Are you thinking of this?
F~R~R~R~R~E~E~Z~I~N~G! (As in, ‘The Hot and Cold’ game.)
This post has nothing to do with him. Or even music.
So why is the title of one of his albums (and one of his songs as well) the title of this post?
Because.
Bryan.
Adams.
Sigh.
Swooning done. Time to chop-chop ahead with this post.
Partoku knife.
“Par-what-ku knife?”, I hear you say? Okay, not you; I heard myself blurt that (out loud, too) when, about two weeks ago, I read a review of a set of knives on The Ranting Chef’s blog:
Food…cooking…eating….tools – What works, and what doesn’t!
This post, to be precise.
Like a whole lotta things I’ve never heard of before, I hadn’t heard of Partoku knives. So off to Google I trotted, and the next nearly half-hour galloped away as I whizzed through a handful of stories of how some knives are born.
I went back to The Ranting Chef’s blog to thank him for introducing me to that fascinating slice in the world of knives. There, as is my usual habit, I read through all the earlier comments. In the last comment, the commenter posed a question about the knives. I knew that answer immediately. And all the pages I was reading about Partoku knives were still up on my screen.
Now instead of being like that annoying kid in class whose hand pops up to answer every question the teacher asks, I became like the even more annoying kid and …. blurted out the answer …. with the URL as well! Proof of my annoying behaviour in the comments section of that post.
To put it in context: I answered a question, about a part of the post, put forth by a commenter, to the owner of the blog.
That is not proper (n)etiquette. I know that. Daddy and Mummy taught me so. I learned well, too.
So why that fit of misbehaviour? Because I knew I could.
I knew I could answer that question and not worry about getting my wrist rapped.
And I knew I could write this post without giving him a heads-up or seeking permission to mention his blog
because
I know The Ranting Chef’s a cool dude.
Nope! Just like you; yes, you reading right now, I do not know The Ranting Chef at all. I RSSed his blog nearly a year ago. (I think.) From his posts, I figured he’s a cool dude. Am I clever or wot?! Actually not.
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” ~ Lao Tzu
Ever since I began reading The Ranting Chef’s blog, his words have been consistently cool dude-esque. Therefore, I’m pretty certain his character is cool dude-esque, too.
To me, a cool dude is, among other things, a dude* who is down-to-earth, loves his family, never says anything mean about/to anyone, and is kind.
I find that that’s The Ranting Chef, through and through, and I find his posts wholesome. The ‘Ranting’ part of his name is a misnomer, really.
*Incidentally, I think of a dude as a person; not someone of a specific gender. After all, Dawg calls me ‘Dude’. For his own reasons which are completely different from mine.
The importance of kindness is not often emphasised once we leave the cocoons of our high schools and our neighbourhoods.
George Saunders (New York Times bestselling American writer. Born 1958.) does this in a commencement speech earlier this year.
Wait, there’s more!
The Ranting Chef is so da cool dude, he even thanked me for being that even more annoying kid who pipsqueak-ed the answer to the question before he could!
To me, someone like that, is non-egotistic and generous in spirit.
And peeps, do I dig such peeps?!
So this is the reason, I chose to write about The Ranting Chef this month.
Oh, and another reason.
Okay, you know how I’m clever all the time, right? (All together now: “Yes, Kate.”)
But do you also know I can be brilliant a lot of times, too? (Once again, all together: “Totally, Kate.”)
Well, this is one of those classic times I’ve been so clever and so brilliant that, only 10 days ago, did I realise that I should have told you about Diced! a long time ago. 😦
The Ranting Chef has something called a Diced! competition on his blog and it’s open to everyone.
Essentially, you pick a recipe, cook it, take piccies of the process and the final product, weave it all into a lovely story and submit to participate in the competition. Oh, there are rules an’ all. But those are simple and creatively challenging. That’s why I like … reading the submissions!
(Since I moved back to be with Mum, I have the luxury of help once again. So I let them do their thang because I enjoy cuisine from my childhood days. And I like being fussed over. 🙂 )
The Ranting Chef‘s blog is in the middle of one such Diced! event, so you can’t participate at this juncture. Worry not though. You could join his legion of seven-thousand-and-who’s-counting? followers to tune in for future competitions.
Or you could be like me, and visit The Ranting Chef’s blog to enjoy learning much more about food-as-sustenance-alone. 🙂
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: WELCOME BACK, MJ! :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
One of my favourite bloggers is back! After months and months and months of silence!
I know this isn’t, and hasn’t been for a while, the easiest of times for you and your family, MJ. Warm thoughts and prayers from afar.
I’ve truly missed your good-natured banter, tales with a moral and clean humour. You never budged from my RSS list. 🙂
mj monaghan
A steeping cup of infotainment.
Thank you, Misslisted, You’ve Been Hooked! and FLOWERSBLOOMS by “Elvie”, for commenting on my last post.
Thank you, Misslisted, You’ve Been Hooked! and FLOWERSBLOOMS by “Elvie”, for liking my last post.
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P.S.: Cheerful Monk adds a footnote to every post acknowledging those who comment on her previous post. She also links the commenters’ names back to their own blogs.
I like both these practices of acknowledging the time and effort made to comment, and the free advertising! So I’m doing what I do well – being a copycat!
For You, Daddy! 