Several years ago, I had a boss who told me that my greatest strength and my greatest weakness were the same thing — my lack of patience. He may have been right, but I don’t have time to sit around and think about it. I got things to do.  

My friends tell me I eat too quickly. They are correct. I should slow down and enjoy food more. Some studies show that a person will actually eat less when slowing down the rate of food consumption. Sounds reasonable to me. But not easy.

Maybe this is all because of the marketing of “fast,” “quick” or “instant” foods. There is no shortage of fast food restaurants, of course, but what about individual products like instant coffee, instant pudding and instant mashed potatoes? And then there is Minute Rice, Nesquik and Quick Quaker Oats. And if that all wasn’t enough, we now have Instant Pots so we can rapidly cook many other things, too. Are we really in that big of a hurry to eat. 

My mother shares stories of her and her sisters helping my grandmother prepare meals each day. It was an all-day, multi-person effort with baked breads and pies, vegetables from the garden and freshly butchered meat. She said they would rise early to prepare breakfast, then get to work on dinner and then immediately start on supper. Now, that was work, and I don’t know anyone who wants to go back to those trials. 

Grilling meat might be the go-between. There is something special about watching meat slowly cook to perfection. Your favorite music playing. A cold beverage in one hand. A spatula in the other. Peace. Relaxation. Patience. We could all seemingly use more of those things nowadays.

Now hurry up and get that grill started!

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707