Leggo my ego

As a cook getting his come up ins in the San Francisco food scene, emboldened by his ability to dart and move like a ballerina on speed, with the fervor of a buddhist monk knowing that all he is doing is for the greater good, this kid was blessed.Blessed with what all those that got into the business wished they had, had from the beginning, the natural ability to move. Cook yes, but move. Move as if there was nothing physical or mental stopping him, nor getting in his way. Gracefully spreading ten plates at a time without a clang or clatter, let alone a chipped plate. So good this kid thought he was that he even came up with his own quote that he held to his heart and said every morning, or afternoon really, before he went to work. “Focus, apt mind and a calm soul are the foundations for wisdom , knowledge and success.”
When one can experience this they will know it, and they will realize that next to skiing off a cliff at 30 miles an hour and landing perfectly smooth and poised there is no better feeling, nothing like it. Nothing like pulling off 300 covers with speed and grace. When your boss comes around the line and says to you, “like poetry in motion man, like poetry in motion!” You know that what you are doing is something special. Enter the problem with this “THE EGO!” No not Eggo, as in Eggo my leggo! Or is it Leggo my eggo! Anyway, where was I. Oh yeah I was on the verge of taking you on an ethereal adventure through the bowels of my experience in the self deluding world of rock and roll-dum that can be the restaurant business.
Inspired by the soulful stories of cooks of years gone by, a nostalgic journey began, in search of the soul of cooking. This young man thought of nothing more than to be the cleanest cook out there. Clean mentally and physically. Not only his physical body but that of his environment, in the kitchen and out. As I said, this kid fashioned himself as something of a monk on the line. With sharpness and virility on his side.
Really this was for merely the first few of years as a constant, after that it was a spotty mess of rebounds from embarresment and lack of self confidence aided by his new found mental freedom he obtained through drugs and alcohol. But that we will get to later. (more to come)