Whupped

Today I was beaten by a 21-year-old, 100 pound woman of Persian descent in an iron chef competition, and it's bothering me. I'll be thinking about it while falling asleep tonight. Not because of her, who I like very much, but because I got cocky and soft in the past few weeks of not cooking enough.

Actually, as a brief aside, though it wasn't for an iron chef competition, last week I plated two very well received dishes: a roasted butternut squash soup, and ginger-sauterne poached pears, each of which earned genuine raves from both chefs (a rarity).

But today sloth got the better of me, and I'll be a better cook for it. Lesson learned. And don't be surprised to see a petite Persian woman running a well respected kitchen in a few years. She's very talented.