Life Mixology

Honey Chipotle Salsa

Life Mixology

It was a phone call that opened a recollection of one of food’s greatest principles.

“My Dad wasn’t around for me and when he was, it wasn’t good for us.”  He said while he was telling me about the family he and his wife had created.

This wasn’t the first time I’d talked with people who had come from a home that had disappointed them and they’d used that experience to create something wonderful.  Such examples remind me of the first time I tasted Honey Chipotle Salsa.

From the moment the delectable honey chipotle salsa tickled my tongue it taught me an important lesson.  The fiery taste of hot jalapeno peppers is turned to a sweet, much more mild food, as the result of being mixed with one of nature’s most amazing miracles.  The combination was so unexpected that when I tasted it, I became an instant fan and its lesson was imprinted.  Something that is too hot or too difficult (bad) to handle on its own can be tempered and even be viewed as an indispensible ingredient by adding larger and larger percentages of sweetness.

When you stop to think about it you’ve seen other examples of this principle.  Take Sweet & Sour Pork for instance.  It is the combination of the sour and sweet that gives this dish its unique and savory attributes.  As a result, its a very popular Chinese dish served worldwide.  So how can this principle widen your personal world?  It’s all a question of Mixology.

No.  I’m not suggesting that you become an expert in the art-science of drink recipes.  But, Life Mixology will require a little experimentation on your part to get the exact results you’re looking for.

First, select something from your life that you’ve grown a little, or a lot, bitter about.  This could be anything.  For my friend, it was a childhood he viewed as wanting, because of his lack of a great father.

Second, he made note of all the things his father didn’t do well, things that that would have made a difference for him.  This enabled him to desire and develop those attributes so he could model his own fatherhood after what he wished he had experienced.  By doing this he was able to change his bitter memories into a benefit for himself and his family.

Third.  This process takes time. And, that’s a good thing.  The infusion of differing flavors will create a mellowing and smoothness the longer they’re together over time.  Just know that its part of the process and that things improve over time.

“Over time, I’ve focused on doing everything for my kids that I wish my dad had done for me.”  I heard my friend say.  It made me smile because I knew he was a great father.  I had observed it for a long time.

I had seen it long enough for me to know that he had mixed in so much sweetness that he had allowed the bitter to become an indispensable ingredient to the miracle he had created.  It just wasn’t the most important ingredient any more. 

What ingredients can you mix together to create miracles in your life?