“Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind.” – Douglas MacArthur
Don’t put me in a box. I don’t like small spaces. I get claustrophobic, anxious and I panic. I don’t like elevators and will take the stairs whenever possible. I don’t particularly like planes, trains, or automobiles, except for the movie, of course. Oh wait, this is not literally about being put inside a physical box? Why am I asking you? I am the author.
No, this is not about being put inside a physical box. This is about a categorical, metaphorical, organizational box. Do not put me in one of those either. I don’t want your labels. I don’t want your titles. And, most importantly, I don’t want your rules. If you would like, give me a box that I can throw all your rules and other crap into and set it afire. Or, as Jello Biafra would say “Why don’t you take your social regulations, shove ’em up your @$$?”
The question I have is does the opening quote speak the truth or is it actually the opposite and simply a justification for the lazy to do whatever they want and not follow the rules? I think there is probably a strong argument for both sides. I will argue in support of the quote because I do not like to follow the rules and believe that creativity should not be placed in a box or confined by rules. That said, I will admit that I do have a lazy bone that takes over now and again.
I was always pretty creative. My generation had to be in order to avoid death by boredom. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of great technological inventions when I was younger but we did not have smart phones, 24/7 streaming TV, social media, or the internet among many other things. What we did have was the outdoors, skateboards, bikes, big wheels, green machines, Star Wars figures, toy guns, and most of all, imagination. If I couldn’t go outside for whatever reason, I was daydreaming of being outside, on another planet, in another galaxy flying x-wing fighters or playing music on stage in front of a sea of people.
That imagination carried over and fueled my creativity when I began to play music, write, and later when I began cooking. Music will always be my first love and passion but my career was very short lived. I will save those details for another story and jump to cooking because that is what I do professionally as I write this.
I always loved food, especially junk food. Cookies were always my favorite. I am not sure where my love of cooking started but food was always an integral part of our family tradition whether it was a holiday, birthday, or just a Sunday dinner with family. I also have a hard time pinpointing when I first started to enjoy cooking, although the first things I remember learning to cook were eggs and sandwiches. Maybe that is why one of my favorite things to do is put an egg on a sandwich.
Growing up, my go to items were creative sandwiches, a variety of cookies, milkshakes, and eventually grilling. Fast forward to when Kerry and I had our second child, I was working at home and ended up watching a lot of cooking shows. That led to a lot of experimentation and my repertoire just exploded. That said, our family has a long standing tradition of marathon Christmas baking that just began to roll in to other holidays. We made so much there was just too much to even eat. The large variety was partially fueled by my desire to try new flavors of fudge and create new cookies with different ingredients. My oldest sister did the same with cookies and rocky road.
During all of this, I started trying to cook new dishes, then entire meals with accompaniments that paired well together. I always started by following recipes. Once I became comfortable, however, I broke out of the box. I can honestly attribute part to being lazy. I simply did not want to pull out a cook book and take the time to follow it step by step every time I made a meal or baked cookies. The other reason was I just did not want to be confined to follow and prepare another person’s dish. I wanted to create my own. It is important to note that by this time in my life my musical outlet was absent for many years but the creativity was still there and needed an outlet. Cooking is one of the areas in my life that provide a release.
As the years passed and I became more and more passionate and more and more confident, I continued to break the molds of convention and defy the laws of cooking tradition. Am I saying I am unique and created everything on my own? No. I was inspired by many chefs, besides, most things have been done already. Yes, I did come up with many things on my own and put my unique twist others. It doesn’t really matter because I am not looking for credit or doing this for accolades. I am doing this first and foremost because I love to create unique foods and share them with others.
My menu and cooking continues to evolve and I continue to ask the question “why?” Why must it be done like this? Why can’t I put these flavors together? Why hasn’t anybody made this type of pie? Or, how can I create this or that? How can I make something people will never forget? How can my food provide an experience that will never be forgotten and add joy to someone’s journey? I will tell you how. By breaking out of the box and continuing to defy the laws of tradition. By continuing to create flavor profiles that top the taste charts. I am blessed with the perfect vehicle for experimentation; I own a restaurant. Nothing fancy, it is a small bakeshop and eatery, but provides the much needed creative outlet.
In my humble restaurant where I am constantly defying the laws of tradition, I am bringing back the long standing traditions of my family by adapting old recipes from family and friends for our menu at the shop. Also, buy learning when traditions and rules must be followed and I have to stay inside the lines. I do not like to do this, but some things must be done just as they have been laid out in recipes for centuries with precision if I want an edible product for my customers. I have learned this the hard way by trying to do certain things on my own when I really needed to follow a precise formula.
See you next time when I discuss getting back in to the box to follow certain rules. It hurts but the results are delicious.
Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator
You have to leap if you want to live
LeapBlog 