Life Of Jason

Last year when I changed my diet to a mostly organic diet, I discovered that I really enjoyed cooking.  I’ve always made myself meals but never actually tried to “cook” in the way a chef would do it.  Since then, I’ve done a few things that I found from recipes online and I’ve been amazed at how food tastes.  We get into such a rush that we don’t just sit and enjoy meals and the different flavors that can be combined to make a great meal.

If you had asked me a year ago to sit down and watch a show hosted by Gordon Ramsay, I would have just laughed at you.  Even though he’s mildly entertaining when he’s giving chefs the Simon Cowell treatment it was still a show about cooking.  Now, I actually find myself watching Hell’s Kitchen and being more interested in the meals they were cooking and the presentation of the food.

I sit there and wonder what that food would taste like and wonder whether or not I could make something like that myself in the kitchen.

Then I found myself watching Ramsay’s other show on BBC America, Kitchen Nightmares.  I look at the mistakes that are being made by these restaurants and think to myself that I would have likely done the same thing when it comes to cooking in a restaurant.

What I really find interesting is that while Ramsay can be quite ascerbic, he also seems to genuinely care about the people he’s trying to help and the advice he shares is certainly invaluable and likely things people would pay thousands to get in school.

Of course, I have to wonder how much is done for television and how much is just acting up for the television.  If, for example, I was able to be a fly on the wall in the kitchen at Clary’s watching James Clary work his magic would I see him jumping on his chefs and people flying around like they were in a bee hive?  Would I instead just see people working in a quiet efficiency turning out one delicious meal after another?  Perhaps if there’s someone out there familiar with the finer dining restaurants in Springfield could share with me if what we see on TV is anything like working in the real kitchen of a restuarant like Clary’s or the Tower Club.

I actually thought of taking a part time job in one of these restaurants just so I could watch how they do what they do and see what I could learn from them.  Of course, you need actual training which I don’t have and likely can’t afford so that’s off the menu (so to speak.)