I am slow to respond to this thread. I just started a new job, cooking for 40 in a home for "developmentally disabled adults," which is kicking my butt physically. ( I was not in shape to spend eight hours a day on my feet running non-stop.) Plus at the same time I came down with the worst cold I've had in twenty years. The last month I have barely touched the computer, doing little but work and sleep. (plus rescuing the occasional odd trans maiden in distress. [some very odd])
But let me tell you about an impressive and delightful human being. Jesus and I have been corresponding for several years, and we both wanted to meet, but nothing had worked out. Finding myself in Berkeley on short notice for my brother's marriage to his partner of 25 years, I emailed Jesus with little hope that we could meet during my brief stay in the Bay Area. He was enthuastic, and the day after the wedding, (which brought out much of the area's piercing/body modification kinksters, a very interesting ceremony.) I went with my brother and his partner up to wine country and he dropped me off at Jesus' for a few hours while they went antique shopping. Thanks to careful instructions and a handwritten map we managed to find a nearly invisible turn off to his road, drove up past an artist colony having a sale, up into the hills overlooking wine country. They dropped me at his house. Let me describe the place. If his house hasn't been featured in Sunset Magazine or Architectural Digest, then it should be. Beautiful, low, hugging the hills it was on, it had an incredible view of the scenery below. The house is mostly furnished in classic Mission Style furniture; we sat in two authentic Stickley Morris Chairs (
https://www.google.com/search?q=stickle ... %3Bhttp%25 3A%252F%252Fwww.beinteriordecorator.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2008%252F08%252FClassic-Stickley-Drop-Arm-Spindle-Morris-Chair.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.beinteriordecor ator.com%252Ftag%252Fmorris-chair%252F%3B446%3B441), fumed, quarter-sawn white oak, one of the most acclaimed American furniture designs. It is also decorated with art from all over the world; he seems to have eclectic tastes. As we walked by the open kitchen (the kind of kitchen I have dreams of cooking in) I spied, across the room, drying in the dish rack a knife, like a Lambrogini among Fords. Not just any knife, THE KNIFE. Easily the finest cooking knife in the world. A Bob Kramer handmade knife, acclaimed by Cooks Illustrated as by far the best knife they ever tested.
Chef Charlie Palmer has a Michelin star, a few James Beard Awards, and a Kramer Knife. Chef Thomas Keller has three Michelin stars, several James Beard Awards, and a Kramer Knife.
What's a Kramer Knife? It may fall in the J.P. Morgan category of "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." The hand-crafted Kramer Knives sell for $300 an inch. So figure for a basic 8-inch chef knife, you'll have to pony up $2400. On top of that, there is a waiting list of well over a year.
Why? Bob Kramer is one of only a hundred and three people in the world, and the only former chef, to be certified as a Master Bladesmith. He makes each knife by hand, using a multi-step process which encompasses as many as 200 layers of steel. The outcome is a stunning Damascus steel blade with a swirling pattern resembling wood grain and is harder, thinner, sharper, and slices and dices with ease and perfection..
Bob Kramer has been a circus clown, a magician, a chef, a waiter, and a traveling knife sharpener. But it's his ability to slice through a one inch thick rope with one swing and hack through a 2X4 that's helped him achieve rock star status with chefs all over the globe. Kramer began in Seattle with a knife store. He came to my culinary school on my second day, gave us an introduction to knives, and sold me my first set of professional knives. (Forschner) I have followed his career since, and lusted after his knives since they sold for hundreds of dollars (which I suspect is when Jesus bought his,) rather than thousands.
Did I mention that Jesus has exquisite taste.
Over the course of a few hours our conversation covered a lot of territory. During the discussions, he brought out several printouts of his own published articles, and others in at least three languages, which he can read. His wife is a beautiful Japanese woman and he speaks Japanese fluently. I think he probably speaks more languages than anyone I know. (with the possible exception of my Black Rastafarian/Muslim dishwasher from Zanzibar, who over 15 years has become my right hand man, working for me over four different jobs, and around eight or nine times quitting and going back to Africa) Plus Jesus helped found an English speaking College in Japan. His academic credentials are amazing. And he has the kind of laugh that makes you glad to be human.
After one of the best afternoons I have had in a long time, i felt like I had gone up to visit one of the Chinamen in Yeats poem, Lapis Lazuli
Two Chinamen, behind them a third,
Are carved in lapis lazuli,
Over them flies a long-legged bird,
A symbol of longevity;
The third, doubtless a serving-man,
Carries a musical instmment.
Every discoloration of the stone,
Every accidental crack or dent,
Seems a water-course or an avalanche,
Or lofty slope where it still snows
Though doubtless plum or cherry-branch
Sweetens the little half-way house
Those Chinamen climb towards, and I
Delight to imagine them seated there;
There, on the mountain and the sky,
On all the tragic scene they stare.
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay.
William Butler Yeats Well except for the wrinkles and ancientness.
Transward
