Make some magic
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” Terry Pratchett
Some time ago I had a box of tissues with the words "Make some magic" on the side. Not very appropriate for a box of tissues you - and I - might think, although they would be completely magic for somebody from the long distant past. Even the box containing the tissues would be magic. Human imagination and creativity moves us on, technology advances at an ever-increasing pace, and there are lots of different kinds of magic anyway.
The magician's magic first - is just clever trickery but it can be utterly astonishing. I still remember seeing a magician on a theatre stage, doing some kind of mumbo jumbo and then suddenly there was a real live large tiger - chained to the floor fortunately - on the stage. In just a second or two. At least that's what it seemed like. I was completely blown away, even though of course I knew that it was all chains and pulleys or something. Or as Walt Disney - a master of movie magic - said:
"There is no magic in magic, it's all in the details."
And I suppose in a way the magic of science and technology is the same thing. But behind all of that is the magic of the human brain which is indeed truly magic. Although maybe in the future it will be the magic of the AI brain.
The sad thing I guess about theatrical magic, is that once you know how it works it's less magic. Or is it? Even if somebody told me now how the tiger trick was done in detail, it would still not take away the moment of utter astonishment - and magic - from my head. It's the magic of that, that I remember.
Then there's the magic of the natural world - a bird flies across the garden - how does it do that? - the sky is blue - why? - and small magical incidents of human interaction, which are all around us if we care to look. The magic of art in all its forms ...
As I walked this morning I pondered on the difference between miracle and magic. I see that the definition that most people give is that magic is a human thing often involving trickery and miracles are religious. I sort of see why they say that - after all saints perform miracles and witches perform magic don't they? If there is no explanation it's a miracle. Miracles require belief not knowledge. However I suspect that's a bit facile. Maybe it's true that when there doesn't seem to be an explanation we say it's a miracle, but fundamentally today it seems that everything can be explained. And even if there is no current answer we still know that there is one. We just haven't found it yet. And even if we know how babies are conceived, grow in the womb and are born - it's a miracle is it not when they are born and suddenly there is a new life? Perhaps miraculous is just a bit more magic than magic.
And we need magic in our lives. Magic moments - a certain kiss, a suddenly amazing view as the cloud lifts, the birth of your child, baby ducklings tumbling from a tall, tall tree, then picking themselves up and following their mother to the river, a whale swimming under the boat you are on .... I'm sure we all have such treasured magic moments in our lives.
Anyway I thought they were words worth considering on a foodie blog.
Because food is magic in so many ways is it not? Whether it be an apple straight from a tree, or an egg transformed with the help of some chocolate, into chocolate mousse, or in a quite different way, with the help of some oil and elbow grease, into mayonnaise - a truly magic yet simple process that never ceases to amaze me.
Which makes me realise that so far I have ignored that other word in the tissue box slogan - 'make'. In the kitchen we make things. Sometimes we even make amazing things from almost nothing. Most days we just make things, but even that involves magic. Most basically the magic of knowing how to feed yourself and your family, even if it's as simple as beans on toast. Added to which is the magic of having the means of providing for yourself and your family and for having a wonderful home and kitchen in which to do it. I suspect it's a miracle for the people of the world's slums to be able to do the same.
However, it's not just the magic of having the means, it also the magic of having the knowledge.
That's one form of magic, of course." "What, just knowing things?" "Knowing things that other people don't know." Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett's books were pretty much magic, and they were about magic too - of many kinds, and a few of his quotes that I found today, were prompts for what I am fumblingly trying to say. The above quote implies a bit of superiority on the part of the 'magician' - the cook in my world. Of course I do not have that feeling of superiority, but I do suspect that many people seem to think that I at least have a skill, if not magic. Perhaps in the way that I think of my sister and my friend Monika having magic skills that make them able to grow things in their gardens. I just mostly kill them.
So yes I suppose some people think it's magic that I can cook reasonably well - and you can certainly say it's magic that great artists of all kinds do what they do. A certain amount of what they do is magic in that it seems to be something that they can just do, when others can't, but there is also a lot of learning and hard work behind the magic. Even science - in the case of Georges Suerat and his dots - which eventually created a most magical and mysterious painting such as his portrait of a circus sideshow. Or put slightly differently from his previous quote by Terry Pratchett:
"Magic is just a way of saying 'I don't know.'"
Is there real magic in cooking? Yes and no. Yes there is the kind of magic I alluded to before in the processes that transform one thing into another, sometimes in extraordinary and unexpected ways - like mayonnaise - but there is always a scientific explanation.
Then there's the magic of the greatest chefs, who either invent something - like puff pastry - that becomes a staple of every home cook or else create a dish that is extraordinary, such as Heston Blumenthal's Egg and bacon ice cream. And yes it is made with egg and bacon - but you can find the recipe on SBS courtesy of Heston himself, and then you too can have a go. Then you will find it just requires a certain amount of skill, time and special equipment like dry ice. There is also the magic of performance cooking - an example being our dinner at Vue de Monde many years ago where everything was delicious and everything was presented as theatre - not to mention the setting itself. My sons also probably remember the magic of a maître'd making Caesar salad at our table in a massive copper bowl in an Italian restaurant in Hawaii. It certainly made them lovers of Caesar salad for ever more.
At home there is everyday magic. It doesn't require dry ice or a performance at the table. It doesn't even require much skill. If you can read you can follow a recipe from a book a magazine or the net. Maybe these days you don't even need to know how to read because you can watch a TikTok, Facebook or Instagram video - or if you want a bit more help and detail watch a Jamie Oliver show and tell on YouTube. The magic of technology, will help you to amaze your loved ones with their dinner. And don't worry about making mistakes because:
"Improvise when obstacles present themselves. Happy accidents are magic! Have an open mind." Matthew Bonifacio
If it's eatable it's magic. "Nearly everything is edible, in extremis." said Rachel Cooke - and it is so true.
Most of us are a bit beyond the basics by now - well I am assuming that if you are reading this you are at least interested in food. Alas some people are not which is very sad and I do not know what to say to them really to encourage them to have a go. Maybe they are not greedy enough. Somebody said that if you are greedy you will be interested in cooking. But we have to eat and it's surely more fun to cook something yourself, thereby stroking your ego just a little, than to order something from the local takeaway or spend too much money on an almost ready-cooked or frozen meal from the supermarket.
Tonight's dinner for example won't be terribly magic. Well I don't know yet I suppose. It's just reheated leftovers of Alison Roman's Baked (but not stuffed shells) about which I mean to write in more detail some time soon. Suffice to say here that it did not look as glorious as the official photograph. Of course, it didn't. It was never going to do that. I think I know why - but, as I said, later. I am sort of hoping that tonight's reheat will make it look more like this. So was it magic? No - not wow magic - but yes magic in that some long waiting large pastry shells got used up, and reassuring magic in that it was tasty. David gave it four stars - now that's magic.
Today's magic? The bottlebrushes are beginning to bloom, the sky is blue, I don't really have to cook dinner and I managed to go for a walk. Let alone the fact that I don't really have to cook dinner tonight. Yes, even I get tired of cooking sometimes. And I've written a blog.
And even Terry Pratchett - a lover of magic I think - sometimes was a little bitter-sweet about it.
"Magic never dies. It merely fades away."
I think he's wrong. Magic stays with you forever.
YEARS GONE BY
October 7
2025 - So proud
2021 - Missing
2020 - Missing
2019 - Gözleme
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Nothing
2016 - An oldie but a goodie
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