Sharpening Knives

To those who have been reading this blog for a while, it should be no surprise that one of the sources for my Inspiration is the Food Network show Chopped. This week my inspiration began with the story of one chef, Nathaniel Zimet of Boucherie, who shared with the judges how he had been shot three times about ten months prior and his journey to recovery. While his story of recovery was inspiring, what was humbling was to hear him speak with such compassion about the man who shot him. His understanding that the man who shot him had to have been in extreme pain in order to shoot him as he did was a powerful illustration of compassion. It reminded me of a YouTube video of the father of one of the young girls who had been murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School recently and his compassion for all those who were grieving and for the family and friends of the man who had killed all these people. Having just blogged about compassion the other day, his attitude and story resonated with my soul.
Read more

Keep it simple

The last week has been a challenging one, as Zoë’s taste buds have seemed to go on vacation one more time. It is hard to find the motivation to eat when you cannot taste what you are eating. It is also a challenge to cook for someone whose taste buds are temporarily on vacation. However, through it all I have learned an important lesson. Sometimes simple is best. It really hit home for me tonight as I was watching a rerun of Rachel vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-off where Taylor Dayne simple tomato basil sauce beat out Joey Fatone. The reason she won was the simplicity of her sauce. They could taste the tomato, the cheese, and the basil. Sometimes simple is better. After trying a wide diversity of things this last week to tantalize Zoë’s taste buds, the one thing that tasted good for her was chicken salad.
Read more