Proud Papa

I'll have to add a photo of Taylor later, but since my hard drive is being fixed, I am doing this post from the library, on a computer that doesn't have my pictures. Which of course has nothing to do with my subject....

Taylor is my oldest boy. He has recently been attempting to generate his own business doing gardening and yard work. It has been fun listening to him as he learns different plants, which sometimes means taking a picture and visiting the local nursery. But he's learning. The work lately has been spotty, and with winter coming on, he decided that he needed a full time job. Also, because he moved a bit north and has no vehicle, his south end clients lost his services. But I got to hear what every parent loves to hear about their child: a compliment from another person.

Now Taylor has done some work around our house to help his Mom get the gardens in order. So I know he does good work. But we heard a neighbor who has had other gardeners work on her place that it never looks as good as when Taylor does the work, and she would really like to have him come back.

Getting a full time job will basically mean that this woman will be his one "weekend" client. But when the chips were down for Taylor, he did what he needed to do to take care of himself and be responsible. He's out on his own, and learning to live as the master of his own fate. I remember those days. I'm still trying to figure out though just what has been mastered....

Miles surprised us the other day and came in and cooked us a meal. Miles as you may recall is a chef, and that's him in the photo above. Actually, he disowns the term "chef." To him it denotes a journeyman status he doesn't feel he's achieved yet. Right now he works a corporate restaurant in Edmonds, sometimes doing 1000 to 1200 meals on the weekend nights. Per night. So he's learned the ropes around banging out numbers of meals of quality dining. But like most chefs, uh, cooks, he wants the quality, the creativity a smaller kitchen affords, and so he has moved on. And we got a taste of how much his skill has grown.

Now perhaps this meal was a menu item somewhere. But I don't think so. Our appetizer was a cracker spread with a goat/cow cheese/truffle blend, topped with Serrano ham and caramelized onion and sprinkled with fresh thyme. That was accompanied with a bottle of Syrah. Dinner was baked fingerling potatoes and stuffed red pepper sections. The stuffing was spaghetti squash, portabella mushroom, and mozzarella cheese an\again sprinkled with thyme. That was accompanied with a delicious Owen Roe Chardonnay. Desert was vanilla ice cream topped with a sauteed pear/banana compote and a sauce made of blackberry cordial (the berries were from our area and Jody made the cordial) which Miles reduced and then added cream and butter, and once again, lightly sprinkled with thyme. Yes, thyme on ice cream. It worked.

Miles knew how all these flavors worked together, and I quite forget where he used the truffle oil. But the cooking times for perfect consistency, and flavor mixing were well beyond my imagination, and yet with no recipes but what was in his head, he threw this together. Wow.

It is encouraging to see these young sons of mine, these young men, get a hold of careers, relationships That's Miles and his girl friend), and life in general. As a parent, it naturally scares and saddens me to see them moving away. (?! yea, yea, I know...) I guess I'm like every parent in that regard.

And on the other hand, I couldn't be prouder of both of them.