Aspiration.

Badass is a juvenile aspiration.

Gabrielle Hamilton

Knew.

From Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones, and Butter ...

There was an antique zinc bar with just four seats that had been salvaged from a bistro in France and shipped over. There were gorgeous antique mirrors everywhere, making the tiny space seem bigger than it was, and an old wooden banquette, and wrought-iron table bases. The floor, under all that sticky rat excreta, was laid with the exact same tiny hexagonal tiles that had been on the floor of a crêperie in Brittany where I had worked for a brief period in my early twenties. Even when gulping the comparatively fresh New York City air once back on the sidewalk, thinking I might have been poisoned in some way, I knew the space was exactly "me." There were ten sturdy burners. Just two ovens. And fewer than thirty seats. I could cook by hand, from stove to table, never let a propane brûlée torch near a piece of food, and if it came down to it, I could just reach over the pass and deliver the food myself. I knew exactly what and how to cook in that kind of space, I knew exactly what kind of fork we should have, I knew right away how the menu should read and how it would look handwritten, and I knew immediately, even, what to call it.

Thank you, Jess. 

Be.

Be careful what you get good at doing because you'll be doing it for the rest of your life.  When you are the one throwing the party every night, emptying the ashtrays, making sure the tonic is cold, the limes fresh, the shifts covered, the meat perfectly cooked and adequately rested, the customers carefree and the employees calm and confident, it will leave its marks. Someone has to stay in the kitchen and do the bones of the thing, to make sure it stands up, and if it’s you, so be it.

Gabrielle Hamilton, from Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef

Sardine.

Gabrielle Hamilton's Sardine Sandwich ...

Service.

Chef, writer, and owner of Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton on service ...

Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to serve, to become servants?

Be.

Be careful what you get good at doing because you'll be doing it for the rest of your life.  When you are the one throwing the party every night, emptying the ashtrays, making sure the tonic is cold, the limes fresh, the shifts covered, the meat perfectly cooked and adequately rested, the customers carefree and the employees calm and confident, it will leave its marks. Someone has to stay in the kitchen and do the bones of the thing, to make sure it stands up, and if it’s you, so be it.

Gabrielle Hamilton, from Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef