Time to Make Lemonade

It's amazing how many times in life we find ourselves starting over. We get a impulse and run with some supposed wildly successful idea - 'of course this bathroom remodel will work out' - and then somewhere in this plans enactment we see it: certain failure. This happens so, SO often in life. It can be something as small as trying out a new hairstyle you saw on pinterest or huge like opening your own business or moving to a new city. I can't say that I am completely comfortable with this roller coaster of success and failure that the ride of life involves, but I do know that those who step out and take these risks are living a much richer life. 

I feel like the unpredictability of life has a lot in common with what you experience in the kitchen. There are things you're familiar with - cinnamon, chocolate chip cookies, scrambled eggs, baked potatoes; and then there are things that make you uncomfortable - tofu? fois gras? flambe? rack of lamb? Depending on your background, what makes you comfortable and what makes your heart rate skyrocket will be different but it's continual pursuit of pushing the limits, despite possible/past failure, that makes you an incredible chef. That word, "chef," carry's so much more than "cook." When you say "chef" it lets the world know that in the face of judgement, failure, uncertainty, this person is quite literally blinded in his, or her, passion for food and stretching the definition of what it encompasses will forever provoke them to try again and again. 

There are many lessons to learn in the kitchen, far beyond the baking formula, proper meat cooking temperatures, and chicken deconstruction that will enrich your life above and beyond your wildest expectations.

This lesson of trying again and starting over is one I'm learning now. I can't say I've enjoyed every moment, or that it's going all that well, but I am certain that I will come out a better person in the end. I know these are far from the last do-over's I'll find myself embarking on, but in the end it makes my life so much more real and earned.

Plus, I'll have some great stories to tell when I'm old and gray.