Is there no end to the stream of wisdom I’ve gained from watching “
A Chef’s Life“? This is now the third post I’ve written inspired by that TV show on PBS. (Read the other posts
here and
here.) We’re now into the third season, and as I watched Episode 8, “
Honey, I’m Home,” I picked up another little nugget from Vivian Howard, the “chef” in the title. (Jim got seriously freaked out by the chicken-liver segment.) She and her husband Ben Knight run the restaurant “Chef and the Farmer” together, and it doesn’t always go smoothly. In this episode dear Ben, who’s often labeled, somewhat unfairly, as “grumpy,” is having his first art show in a decade. He’s been busy acting as general manager, emergency fill-in, and beverage
artiste, which has left him very little time to pursue his painting. But now he has a show in Durham NC, and he and Vivian are cramming in visits to as many restaurants in town as they can before it starts. At some point Ben bails out, his nerves (and probably stomach) getting the best of him, but Vivian presses on, undeterred. That woman must have the capacity of an anaconda!
I wrote back in January about my seed order and the amount of hope contained in those little packets. Now the process has actually started, with the first sprouts coming up. This is actually a four o’clock plant from seeds I already had on hand. The plan is for 16 plants to be placed all around our deck. It’s a long process every year, and if I don’t get them going early enough the wonderful flowering display won’t really start until late in the summer. I wasn’t completely sure that the seeds I had were still viable as they’re several years old, but a number of them are coming up. It’s hard to believe that from this tiny beginning a big three-foot bush covered with salmon-pink flowers will emerge. I’ll coddle, coax and water the baby plants, then cross my fingers and plant them out, water, and wait until the flowers emerge, at which time the deadheading phase will begin.
The rest of us just show up and get to work” (artist Chuck Close, quoted in 
There’s a happiness principle: “Enjoy the process.” Also, “Success is not the destination but the journey.” We’ve all heard these ideas, and they do make sense. If all you care about is the end result, then you miss out on a lot of potential enjoyment. I’ve started reminding myself of these ideas when I’m in the throes of some event or the other. Pay attention, Debi! The event itself, whether a meal or a party, will last only a couple of hours, but the preparation will be much longer. Don’t let haste and worry destroy that process.
This will be the last Super Bowl reference until next year, I promise. As we sat 2 1/2 weeks ago in front of the TV waiting for the game to begin, my brother said, “I can’t believe this is finally happening after all these weeks of waiting!” And I think we did watch and enjoy and experience very single minute (of the game, not the half-time show, which I turned off midway through).
I wrote about 
Not a very cheerful title, is it? I was sitting here pondering what would be a good subject for an end-of-week post when a Chopin waltz came on the radio, a piece that I labored over back in the days of my piano obsession. (After a fruitless search on the playlist and YouTube I decided that the exact opus number and title didn’t matter.) What a beautiful piece, and how much I wanted to be able to play it! The contrast between my labored and hesitant version, even after hours of practice, and the sprightly performance on the radio is pretty stark. I so wanted to be able to play it, and I so . . . couldn’t. Or any other of the pieces I longed to play. Finally, about five years ago (and it shouldn’t have taken me that long) I declared myself Free From Piano Playing. You may say, “Hey, why not just play for your own enjoyment?” But that’s like saying, “Why not play chess for your own enjoyment?” The fact is . . .
Well, here it is Thursday already, four days after the BRONCOS WON THE SUPERBOWL. I hope if you like reading about cooking and food that you’ve visited both the preview and the review of my menu and maybe tried out something.