends more energy. Things take time. Either in the planning and preparing or in the pain and punishment. Nothing good comes easily. We are suckers for the notion though. We do love the idea of a get rich quick, take a pill to fix, hit the button for solution (in this case a high powered emersion blender), promises; but they are empty. You want to make sure you get it done right, do it the right way. Many have gone before you to provide you with the right path, take it. If you want to accomplish your desired aim or purpose do it in the prescribed way. Once you get those tried and true procedures under your belt than you can color outside the lines. Until that time though, leave the gator wrestling to the professionals.

Don't think, you're not good at it.

I would like to preface today’s entry with, “Happy Independence Day”; a  day when we celebrate all those who came before us, people who sacrificed so we may live in freedom.  So in honor of those who took the time to think this through and then do something about it, here is today’s entry. The same fire melts wax, hardens clay and strengthens steel.

Our cognitive abilities are certainly paramount to our success as a species. The human mind, with its reasoning, curiosity, sensual and factual memory have lead us to great achievements. Language, arts, science, math are hallmarks to the comprehension, calculation, reasoning and decision making skills that define us. However, it must be noted that as much as we pride ourselves on this ability, it is not prudent to assume we do it well all the time, especially when we are under stress. As a matter of fact, some of our most tragic decisions are made in such circumstances. I think back to those moments when either myself or others were under fire for a poor decision followed up with an obvious error. When grilled about the intent, the phrase used to excuse the behavior often begins with “I think…” or “I thought…”,  to which I say, “Don’t think, you’re not good at it.” There is certainly a time to think; during the times of planning.  When we are calm and focused, good decisions can be made. But when we think under pressure we usually arrive at the wrong course of action because really our only goal is making the situation stop, not creating an environment for our success.


“Chef I think the fryer is on fire”; Not exactly what you like to hear minutes before a kitchen opens for service. It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but was nonetheless something that needed to be dealt with. It all started, as many such situations do, with a bit of unpreparedness followed by a bad decision. In the absence of all the necessary components, sometimes it is best to wait until you have what you need in order to continue. This is certainly the case when turning on a deep fat fryer and what this particular cook overlooked when setting up his station.

Let’s face it, people do not think well under pressure. Pressure induces stress and stress changes the nature of our cognitive being back to that of a primitive animal. Stress is good for fight or flight, not thinking. Even when you analyze all the ways self help coaches tell you to better yourself at thinking under pressure; you realize that they are actually ways of alleviating the pressure, not thinking well during it. Most sources have one thing in common, negate the stress, whether by familiarizing yourself with it, accepting it or avoiding it. The theme is common;  acclimate to or avoid stress.

Best thing to do is not to think. Adrenaline is shown to divert blood flow away from certain parts of the brain and other organs to muscles, limiting cognitive performance and interfering with clear thinking. The release of adrenaline can enable the body to perform far beyond its normal parameters, but the mind? Not so much. So why use your brain in this environment when it clearly is not suited for the task. Truth is you shouldn't, at least not yet.

Don’t think; know. How do we know? We prepare for it, we do it enough, we see it enough so we can reason that it’s coming. We don’t allow ourselves to get into a situation that we don’t know how to deal with. 'State dependency' tells us there is something to operating in the environment in which something was learned. Recall is bolstered when tested in the environment where it was first encoded. So, train yourself to be in stressful situations. In this way you can find yourself functioning better in them. Additionally, repeated exposure to stress increases levels of neuropeptide Y (NPY), an amino acid which dampens fear responses and enables animals, at least the tested monkeys and mice, to perform better under extremely stressful situations. Yet another indicator that control under stress is made better through consistent exposure.

So what do we gain from all this?  There's one way to get through stress, avoid it. Not avoid the stress per se, but rather avoid it being stressful; prepare for it. There will be times in your life that are stress filled, and you will have to be productive. Best advice, consistently expose yourself to such things so the stressful becomes manageable and suddenly the beast has lost its teeth.  So when you see someone who’s cool as a cucumber in a crazy environment know that they are either oblivious to the situation or have conditioned themselves to be in it.


