Thinking about Tinkering
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010I was thinking the other day that some people can tinker and others just can’t. My cousin, for example, seems to have tinkering in his blood. He builds things and fixes things all the time and without a second thought. Me? Well, I still remember with some unease how I took apart my father’s lawn mower as a twelve year old (getting a rather surprising shock from the spark plug connection in the process). The real problems started when I realized that I couldn’t put it back together again. Dear old dad was not pleased. But he didn’t even try to put it together. He just went out and bought a new one. I got the message that tinkering was not our family’s strong suit.
But I am still fascinated by tinkering. How people do creative things that just work. And so I liked a NYT article about chef and restaurant owner Steve Johnson, who seems to be a tinkerer extraordinaire.
An example - As the owner of a restaurant, he figured out how to grow herbs on the roof, rerouting drainage for irrigation. Nice. And the refrigerator in his tiny house boat kitchen using two frozen bottles of water (no electricity). Here is a fun quote about why he likes not having his cookbook recipes around when he wants to make soup on the weekend from the clams and such that he gathers himself
“But you know what? I know those soups. I’ve made those soups. I can make my own soup now.”
That is a food tinkerer’s proud motto if I ever heard one. Here is a link to the article about Steve and the fun he has on his houseboat.
Enjoy!
