#70: It’s Simple

When life is too hard, matters turn complicated and you face complex issues to deal with, a grand masterplan always comes handy.

And yet, the answer might be plain and simple. Seeing that is the really hard part.

Those who know me well know that I have a serious weak spot for hardcover books with beautiful photography. Cookbooks fall into this category. Some are true pieces of art, extensively designed with beautiful pictures and displaying exotic ingredients I often struggle to pronounce.

No different from other areas in life, those that truly stand out are the ones that don’t try to confuse or impress you. It is those that humbly open up to what they are in love with.

Simplicity.

Daniel Patterson, a self-taught chef from the US and author of COI Stories and Recipes kindly offers us a glimpse into his inner world:

«Simple is not a simple word. In the context of food, too often it is used to mean facile, uninteresting, plain. In fact, it is nothing of the sort. Simple is hard to understand and to execute. When the elements of a dish are stripped down on their bare essence, when there is nothing to hide behind and nothing extraneous, that ist, in a way, a simple construct.

But it is hardly simplistic.»

In his closing statement in the short video about his cookbook he says:

«When someone picks it up my hope is that they will find themselves in the book.»

Well, Daniel, I did find myself in your book.

It’s simple.

Page 80 is my place.

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM. tiny herbs.