No matter how wonderful family life might be, sometimes the
parents have to get away, turn their brains off and unwind. We did just that recently and hit the
jackpot. Nope, no gambling. We had a classic date of dinner and movie.
We started at Assembly
in downtown Santa Cruz. Owned by the
same couple as The Picnic Basket
and The Penny Ice Creamery, they
are defining farm to table, seasonal, local, quality dining in Santa Cruz. We had a gorgeous meal of duck confit,
polenta and cauliflower flash fried with chickpea flour. Exquisite flavors and textures, perfectly
cooked in portions big enough to satisfy, small enough to savor.
Then we headed down the street to the old theater, the Del
Mar, for Burnt, starring
Sienna Miller and Bradley Cooper. Eye
candy for everyone, this worked as a great dessert. But it was far deeper than I had
anticipated. Watching the cooking was
fun, and the food was beautiful, but the movie was really about just loving
what you do. Cooper plays a chef who had
been lauded as one of the world’s up-and-comers before his life descended into
a life of drugs and womanizing.
Recovered and cleaned up he makes another go at his third Michelin star,
the Holy Grail for a certain breed of chef.
A relentless, inhumane pursuit shows promise until his past catches up
to him and appears to ruin his shot.
Serendipity steps in and he gets another chance, but this time he is not
just reformed from vice, but has elected to let the pursuit of that final star
go.
I found some of the wisdom in the movie enjoyable. Cooper’s chef announces at one point, “I
don’t want to make food that makes people want to eat. I want to make food so good people stop
eating.” I love that moment when someone
bites into food you’ve prepared and can only stop to savor, put the fork down
and think and enjoy!
As I tell me students all the time, if I throw you in the
pool and all you do is struggle and flail, you will sink. If you take a deep breath and relax, you will
float. This is one of many lessons
Cooper’s character puts into action.
Instead of grasping for the star, he simply does what he does, letting
the cards fall where they may. Burnt proves to be the perfect morsel
for our status-craving culture to chew on.
No comments:
Post a Comment