Got an email from a lady asking if my weblog using food and dining descriptions was a metaphor for life. I'm really not sure how to answer that one. Initially it was intended as a use to make catchy titles for my post, but maybe I am using them as a metaphor. Why the Silver Diner?
A friend once pointed out to me long ago that one is rarely angry or upset doing two things, making love and eating. And I do love both. My job as a photographer in the fashion industry is wonderful and one of the benefits is that I get to travel all over the place and have the entire summer off... the fashion industry pretty much shuts down during the summer months. So having all this free time on my hands I had decided that each summer I'd put the free time to good use. One summer it was a class in massage therapy, another was designing and doing stained glass and another was learning the be a hang glider. My loft space in San Francisco is a couple of blocks from one of the best culinary schools is the country. The California Culinary Academy sits in an impressive old building on Polk Street near the cultural area of Van Ness and near my favorite bookstore that has made a ton of money on my purchases of cookbooks.
I'd wander by this old institution during the time I was home from assignment, peruse the book store and sample the delights of the current crop of Chef wanna-be's and it was joy for me. One winter, having nothing better to do, I attended an event called a "Tasting Menu" where one could sample all kinds of delicious treats made by the students there. I surmised that I could probably make a few of them at home and therefore signed myself up for a weekend cooking class. The noble chef-teacher approached me after the class and told me I'd probably make a good chef. Personally I think he was blowing smoke up my butt, but there are some things in life you have a sense for. Now I'm not a food snob by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell you how something was made, whether it was over-cooked, over spice or just plain bad. Anyway, the Chef and I became friends over the years and he finally convinced me to take the Culinary Summer Courses, regardless whether I became a working Chef or not.
For three great fun and exhausting summers I toiled and learned as much as I could about food science...and yes it is a science. I even worked for three weeks in a restaurant as a line chef to see what that was like (and it was a required part of the courses). While I knew that I would never measure up as a full time chef, it did give me a greater respect for those in the food service industry and a better love of cooking and food then ever before.
These days I live for cooking. I love it and its so much more relaxing then sitting around watching the tube or feeling like there is nothing to do... especially considering the stress my job puts me under. There are other reasons I love cooking. I love the artistry of it...seeing the colors and taste of the ingredients match themselves into something spectacular, both in taste and visionary appeal. And I love the social aspect of it. Every two weeks or so (time permitting) I hold a dinner party and invite a variety of people of all walks of life over...and like cooking, I mingle those people into a nice social stew. Invites to one of my dinners are rarely rejected. Its quite fun to watch people eat and mingle. I live for the nice compliments like, "Wow, this taste like restaurant food", or "This is so heavenly I will have to move in" or one of my recent favorites "Hey, I'll trade you sex for that Pasta recipe!" I even have a good friend in New Zealand that I video chat with that loves food and cooking. She frequently shows me some nice lobster or other ingredient she would be preparing for her dinner. What a tease! Food and the preparation of food, is a great equalizer.
My greatest compliment comes from my mother, who, at family dinners, proudly proclaims at one of my meals "...and he only uses fresh ingredients!" This is an obvious a jab at some of my siblings who use can goods to extreme To be fair some of them are fabulous cooks. Growing up, the kitchen was the center of family life. Everyone was taught to cook and my dad had been a cook in the Navy. When you left home, you were armed with the love of your family, a good set of moral standards and a brand new chef's knife. I still have mine and its still my favorite.
So I guess for the purposes of this weblog, Silver Dinner was inevitable. By the way, Silver Diner is a compliment to one of my favorite eating establishments in San Francisco called the Fog City Diner. As for the metaphor? Well there is nothing better then doing your thinking and creating when you have crumbs from a lovely peach cobbler hanging from your face....and I'm still thin!
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