"Chef I think the fryer is on fire".
As I made my way towards his position, fire extinguisher in hand, I asked "What makes you say that?".
"There's fire coming out of it!".
"That would do it." I calmly noted the tongues of fire lapping away feverishly at a strategically placed sheet tray. One that (unfortunately) blocked his view from the dangerously low level of oil yet (luckily) prevented the flames from engulfing the kitchen. Even more unfortunately, the same sheet tray was diverting the fire into the adjacent deep fat fryer, which was filled and up to temp. Not a good situation at all.

This situation highlights both approaches to a stressful encounter. A cook, who decided to turn on his deep fat fryer without setting it up properly, filled it just enough so it could superheat, go aerosol and combust. In his moments of debilitating fear he did what most do, shut down. Then there's Chef. With an ability to remain calm in the face of it all because maybe he'd been through something like this before.


Whoosh. A well placed dose of pressurized chemical tamed the situation. I looked over the wreckage.
"What made you turn on a fryer that only had a few quarts of oil in it?" I asked.
" Well Chef, I thought if I turned it on it would be warm for when I added the rest of the oil."
To which I responded, " Don't think son, you're not good at it."

We All Fall Down

I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for all the things I have been through. And since I love who, what and where I am, I should be content with all that has happened in my life. I have been molded, forged and finished by both my successes and failures; probably more so by the latter. Some people perceive failure as a bad thing. Sure, it hurts. In the moment it’s sting is painful, quite often more mentally than physically, and especially so over time. It’s a thing that we can’t kiss and make better, take an aspirin for, bandage up, we just have to live it out, have it become part of us, and if we are lucky, learn from it.  We all fall down in different ways, physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Sometimes too, we don’t just fall down, we get knocked down. Regardless of the causation the next step is still the same; you decide if and how you want to get back up.

In my life as a Catering Chef I can say with ease that I have been in the most amazing circumstances and pushed myself to unthought of limits. No matter what the situation, you must remain in control, or at least portray the image thereof. On one such occasion we were catering an event at a private residence and had rebuilt the floorplan to accommodate the scale and attendance of the event. During the event I was bringing some glassware to one of the bars we had set up that was running low on glasses. As I did not want to lug the glass racks through the already crowded domicile and inconvenience the guests I chose the outside route around the side of the house.

Well most of these events take place at night, so it gets tricky outside, especially when your feet don't know the terrain. And as you can guess my foot found the uneven break in the slate tile walkway and I must have folded my ankle clean over. I mean, I could read the sole of my shoe. And down I went, glasses and all.

CRASH, whole house goes silent, eyes popping out the open windows, ankle snapped, writhing in pain. “CHEF WENT DOWN!” was all I heard from the illuminated interior of the house.

Ok, so there I am...what to do.What goes through my mind next is fascinating. It’s a lot like the 5 stages of grief.

“I’m fine!” I denied, “No, worries”, I popped back up to my feet, or in this case foot, man did it hurt. But I sure wasn’t going to let on. After all, I had a job to do.

“Almost dropped these glasses, but I’m alright.” Ok, more denial, but definitely mixed with some hidden anger, mostly at myself for falling down. I chose to skip (pun intended) altogether bargaining and depression and go right to acceptance. So after dropping of the glasses at the bar, that’s right, no breakage, luckily they landed on something soft, like me, and dismissing the frivolous inquiries of my well being, I made my way to the catering van for my emergency kit. You fix it, you don’t go home, you don’t even tell anyone it happened. Psychotic? Yea, pretty much, but that’s what a Chef does. We don’t stop. Well, that’s my style anyway. Duct tape and Advil.

The party went off without a hitch. And we pulled off a Sunday brunch the next day as well.

Pain and fear of pain is the most powerful human motivator. Shadowing wonderfully our desire for success, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain and failure, the process of falling down and getting up makes a great biography. For where there is one there is the faint outline of the other. That’s what makes carrying on through the pain possible.  We internalize the potential pain of failure as more painful than that of any perceived breakage that could occur during trying. Not going for it hurts more than going for it and not making it. That’s how people can run headlong into a situation that very well may cause them harm. They know it will be potentially less painful than if they don’t.

Moreover they can keep going even if the pain occurs for those same reasons. And with each passing occurrence of thought of failures, we grow towards and increase the chances that favor success.

