Passion is the genius of genius. -Anthony Robbins
One of the first things that I ever told Brandon, my fiancé, is that passion is sexy. It is what draws me to people and to experiences, and well, to anything really. If there is passion, I want to be around it and today I got to literally taste it. I enjoyed lunch with my friend Nicole at a restaurant in downtown Fredericksburg called The Otter House; my simple lunch of caprese, salmon salad and chili were not just food, they were art, or passion personified.
The Otter House Otter, “Oliver J. Otterburger” by Joelle Cathleen
It’s a funny thing when you can literally taste passion, but the cooking of chef Stony Pickett allowed me to experience just that. Stony took simple dishes and turned them into delicacies. He made each plate a small piece of art; every ingredient’s freshness only complimented the love that I could taste in the cooking. I am not a foodie so to speak, but it’s hard not to be when you can taste passion in the food you eat. At the end of the meal, the Otter House chef surpassed my expectations even more with a surprise dessert. That’s what passion does: it goes beyond what it necessary out of pure pleasure and joy for the process of doing. I am not a dessert girl, nor one for pastries and the like, but turning down Stony’s Krispy Kreme bread pudding would be like silencing a poet, and that I would never do.
My salmon salad; every vegetable intricately placed and chosen.
Without doubt, the best presented and best tasting chili I have ever had.
We all have passion inside of us. It is the thing that burns deep within your heart when you do that you just love to do. It is, as Anthony Robbins said, “the genius of genius” and it exists in some of the least likely places that one would expect to find. When do you find yourself in the presence of passion, celebrate it as I am celebrating the artistry of chef Stony Pickett. The celebration of passion only magnifies its life and growth, so celebrate it as often as you can in both others and in yourself.