What we mean by Chefs ​d’oeuvre.

I remember very sweet times. They were days and years of untellable beauty. Back then, when I went up and about attending to my mom's orders-- yet gladly so-- days when my smiles were honest, and mischief never yet abode in my heart, and my mind hadn't tempted me to rebellion. Days of innocence. Days warmed by genuine love and filial care. Days for which I would pay all, sacrifice all to bring back, and count not the cost!

My recollection of those episodes of life does so much in casting scorn on this attempted description. When I say untellable, I mean untellable. I now depart from that ancient frame.

But I take with me something that I deem fit to serve my purposes in treating the subject aforementioned.

My mom once told me that I mustn't be careless when preparing tea. She delved with so much passion into re-shaping my perspective on what exactly making good tea was. To me, cooking tea was nothing more than adding milk to water, and that if one remembered to add tea leaves and the right amount of sugar, then good tea was ready. Nice and easy! But on sensing this base concept, she rushed in with all sublime lessons this cruel world had taught her for 35 years she had lived at the time. She told me that cooking tea is not akin to taking an evening walk any more than baking an angelic bread was. "It is an art," she said, "grace every effort with known and well intended purposes." She proceeded to educate me on the how's, when's, where's and why's this done. "You don't just boil water for the sake.... You want to be exact in your measurements...." and so on and so forth, and thus was the lesson conveyed.

So, my literary friend, when we talk about art, good written art, say literature masterpiece, do you pause for a moment to figure out the how's, when's, where's, and the why's of your occupation? A basic inspection of these inquiries will serve us all in a very real sense. Please understand that art is like cooking. An audience should find something for their hungry minds in your compositions.

I remember the look in her face when she emphasized the point of making tea so that it is drank and loved. You do want to make you food palatable, don't you?

*I'm Joe.*