Stop and smell the Bougainvillea

June 3rd, 2008

Back in the office after a wonderful long weekend in the sun. I spent some seriously fantastic time with the funniest kid (possibly ever) and her warm and relaxed mom. We went out, we went swimming, we went to dinner and one of us (I’m not saying which) did some serious twirling in her brand new twirly dress.

Sometimes you’ve just gotta take a minute to stop and smell the Bougainvillea…

But back in the office and I’m talking with the coordinating producer Shayna Haddon, (only one “Shayna” in the office… so far…) asking her if she got the tapes from my Cowbell restaurant shoot the previous Friday. She’s got them. Ditto the standard release forms (anyone that gets caught in a shot has to give us permission to use it) one of which if I’m not mistaken, still has a smear of ketchup on it. She raises an eyebrow.

I confess. After we finish the interview with Chef Mark and farmer Dennis, the cameraman, and sound guy (Matt’s again? But of course: I never go anywhere without a pair!) and myself simply HAD to try one of Cowbell’s incredible hamburgers; after all, we’d been following this story for a while now – we knew exactly where the beef had come from, exactly what the cow had eaten (only the finest pasture grass – no feedlot for these pampered bovines) and precisely how brilliant chef Mark Cutrara had prepared them.

I’ll say it again: we HAD to. And it was incredible! Funnily enough while we were eating we’d look at each other every now and then and roll our eyes and groan, but we didn’t really talk about it. (“It’s just something that can’t be described,” said sound guy Matt Pennington. “We’d best keep it between us. We can get together and talk about the experience from time to time; it will bond us forever.”) So I can’t describe it, except to say that beef produced by an ethical farmer, who uses no chemicals, hormones or antibiotics and is raised and fed at pasture, tastes different from any beef you’ve tasted before. And when Mark Cutrara prepares it, even a humble hamburger tastes like ambrosia from the gods!

Shayna’s jealous, I can tell. I can even sympathize, but I can’t explain. It’s just one of those things you have to experience to understand…