Dixie and I had a cooking ‘experience’ last week that got me thinking. Dixie was making my Quick Panang Curry.This is one of those recipes you just throw together and heat up. I was reading off the ingredients and she was pulling them out. Soon she had it on the table and were ladling it over some sweet brown rice. We started eating and right off I noticed something was wrong.
At first I thought maybe she hadn’t put in enough peanut butter, but that wasn’t it. I just kept eating it, but it wasn’t savory in the slightest. I proposed several things. Did it have salt? Was it too much lime juice? Finally, it clicked in my head and I asked, “Did you put in the Red Curry Paste?” Somehow Dixie had managed to get it out, but then put it back in the fridge before adding it to the pot (I’ve done similar things in the past).
This is how we learned that the key ingredient to Panang Curry is, go figure, curry. Dixie remade the dish just this last weekend and added the curry this time. It was spectacular. It seems you can’t have a good curry without the curry.
This got me thinking about ‘the key ingredient,’ not simply in cooking, but in life and music. To me, the overarching key ingredient to life is love. I’m sure, however, that there are many other key ingredients that we don’t really think about until they are missing (just like when the curry went missing from the curry).
You know certain composers or musical artists have a certain flavor that is all their own. What makes Copland’s music sound like him? How about Sting, or The Beatles? Or whoever have you?
Everything we savor in life surely has a key ingredient; sports, recreation, relationships with friends and family. It’s worth considering. What makes this relationship special? It’s a question of thanks and appreciation. I think recognizing and voicing that ‘something special’ can give us a deeper connection. I certainly appreciate the curry more.
What are some of the key ingredients in your life?
