Jane and I are in some disagreement on the book so that is interesting to discuss. We are at a finalizing stage so I suppose we each have attachment to one way or another. Tis good, I realize, and fun, and the tussle can only lead to a stronger, more vital book. May this be so!
I am cooking this morning and enjoying making a broth of wine, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, pepper, cloves in which to poach the chicken for the dish I plan to make. I realize how clearly this dish will never be made again, these carrots, these chickens, this wine. I used to want a precise recipe, and today I recognize the impossibility of that and even the limitation. Many good recipes were "accidents."
Also, the ingredients can't be the same each time. Even two sides of an orange have a different amount of vitamin C, receive differing amounts of light. We go to a restaurant and want the dish to be exactly the same, but no two vegetables have the same life, no two pieces of a cow.
We were raised to uniformity with the rise of food at the grocery store packaged to look alike. Today I celebrate diversity and that this moment, this one, will never occur again. I forget sometimes. I have been rushing about, but today I sit with just this, and the joy of smell. There are wondrous smells outside, and the smell of chicken poaching in wine fills the house.