Beating a Dead Horse (and Cooking With it)
As previously, and probably futurely, mentioned I’m a big ole nerd. And I mean that in the classical sense of someone who spends entirely too much time obsessing over things that few other people care about. But sometimes that comes in handy, and in fact I hope everyone has a little nerd in them.
One of the things I love, and my wife loves about me is cooking. The reason why is a little secret about perfection. There is no such thing. There’s not a perfect steak or lasagna recipe. Doesn’t exist. But you can have a meal that’s perfect for you. Place three master chefs in a room and tell them to make a meatloaf. Then they taste the other meatloafs. Every one of them is going to compare the dish to their own and their personal preferences. And that’s not just ok, it’s great! Because it doesn’t mean that they won’t appreciate the other dishes or their particular tastes.
Since we’re on meatloaf, let me tell you about mine. You’re welcome in advance. First of all it’s full of delicious things like sauteed mushrooms, onions and green peppers. Secondly there’s no ketchup, I mean unless it’s an ingredient in Sweet Baby Ray’s, and third that beautiful bastard is covered in provolone cheese. My god I think it’s delicious. And enough people have similar appetites to mine that I’ve been convinced of its superiority. Purists might argue it’s validity as meatloaf at all. I mean real pedants. Yeah yeah I know, not a huge mix up. But this isn’t about my amazing meatloaf. It’s about experimentation. It’s about finding that perfect iteration of improvisation and classical cooking. Or whatever you love.
Everyone says that as you get older time moves more quickly. Let me explain why they say such stupid things and who “they” are. Exceptions happen of course but that phrase is mostly made by middle age people who have a simple routine that almost never changes, and they complain about how long the week is taking when it does. Far be it from me to judge someone else’s life, but that shit’s boring. The fact is they’re making very few new memories and have years of their daily routine mixed in a blur with each day completely indistinguishable from the next. And that’s what all this is really about. Make new memories, try new things and take chances.
Which brings me all the way back around to perfection with cooking, and life. There’s no perfect dish and there’s no perfect life. Everyone has an idea about what would make them happy, none of them are the same, and few of them are right. Most people get an idea of what will make them happy early in life and cling to that imaginary life through the spectacles of their childhood with fierce tenacity. They never take it out of the old photo box look at it and think, “you know, the world is a lot less like tv than I used to think.” Some pursue that dream doggedly and some just think about it longingly while slogging through their 9 to 5. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in poverty more than out of it, and a 9 to 5 is great so long as it’s not the only thing in your life.
Rigidity in thinking will shorten your perceived life, and make it less bearable (or enjoyable if you’re one of those happy go lucky optimists.) So change up your favorite recipe, go somewhere new, try as many new things as you can and most importantly: try my version of meatloaf.
