When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.
Thomas KellerRead
This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane.
Interpretation
Embracing the ordinary can lead to profound satisfaction.
Thomas Keller emphasizes the importance of finding joy and fulfillment in everyday tasks and routines. He suggests that the challenge lies in maintaining passion for the repetitive aspects of life, which can often be overlooked, and that true gratification comes from appreciating the mundane.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech about finding joy in daily life.
When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.
Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore.
It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.
I think that youβve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.
I hope the cooks who are working for me now are getting that kind of experience so they can use what they're learning now as a foundation for a great career.
Its not about passion. Passion is something that we tend to overemphasize, that we certainly place too much importance on. Passion ebbs and flows. To me, it's about desire. If you have constant, unwavering desire to be a cook, then u'll be a great cook.
I think there's something that happens at 40 where you settle into your own skin and you stop caring what people think - you realize life is a gift from God and you want to live it to the fullest.
It's only a story, you say. So it is, and the rest of life with it - creation story, love story, horror, crime, the strange story of you and I. The alphabet of my DNA shapes certain words, but the story is not told. I have to tell it myself. What is it that I have to tell myself again and again? That there is always a new beginning, a different end. I can change the story. I am the story. Begin.
Humans can't live in the present, like animals do. Humans are always thinking about the future or the _x000D_ _x000D_ past. So it's a veil of tears, man. I don't know anything that's going to benefit me now, except love. I _x000D_ _x000D_ just need an overwhelming amount of love. And a nap. Mostly a nap.
You have to pay your own electric bill. You have to be kind. You have to give it all you got. You have to find people who love you truly and love them back with the same truth. But that's all.
It doesn't bother me at all. Do I hold any hard feelings? Not at all, ... Life is too short to sit around and hold grudges. I don't hold any whatsoever.
So much pressure in this life of mine, I cry at times, I once contemplated suicide and woulda tried, but when I held that nine, all I could see was my mama's eyes, no one knows my struggle, they only see the trouble, not knowing it's hard to carry on when no one loves you.
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