The truth shall set you free

This week I had the opportunity to drive down to SLC to attend a chef presentation. It was billed as a chance to meet local chefs,see new products and see new techniques. I am old and tired and the only one with clearance to drive a company car  and so my reaction was meh-. Minion on the other hand is still young, LOVES to go on car rides and loves them even more when he gets paid to be a passenger so he talked fancy and convinced me to drive his Miss Daisy self.
I will admit the trip there was a whole lot of fun and even though it was taking forever I thought that maybe he was right in pushing me out of my comfort zone. And then we arrived to our destination and immediately I changed my mind. As soon as we stepped foot inside I got the sinking feeling that I did not belong and as I tried to convince myself that I was being silly introductions started and all be if every person in there was not giving themselves fancy titles. When it came to us I squeaked out what I was doing and could feel the hot glares of disapproval along with the internal dialogues as to why a glorified lunch lady had been invited. If the floor had suddenly turned into a portal to another realm I would have been eternally grateful but I think I have offended every nerd in every galaxy and so no good turn was to be given to me. I am not sure if you know this but in the BC time ( you know before children) I was on the fast track to food glory . I was running in circles that if I played my cards right could have ended up in some amazing things. In fact as newlyweds watching the food network one Sunday I recognized people I was associating with in my former career. Unfortunately kitchens and family life are as good a combination as peanut butter and olives, so instead I rambled down a road that has been far less glamorous.
The seminar continued and as I tried to decipher words choked out by one of thickest french accents I have ever heard my shame led to questioning. Maybe I should have stayed the course, maybe I should have tried to be in high end pastry and lived up to the potential, maybe maybe maybe... The longer we went the more my former training kicked in and suddenly I realized that all was not lost. I still remembered these techniques, I still knew the language and could actually perform all of the tasks. I wanted to tell these chumps with their fancy titles my discovery but we were limited to questions not life affirming discoveries so I stayed quiet.  Right about the time that regret was starting to set in though a funny thing happened. I realized that I was bored. The idea of meticulous placement of singular berries was not thrilling but tedious and monotonous. The beauty of a correctly made ganache somehow had been dimmed and I was having serious difficulty in not pretending to have a seizure or some other medical emergency so I could leave.
So even though I am capable of creating this

What I am most proud of creating is this

Because with this title I get to have awesome conversation and endless adventures and smells that could kill a horse.