I’m totally stealing this blog title from a short film by my new friend Lisa Camille Robinson just gave me to view on my return trip from Jamaica. I’ll let you find it if you can, but it was the perfect reminder that happiness is usually a lot closer than you think. And that often the things we chase as symbols of happiness create problems that are hard to anticipate.
So thanks for reminding me that things are pretty good Lisa.
I’m traveling the country. Soon the world perhaps, growing a family, and doing what I love. Cooking, and OK, eating. I have people who love me around. And with dramatic ups and downs of this swaying branch of a career, I have a stout, strong foundation at it’s trunk.
So I’ve done a James Beard dinner in Philadelphia, and some work in Jamaica since we left off. And I’m heading to San Diego, San Francisco, and New York City all in the next 7 days.
Why ?
This is a question some people ask. So I’ll give it a shot.
As a working chef for the last 13 years, I’ve dreamt about some of the things I’m experiencing now. I get calls almost daily to do demonstrations, cook guest dinners, make appearances, help charities, lecture, provide culinary entertainment, help develop products, and speak.
I’m talking with investors, some who seem to share my vision. I’m meeting with restauranteurs who want me to design concepts. I’m pitching and working on making a few television shows happen.
All of this is very exciting. All of this is, at times, frustrating and like tonight, exhausting.
Honestly, some of it is to put bread on the table. But most of it is to learn, experience and grow as a chef/individual/business.
I’m sure there are a ton of chefs who have or are ready to call me a "sell-out" for working with big corporations, pursuing more TV and the like. I'll admit, a few years ago I may have been one of them.
But I can tell you, as with most things, cooking on the road and talking while doing it, presenting an idea or vision, and making it happen with the normalcy of things always going wrong, and constantly being in the public eye is, well, as tough as running a restaurant. Or writing a sentence thats not a run-on ( wink ).
I’ve traded in the challenges of cooking in 30 minutes, for those of sourcing liquid nitrogen in a country that has difficulty sourcing hot water. I’ve traded the bottom line driven restauranteur, for the bottom line driven event planner, and I’ve traded the chopping block for a room filled with not Padma and Tom, but network executives.
The grass is always greener...
rB
