It’s a food blog. It’s my food; personal to my family table, in the moment, forever changing due to a duo of professional careers, a teenage appetite, a two year old pallet, and the four year old…well…he changes everything (look up Prader-Willi Syndrome here: http://www.fpwr.org).
In our home we follow moments much more than time. Time to us is a series of deadlines, everything in between are moments we move about, making choices, moving to the next deadline. Out the door, 6:20am, walk into work 7:00am, hit my appointment marks, pick up kid by 3:45pm, Occupational therapy starts at 4pm, Physical therapy 5pm, kids dinner round 1 at the table, then bathe, read to them and 7:00pm kids in bed. … 7:05pm…put two year old back in bed. 7:10…wait to see if two year old gets up again. 7:20 … dinner round 2. I look at my wife, pour wine for her, whiskey for me. I finish cooking and we reflect. Deadlines were met. That’s a typical Tuesday.
It’s the in between I cherish. Hitting the deadlines alone seems like an accomplishment enough but they don’t really count. I can move fast enough at work to beat everyone but it doesn’t mean that passion and quality will show in my work. I can be maticulous and produce a beautiful result but if the “time” passes no one needs you anymore or they are disappointed to the point your work is irrelevant. Time is a fantastic beast that will protect your every move but only with one hand squeezed tightly around your neck. You can’t move too fast, not too slow, just keep moving. This is a food blog…right, regroup.
Cooking was the balance I was looking for in life. I was a rock star at work, I was failing at home as a dad (too much, too little). Quality on both ends was hindered. I couldn’t center myself. After crying in a grocery store parking lot I found myself sitting on the floor watching chicken dry out in the oven and I was so damn excited about it! I watched these flakes melt into milk and form mashed potatoes instantly before my eyes! I watched my (then) 2 year old (now 13) devour this meal as if it were the first time he ever tasted “real” food. That happiness and peace is a moment between deadlines that is captured, realized, reflected upon and allowed choices to be made that would either keep me on the right path or change everything for the better.
This is just a food blog where I try and capture moments between time in hopes you catch a glimpse of the happiness I experience everyday. … not just in food, but how the food I cook interprets my life and the lives around me.
Food is Hope.Share your Food.©
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Food is Hope 