Chef Scratch is Born

I woke up today feeling inspired. I don’t know why. Maybe it was last night’s over indulgence. The coffee only fueled the feeling and brought on a nice little shakiness. I decided that today would be a food day. A day that my primary focus is everything food. Sharpen the knives, clean the equipment box, try something new, cut some meat, you know: chef things. Yesterday I marked all the pages of recipes that I wanted to make in The French Laundry cook book. As I walked downstairs to brew the coffee it caught my eye and I decided that I would try one today. The first recipe in the book is marked. It’s a truffle custard and ragout dish served in an egg shell. I remembered that I just picked up an egg topper the other day for no immediate intended purpose, but just because I thought I would use it if I had it so the recipe was fitting. I figured I would try it out immediately, knocking out one part of prep. As I stand there topping eggs and peeling the membrane out of the shell, my inner monologue races. I think, “this is the first page of the book, maybe I should just keep going and do them all. You know, like, that would be original, right? They even made a movie about someone doing that. No, no, no. Too much time. Too phony. Someone has probably already done it with this book anyway. I’ll just stick to my original plan: Make only the recipes that really sparked my interest.” I then started thinking about what I do and who I am. Real deep stuff. Okay, not really, but I did think about something one of my chef mentors, an old culinary instructor, and new friend told me the other day on one of our winery meetings, our “business research”. She has always given me great constructive criticism and I appreciate that. Even if it stings a little. This time she said something along the lines of: The way I portray myself makes people think that Martha Stewart is going to be the one showing up at their doorstep to cook for them. Ouch! But, she was right. I was posting things like “Quick and Easy tips for Your Weeknight Dinner Prep!” and pictures of herb wreaths and….you get the picture. That’s not me. Am I Susie effing homemaker? No! I’m just a chef, cooking for people, and eating and drinking my merry life away. Which by the way, I am absolutely in love with.

So! I’ve decided to start fresh. I’ve deleted all my old posts. I’ll call this blank canvas: “Chef Scratch” Why? I don’t know. I like the sound of it and I like cooking from scratch. I also like writing, but I don’t want to tell you a story about how “Brett is just going love this cream cheese apple tart when he gets home”. I just want to write about food. I’ll try to keep it short and simple. Read it if you want. Or Don’t. It doesn’t matter to me, but it’ll be here if you want to.

Stay Hungry. Learn, Create, Inspire. Cheers!