May 31, 2024

May 31, 2024 Newsletter

What brings you joy?  Marie Kondo (the Japanese clutter consultant) has made a great living asking those four words.  She told followers to grab objects in their house and ask, “Does this bring me joy?”  If the answer is yes, keep it.  If the answer is no, allow that thing to go to someone who could be made happy by that object.  In doing so, we reduce the clutter in our house and lives.  But, for the purposes of this line of thought, let’s look at a larger picture.  What brings you joy?  Each of us has an answer.  Most of them will be different, even if only slightly.  I have been thinking a lot about this recently and have come up with some personal answers. 

Note, the question is not “What do you love?”  It’s “What brings you joy?”  I love my wife.  I love my kids. I love Harrisonburg. I love our friends. There are many, many things I love.  You know what brings me joy?  I enjoy taking care of our house.  By that I mean making the effort to make our yard look great. I enjoy weeding, planting, mowing, trimming, etc. I don’t do this to be better than anyone else in the neighborhood. There are certainly those whose yards look better than mine. And, I don’t do it to rub the noses of those who may not take the time or interest that I do.  I just feel good about a job I have done and having it look nice, in my opinion. I take some pride in the results. The grass is green, the flowers come up sequentially and colorfully.  The raised vegetable beds are growing things we can use on the food truck. And, after spending a few hours making it right, to stand on the front porch looking over the yard with a glass of wine, it brings me joy. 

To exceed people’s expectations also brings me joy.  Let’s face it, we are not a typical food truck.  We constantly change our menu.  We explore different cuisines, ingredients, techniques, and methods.  Some things work really well. And, let’s face it, some things don’t.  I view this as an evolution.  Without pushing on boundaries, we cannot grow and become better…better culinarians, chefs, business owners, caterers, etc. etc.  So, when someone takes the time to comment that they loved the flavors, the textures, the colors, the innovation of something they thought they knew…it brings me joy.  When we are at an event and everything goes very smoothly and the event coordinator is deeply impressed…it brings me joy.  When a catering is so well received because the guests are raving about the food and service…it brings me joy. 

Leigh Anne and I wrote our own wedding vows, and they should tell you a lot about us.  First, “Love, honor, and share your food.”  Second, “Make each other laugh every day.”  The third, and most subjective, is, “Only tickle when absolutely necessary.”  Well, that should tell you about who we are right there.  We are foodies.  We love food which is hopefully obvious. But, that second one is a real key, I believe, to a wonderful marriage.  Leigh Anne and I are both pretty funny people (looks not withstanding). Is there a greater joy to be had than causing another human being to laugh out loud? We try hard to get babies to laugh with the tried and true ‘peek-a-boo’ game. Some of us try to remember jokes or make convincing impressions of other people. Some have a rapier quick wit. But, let’s face it. Making others laugh is one of the greatest joys. It’s why we treat today’s comedians like rock stars. Anyway…it brings me joy to make others laugh, especially my wife.

It's been a while since I have been able to write a newsletter.  I apologize.  Many of you have commented on how you look forward to these musings of mine. Lord Byron once wrote, “If I do not write to empty my mind, I go mad.”  Well said, Sir.  Of course, he also wrote, “Letter writing is the only device combining solitude with good company.”  LOL…I like that.

To say that this spring has been busy for us is to simply state that the sky is blue.  Our lives in May have been unreal.  We have had so many events and caterings that we had to force some time off.  We took Sunday-Thursday off last week and called it a reclamation week. We reclaimed our house.  We detailed our kitchen, living room, study, lawn, garden, laundry, etc. etc.  It was during this time that I began to have the thoughts of this newsletter’s theme.  We have written so many menus over the last month, our heads are spinning.  I know that I usually include the menu of the week here as well as a menu for the next week.  I am not going to lie…we have no idea what we are serving next week.  We have an event on Sunday in Staunton serving breakfast/lunch to about 150 runners and families for a memorial 5k run.  Next week, we will be on the food truck downtown Wednesday-Friday.  On Saturday, we will be at Patchwork Plus in Dayton from 9-5. They are an amazing quilt fabric store (one of the biggest I have ever seen) and they are having an event for some of their bigger customers.  The following week we have events scheduled for three different days, lots of menus and locations…be careful what you wish for people.  Be very careful.