So you're down. Regardless of how you got there, the next step is the same, if and how to get back up. It may be difficult, especially at first or even after constant repetition. What’s important is to keep at it. Every time we refuse to stay down and consciously choose to get back up we solidify a pattern of behavior. Pretty soon it becomes habitual, then it becomes your character. Ghadi may not have said it as such, but his notion was the same as the psycho tech speak; deliberate repetition builds automaticity.

When I fall, sure I’m upset, I’m human, but I know there is a benefit to it, especially when taken in the right spirit. Aside from building character and determination, getting up and brushing yourself off leads to higher quality learning. Studies show such self determination fosters autonomy and increases higher levels of learning, simply put, it generates more synaptic connectivity. So when people toss the old cliche at you that losing builds character take heart and chime in with, “Yea, and it makes me smarter too. Continued self determination leads to intrinsic motivation."

I never really trusted something that has not been tested. And in the testing, quite often there is failure. Edison confesses himself that much was learned in the some 9000 attempts at the light bulb before he got it right. Someone who has never failed has truly never been tested. There’s a difference between someone who has never failed and someone who has; It’s the ability to admit it. Everyone has failed at something at one time or another. The successful person perceives failure as a stepping stone, a learning opportunity, a way not to do it;  where as a person who has never admitted to have failed quite often perceives failure as a punishment and hides it like a stigma. Don’t be afraid to experience the way not to do something. Much like a bridge, that’s just something I don’t want to cross unless it’s been first tested. Don’t fear  those exquisitely painful moments of learning and growing towards something. Don't let your pride get in the way and avoid taking the lesson from the experience, because remember, we all fall down.

And so it begins

My name is Chef. My life has always revolved around food. As a child, growing up in an Italian family surrounded by food at every turn, in the jobs that excited my active, tireless, competitive, perfectionist persona,  and now in the culinary path it has laid out before me; it was a logical thing for me to become and live the life of a Chef. But the path of learning this craft was anything but easy; fun yes, easy no. It has been a life peppered with amazing successes and failures.  These countless moments have certainly made for a life of entertained learning. From years of experience these deeper truths now come to you so you may better understand, life....as a Chef..
As a child my earliest and fondest memories have always involved food. My entire family celebrated every meal; I say both that, we as an entire family, and that each meal was in fact celebrated. I grew up with meals that were made and shared with love. My parents, my grandparents, aunts and uncles all cooked, all had their thing they were known for, and each had its day or holiday to shine and share with family and friends. Holidays, celebrations, breakfast, dinner, even times of mourning, all had a common binding thread; food. That’s how I grew up.
When it came time for me to get my first job, I serendipitously found myself in the kitchen. Fast paced , demanding and precise, it suited me well. I played sports, I ran, I competed; this kitchen life was work I could relate to. It was competitive, draining, fulfilling. Even as I pursued my education, the pace and rigor of kitchen work was comforting to me. It provided purpose, immediate gratification, meaning. After fours years of working my way through  college, studying engineering, business, sociology and Japanese studies, I still felt called by the kitchen. But, if I were going to do this thing, be a Chef, I was going to do it right. Naturally I found myself, as many of our industry’s best do, at the best Culinary Institute for that purpose. And so I formalized my classical training, learned the way, and paid my dues. That’s how I was taught.

What I got next from all this was a career no one could have ever explained to me was possible. I have been a line cook, caterer, a media Chef and a consultant, a Restaurant Chef owner and a private Chef, and now after all that, I find myself as an Chef instructor at the Institution that helped forge my knowledge and skills. It’s a path that has taken me places that would boggle my high school guidance counselor’s mind, one that most “normal” people would find hard to understand, and to an even lesser degree, find enjoyable. It was all mine and I loved every minute of it, at least that’s how I remember it now. That’s how I was trained.

Looking back, I don’t think anything else would do. Chef, it had to be. And now as I Look forward I can share with you those moments. Moments where, in that crucible we call a kitchen, knowledge and habits are forged into the professional being we are. Throughout this Chef journey I have seen amazing things, disaster and success, and like brilliant ingots being quenched, knowledge and expertise are hardened and polished upon such reflections. So here, I will share those lessons and pass them along to you. They are entertaining anecdotes for sure, each holding at its core a lesson that comes only from the forging fires of a Chef’s life.