TASTE AND SEE

Ever since high school, I've been tinkering in the kitchen and trying out new recipes. On take one, I always follow the instructions closely, then if I enjoy the results but I think it could lend itself to variations, I'll first identify the key ingredients and ratios before take two, three, four... to infinity. 

I had no idea that this thing I was doing is an actual 'thing' - has a name and all - and though I shared my experiments with those around me, it didn't ever dawn on me to write them up and the sort. 

Then a little while ago, I read this thought provoking quote by David Kaufman, and that changed my approach to the whole experience:

"Stop asking if the glass is half full or half empty. Instead ask "What is in it? How did it get there? What can I do with it?"

Just like my test kitchen and experimental gardening adventures, so too I could approach my soul's own key ingredients, ratios and the sort... and try new variations on the theme. 

So I asked "What is in me? How did it get there? What can I do with it?"

As a result, I started sharing my journey in food and gardening, in words and photography, with my closest friends and family on WhatsApp, instead of just handing out tasters, like before. 

They say that word of mouth is still one's best form of advertising, and yea it must have some merit, but let's be clear, it's not why I shared it, my aim was and remains, very different. 

Yet in the process of sharing it, an aunt who tasted it, told her work colleagues about it, then shared the visuals too, and it just so happen to be that a date ball enthusiast was also privy to that conversation, and thus I got my first enquiry about potentially making it, for sale.

This came completely out of the blue, so I set about hastily pricing such an endeavour, then wrapped three individual balls from the three variations I had on hand, for her to taste - in the end, she settled on a batch of my own creation, the Indulgent Date Balls.

Not long after, when another friend, who had also tasted all three variations, heard that I was making a batch for sale, they too requested some - a batch of each variation, to be repeated monthly!

Honestly, I'm more than willing to share my recipes and variations, and would encourage anyone to try them out too. 

Yet it seems there are some individuals who have neither the time or inclination to make them, yet still enjoy them, and I guess it's amongst these individuals where my new side venture is taking root.

Today I sent my first little parcel of artisan treats, freshly made in my 'studio', out into the world in exchange for money. 

The packaging is a work in progress, and the signage is still hand drawn - but these are early days, and to be honest, all are still just a work in progress.

I'm not sure where this is heading, but for now, I'm still having a lot of fun with the whole exercise. Even so, I still encourage everyone to make these, taste these, and see for themselves, that good food is not just a delight reserved for the mouth and nose, but can also serve as a beautiful feast to the eyes and mind if you fully engage with it.

They say life is how you frame it, but to frame it, first you need to pay close attention to it.

WORDS: rhodenel©23NOV2024 

PHOTOGRAPHY: rhoderuth©NOV2024