Leigh Anne and I went to Bella Luna last night for dinner.  It is a locally owned and operated Italian restaurant here in Harrisonburg with a wood fired oven.  They have specialty pizzas and other Italian fare, and to be honest, its one of the best and most popular restaurants in town.  While we have eaten there several times, I want to tell you something that really struck me last night.  Let me preface by saying I have spent the vast majority of my life running restaurants.  I have seen brilliant management, and horrible management. I have spent time teaching restaurant management. What I saw last night was certainly on the brilliant side.  For a Thursday night, it was busy. There was a good crowd, tables were turning and everyone was doing their part.  I saw the owner walking around a bit.  He wasn’t really talking to anyone.  He was making a few phone calls, making notes in a ledger.  He was doing what he needed to do. As I watched him, I could see him seeing people come in the door.  They went to the host stand and someone sat them within a minute or two. I was impressed because he allowed people to do their jobs. Most managers would not on a busy night. Other managers would have taken over the host position while trying to bus tables and find fault with the kitchen.  This man was cool and collected. His team knew what they were doing and they were doing it well…without being nagged by him. I asked our server how long she had been working there and she said for six years! That is unheard of in the restaurant world. If one can keep a server for a year, maybe two, you have done well. Then, she said that there were some employees who had been there over ten years. Wow!  I said, “He must be a good man to work for!”  “Absolutely” was the response.  So, if you are in Harrisonburg and looking for an amazing dinner made from scratch in a well-run restaurant…Bella Luna…downtown on Water Street across the street from the parking deck.

For this week’s ‘culinary tip’ let’s talk about knife care. If you cook at all, you probably have a few knives made just for cooking, i.e. chef’s knife, bread knife, slicer, paring knife…whatever. Step one:  NEVER put these knives in a dishwasher.  The heat and chemicals will cause them to get dull very fast. And, while we are at it, a good knife does not need to be an expensive knife.  Sure, one can easily spend several hundred dollars on a German or Japanese knife made of the best steel, sharpened to the point you can slice rocks, and blessed by Zeus himself.  OR, you can easily get a good knife by taking $20 to Ross. Seriously. The key is to take care of it. So, no dishwasher; hand wash only.  Step two: keeping it sharp! ‘Why Johnnymac? Who cares about a $20 knife?’ Dull knives cut humans; sharp knives cut everything else. Keep it sharp for safety. Use a steel. A steel is a long cylindrical object with a guard and handle on one end. Hold the handle in one hand. In the other hand, have your knife. Start at the top of the steel with the back end of the blade of the knife. Pull the blade towards you while going down the steel so that the tip of the knife hits near the bottom of the steel all in one drag. Keep the knife at about a twenty-degree angle to the steel.  Now, put the back side of the knife on the other side of the steel and repeat the motion. Again, keep about a twenty-degree angle. Now, both sides of the knife blade have had contact with the steel. Repeat this about ten times per side.

The purpose of a knife is to cut through something. Often, we use a cutting board to provide a stopping point.  Place your palms together like you are about to pray with your fingers out straight. Now, separate your fingers enough for them to mix together, keeping them straight so that all ten fingers are in a row. This is what a sharp knife is like. Now, bend the first knuckle if your fingers. A knife edge is like hair. When a knife is used for a while, those hairs bend and the knife becomes dull.  By using a steel in the manner described above, it straightens the ‘hair’ on the end of your blade. (Make your fingers straight again.) When the blade comes in repeated contact with the cutting board, it’s pushing against the edge of the knife.  If you ‘steel’ your knife with just a few strokes each time you use it, you will be able to enjoy your knife for many years. Some of my favorite knives are inexpensive ones that I have had for many, many years. Of course, if you use your knife a LOT, every few months you may need to use a stone or other sharpening device. But, I wouldn’t recommend using one more than every 5-6 months.

Thank you all for reading this. It does bring me joy to write it. We hope food can bring you joy, evoke wonderful memories, and challenge you to keep trying new things.

Hope to write again soon!

Johnnymac