My Mise En Place

One of my greatest passion in life is to write ... to be able to express my soul in written form, something that people can read and use as a mirror that will reflect back their own journey as they tell my own.

I have been writing before, long before computers and hi-tech mobile phones have occupied my time and interest. I have been writing with pens and papers. My writings, compiled in a box of journals and loose papers or whatever I can use at the moment (yes, table napkins and sheets of tissue rolls included) have become my own therapy when sanity is threatened by outside factors of life's challenges. I wrote about my travels, my adventures, my faith, my dreams, my hopes, my aspirations. I wrote about the people I've met, the ideas I thought of, the joys and pains of living a life that I have tried so faithfully to follow. However, I got lost in the world of modern technology. I surrendered myself to the gadgets of ease and convenience. And my pen and papers have been put away, forgotten in the midst of my busy life. I was swayed away from my love for writing. I stopped being me - reflective, intuitive, creative.

"Mise en place," that is "putting in place" refers to the French classical discipline of organizing and arranging the ingredients for cooking as in preparing and setting up. This phrase has a lot more meaning to me now than I first encountered it years ago. As a chef, I know exactly how extremely important it is to "mise en place" before putting the pans and pots into work.

The world is a big kitchen and life is a dish to make. It's a special dish. In order to make this dish nourishing and delicious, a good "mise en place" needs to be done. Yes, we sometimes run out some ingredients, or some turned bad, some might not be readily available or sometimes ingredients do not seem to suit the taste for a flavorful dish. That is why a good "mise en place" is needed in order to anticipate necessary changes or adjustments in ingredients, utensils or even the cooking methods to be used. This couple of years that passed, I have been bad in my "mise en place." I survived though, following one challenges after another as a result of my unorganized "mise en place." And I admit, I have a couple of regrets but whining over my past mistakes could not recycle the dish or save it from being wasted. The good thing is that life is a continuous process of putting everything in place.

My "mise en place" is about the journey we take and the hopes we still dream about. It is about life - of travel, of prayer, of food - triple pod of fun. While as a chef, my writing will be around culinary adventure I will, however, write some things of general interest from time to time. I will also pick up some leaves from my past writings that I feel like sharing to my new found friends here. And with the words of Julia Child, ”Learn how to cook, try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun," I welcome you to my kitchen of scribbles, shapes and shades.

Welcome to my "mise en place."