High Praise

By Keith Fisher

I once heard someone say, “there are three times in your life when someone says good things about you. When you go on a mission, when you return from your mission and when you die.” I want to tell you about another one.

We often get asked to cook for one group or another, but as you might imagine, we have to pick and choose. Usually we get reimbursed for the food, but for the most part, we serve our fellowman.

As you can guess, some people take advantage of us. I remember a Demo we were asked to do for Utah State at Jordanelle Reservoir. We were promised food and gas reimbursement. We submitted the receipts, then re-submitted, never heard back, and gave everyone in the campground a free meal and leftovers.

I don’t mean to sound jaded, because I love to hear compliments and see smiles on satiated faces. Besides, many people are very generous in their reimbursement.

Recently, we had the opportunity to cook for an LDS ward of 150 people and the praise was gratifying. The activity chairperson is our friend and she is one of our biggest fans.

Then on Pioneer Day, (July 24 for you non-Utahns). Our own ward asked us to cook for them. We have caterers and restaurant owners in our ward, so being asked was a great honor. Usually, a ward party consists of 100, maybe 150 people. We were told 250 and we prepared for that.

We cooked 8-pots of Barbecued Spare Ribs, 5 pots of Cheesy potatoes, and one Sportsman Cooker full of Polynesian Chicken. The members brought bread, deserts, and salads. The meal was wonderful but for me, It felt like being honored by my family.

Any Warhol gets credit for saying, In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes. Most cooks would never admit to looking for praise, but I submit it’s one of the reasons there are so many plates of goodies passed around at Christmas time. Start cooking in your Dutch ovens—get the praise you deserve. You can’t beat the high praise of a satiated smile.

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