Day 11

Sorry for the brief pause in the action, a trip to Mendocino was in order. Anyway, I'm sure everyone was riveted and gasping for more after the last episode.

I have cooked a few meals over the past few days without tasting the final products. It's definitely awkward given that my job is to taste taste taste. I kind of feel like I am going through the motions of cooking, but that the end result is not my own. It makes me kind of apprehensive about what I'm serving people, but I have faith in my techniques and in my hands. So, although I don't know for sure, I'm pretty confident that what I've made still tastes good. I suppose if I get a new job over the course of the next month, I am going to have to at least taste what I am making although I can spit it out. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I recently read an article in the New Yorker about a Chicago chef named Grant Achatz http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_max?currentPage=all
who had stage IV tongue cancer and had to go through chemotherapy that temporarily eliminated his ability to taste. Obviously, I'm not in the same boat as Achatz, neither in my career (he owns an incredible 4-star Chicago restaurant) nor as far as disability, but I have been thinking about him as I've had various people tasting the food I make for me. It's interesting to separate the pure technique of cooking from the final flavor.

I do things as I cook to create certain layers of flavor or texture. For instance: browning a piece of meat, or toasting a certain spice or slowly sweating onions before you incorporate them in a dish. These are all techniques that will change physical attributes of certain ingredients for a dish and thus affect the final flavor and texture. They are also techniques that rely mostly on senses other than the mouth. Browning is mostly a visual effect. Brown the meat till its golden. It also has an aural element -- you can hear when the sizzle of the meat is at the right volume and frequency and thus when it is cooking at the right temperature. Toasting a spice is mostly an olfactory-based technique. Toast the cumin until it's fragrant. Sweating onions are often determined to be done by touch. Sweat onions until they are completely soft (and translucent). Onions, if not first sweated until they are completely soft, will retain a residual crunch even when boiled forever in a sauce or stew. Anyway, the point is that when I am not as focused on flavor directly, I need to rely even more on my understanding of, and proper execution of cooking techniques.

It's also an interesting learning experience for myself and my helpers/sous chefs as I ask them about the final flavors of a dish. Does this have enough salt, acid, sugar? Do you taste any bitterness? Is it flat (meaning do the flavors sit drab and boring or do they stand up and sing)? Do you taste the chili? Too much? Not enough? Are the flavors melded or separated? In balance? Do you like it? Is there anything you could think of to make it better?

Anyway, stats time:

Current Weight: 190 (down 15 lbs)

I can't recall all of the juices I've made. Lets just say one is beginning to taste more and more like the other. It's a blur of carrots, apples, ginger, peaches, plums, grapes, tomatoes, lettuce, basil, cucumbers, broccoli, melons, cherries, strawberries and bell peppers.

Considering I'm on the 11th day without solid food, I'm feeling remarkebly well. Rumor has it that my eyes are beginning to sparkle a little and my skin looks particularly clear. I think I might be getting the juice fast glow (very similar to the high pro glow). I do have my crashes still. I had one yesterday after working a "stage" (tryout shift) in the morning followed by a lengthy afternoon meeting/interview. I had an Odwalla inbetween but those 28% juice, sucrose-laden, pasteurized bottles don't seem to kick start me with the energy I need. I have been exercising very regularly including disc golf, hiking, biking, racquetball and gym workouts. All seem to go well, as long as I've had a pre-game juice and don't go past the 3 hour mark (that seems to be the length of an average juice high). Not losing several hours a day to digestion seems like one of the biggest perks. I finish a meal always feeling better than I've started. I don't get the post-dinner evening laziness. Euphoria hasn't quite set in, but I think I hear her knocking.