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Revisting this brilliant article about Alinea's chef Grant Achatz today. Have you seen it?
- Thread starter traca
- Start date
thanks traca. amazing. this is what my DH has been fighting for 3 years now--also a non-smoker
and occasional social drinker for his lifetime. DH never got back the ability to swallow, so he's had the feeding tube for 3 years now. It's tough, but we manage because we have to. It's a beastly disease that can spread, which is what has happened to us. I wish the very best for Grant---he is so young to have to go through this.
and occasional social drinker for his lifetime. DH never got back the ability to swallow, so he's had the feeding tube for 3 years now. It's tough, but we manage because we have to. It's a beastly disease that can spread, which is what has happened to us. I wish the very best for Grant---he is so young to have to go through this.
Wow! Angie...I had no idea.
Recently this article has come up because my friends and I have been talking about the senses involved in eating. I met a guy who's allerigic to a laundry list of things so he won't try most food, but he loves to smell them. What he gets out of smelling them is far more than I get out of eating it. It was like a contact high!
It's made me very aware of trying to use all my senses when I eat...including being mindful of visual appeal, texture, color, temperature, smell, and finally taste.
It was a real eye opener when a chef mentioned, "most chocolate pastries don't even taste like chocolate." As a chocolate lover, I was shocked...and since then, I've learned, she's right! Close your eyes and eat a ding dong. The only thing I taste is the filling. Or a brownie recipe I was using. Someone said that it also didn't taste much like chocolate. So I've been mindful, and working on bumping up the flavor.
But it's amazing how much we forget to be grateful for. The ability to eat...it's so fundamental to survival and yet, how often do we really consider what's on our plate?
Big hugs to you and your husband!
Recently this article has come up because my friends and I have been talking about the senses involved in eating. I met a guy who's allerigic to a laundry list of things so he won't try most food, but he loves to smell them. What he gets out of smelling them is far more than I get out of eating it. It was like a contact high!
It's made me very aware of trying to use all my senses when I eat...including being mindful of visual appeal, texture, color, temperature, smell, and finally taste.
It was a real eye opener when a chef mentioned, "most chocolate pastries don't even taste like chocolate." As a chocolate lover, I was shocked...and since then, I've learned, she's right! Close your eyes and eat a ding dong. The only thing I taste is the filling. Or a brownie recipe I was using. Someone said that it also didn't taste much like chocolate. So I've been mindful, and working on bumping up the flavor.
But it's amazing how much we forget to be grateful for. The ability to eat...it's so fundamental to survival and yet, how often do we really consider what's on our plate?
Big hugs to you and your husband!
shaun-in-to
Well-known member
There was also a very good piece about Achatz and his cancer in The New Yorker last May.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_max?currentPage=all
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_max?currentPage=all
heather_in_sf
Well-known member
(((Ang))))
keeping you both in my thoughts...
keeping you both in my thoughts...
DH was having a down day, so I went home at lunch and he was watching Emeril Green w/muppets : )
He loves watching Foodnetwork----probably watches it more than I do. Anthony Burdain too. I think it's somehow cathartic, in that it makes him remember how good food can taste---just by watching others. does that make any sense??
He loves watching Foodnetwork----probably watches it more than I do. Anthony Burdain too. I think it's somehow cathartic, in that it makes him remember how good food can taste---just by watching others. does that make any sense??
amanda_pennsylvania
Well-known member
A very dear friend--also a gourmet cook--went through this last year.
It was a just a freak thing--he doesn't smoke or drink. His speciality is Mexican and New Mexican food and he's lost the ability to eat or taste anything spicy, although the docs say that will come back eventually.
It was a very scary situation because his wife was expecting their first child while he was going through chemo and radiation. We all pitched in and delivered meals for them twice a week during his treatments. (I'd moved by then so my contribution was organizing the effort and reminding folks when they were supposed to cook. Seemed the least I could do.) He's doing fine now, but it was a very tense time.
