On my still as-yet-unwritten list of New Years' Resolutions, is one to actually finish some of the 2/3s-to-3/4s-read books about the house (three from the Brooklyn Public Library which have been carted around since Summer 2010), as well as those on my own shelf (too numerous to mention). With this in mind, and having just finished the quite light-weight and only-read-because-I-found-it-on-the-street Julie and Julia, I returned to Bill Buford's Heat.
Having dated a New York City chef for a while, I have heard so many horror stories about restaurants that I have considered not eating in them at all. Whenever I am asked if I wouldn't like to own/work in one, I respond in the emphatic negative. Although I do love to cook, I am clear that restaurant work is mostly a form of the money-pit, the addiction haven, and likely the ultimate no-win start-up.
But Buford nailed my feelings about cooking here:
"The satisfaction of making a good plate of food are surprisingly varied, and only one, and the least important of them involves eating what you've made. In addition to the endless riffing about cooking-with-love, chefs also talk about the happiness of making food: not preparing or cooking food, but making it. ... The simple, good feeling ... might be akin to what you'd experience making a toy or a piece of furniture, or maybe even a work of art..."
Making things does feel good. Making things that other people like/love is even better. I don't know if cooking and my other creative pursuits take me out of myself, or place me firmly in this meat suit/mortal coil.
I would like to expand my "practice" to creating more: writing, food, knitting, sewing, and a whole lot of other crafty things. I have, for the first time in many years, started making music mixes again.
Here's a playlist that I uploaded for y'all, from back in 2002.
Playlist for I'm Gonna Sit Right Here Until I Die
And here's the music. It's a big file, so it will take a while to download.
River Songs: I'm Gonna Sit Right Here Until I Die
Enjoy.
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ReplyDeleteI don't feel that way about cooking at all. I wish I could find some positive in it. For me cooking is what I do for my child so he doesn't die. Period. Oddly enough he prefers my cooking to Francisco's- who does revel in it the way many of you do, and I for one KNOW without a doubt he cooks far better than me. Stewart is beginning to appreciate Fico's cooking but in general he prefers my bland steamed broccoli and a chicken breast to Francisco's amazing mole enchilada. But then again, Stewart's relationship with eating is-this is what I do to keep me alive..I don't think he tries to derive joy and feel good moments from it..Perhaps that's the reason he looks the way he does..
ReplyDeleteWhy not bring the library books back? If you never finished them in that time then maybe they were not all that to begin with. Let them go, take some of the pressure off. And if you feel the need to to return to them later you'll know where they are.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Buford's book, especially the section about being a butcher in Italy. And I've always enjoyed his food writing in the New Yorker. It was also fun reading about his adventures with Battali. That man can eat and drink!!!
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