Ang, we're thinking of you and wish you and your DH the best.
It was a just a freak thing--he doesn't smoke or drink. His speciality is Mexican and New Mexican food and he's lost the ability to eat or taste anything spicy, although the docs say that will come back eventually.
It was a very scary situation because his wife was expecting their first child while he was going through chemo and radiation. We all pitched in and delivered meals for them twice a week during his treatments. (I'd moved by then so my contribution was organizing the effort and reminding folks when they were supposed to cook. Seemed the least I could do.) He's doing fine now, but it was a very tense time.
Ang, we're thinking of you and wish you and your DH the best.
amanda_pennsylvania
Well-known member
BTW, my friend had the same team of doctors as Grant Achatz.
Maybe there's something in the Chicago water...
Maybe there's something in the Chicago water...
LOL! Amanda...I used to live in Chicago and I guarantee...there's something in the water!
I loved the people and how ideas...big or small...seemed limitless. And people would go out of their way to lend their expertise. (When I first moved into the city, I was new at taking public transportation. Seeing I was nervous, I once had a business man escort me off the train and walk the 3 blocks with me so I could change my driver's license. Turns out, it wasn't even his stop! He left me in good hands and went to get back on the train & go to work....)
I really miss being there and think about moving back often.
I loved the people and how ideas...big or small...seemed limitless. And people would go out of their way to lend their expertise. (When I first moved into the city, I was new at taking public transportation. Seeing I was nervous, I once had a business man escort me off the train and walk the 3 blocks with me so I could change my driver's license. Turns out, it wasn't even his stop! He left me in good hands and went to get back on the train & go to work....)
I really miss being there and think about moving back often.
Grant will be on the radio on Splendid Table this week. check your local station for time/date.
http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=608316&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=15ebee8ae1
http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=608316&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=15ebee8ae1
amanda_pennsylvania
Well-known member
OMG! I had almost the exact same experience my first day downtown.
We'd just moved there after college, and we were living out in the 'burbs (DH hates cities). I took Metra in, then took a 127 bus to Mich. Avenue (my office was at Mich. and Ontario). I was trying to follow the route on the map, and a woman asked where I needed to get off. I told her, and she said to put my map away, that she'd tell me where my stop was, and she did. So once off the bus, I was looking around trying to orient myself, and two business men came up and said they'd overheard the conversation on the bus and did I need any further help getting to where I was going. They got me straightened out, and pointed me in the right direction.
Having grown up (mostly) in DC (the most unhelpful city in the world), I was absolutely floored that complete strangers cared whether I got where I needed to go.
I heart Chicago.
We'd just moved there after college, and we were living out in the 'burbs (DH hates cities). I took Metra in, then took a 127 bus to Mich. Avenue (my office was at Mich. and Ontario). I was trying to follow the route on the map, and a woman asked where I needed to get off. I told her, and she said to put my map away, that she'd tell me where my stop was, and she did. So once off the bus, I was looking around trying to orient myself, and two business men came up and said they'd overheard the conversation on the bus and did I need any further help getting to where I was going. They got me straightened out, and pointed me in the right direction.
Having grown up (mostly) in DC (the most unhelpful city in the world), I was absolutely floored that complete strangers cared whether I got where I needed to go.
I heart Chicago.
I'm so glad to hear that. Here we have a notorious reputation for the "Seattle Freeze"
meaning the chilly attitude strangers have with eachother...eyes averted, comments like "Nice shoes!" is totally suspect--as if it's an opening line to "I have a gun, now give me all your money!"
I've been away from Chicago for nearly 15 years now and I kept thinking nostalgia might be playing tricks on me....
meaning the chilly attitude strangers have with eachother...eyes averted, comments like "Nice shoes!" is totally suspect--as if it's an opening line to "I have a gun, now give me all your money!"
I've been away from Chicago for nearly 15 years now and I kept thinking nostalgia might be playing tricks on me....