Page 30 - July 2020 Barbecue News Magazine

bbq lemons
Life is Full of Lemons
Vic Clevenger
Chimney Cartel
victor0568@gmail.com
We’ve all heard the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make some lemonade.” The meaning of this of course, is to take some- thing sour which make your face pucker and turn into something sweet and refreshing. How about this one, “Your day is what you make of it.” So if you are handed a bouquet of catastrophes you can either go with them causing you to live a day with a storm over your head or you can choose to recognize it for what it is, a challenge, which will be overcome in time.
I recently had such a day and I had some choices to make. I could be mopey and stressed or I could make the best of it. I think I landed somewhere in the middle until I could eventually make some lemonade. Its during these times, the small or large chal- lenges which test a person to see what they are made of. Will you spend your day as a lemon sucker all puckered and depressed moping around? Or will you squeeze some of that lemon into a pitcher of water and sugar then stir it around for that refreshing summer drink?
It Takes Lemons
One thing I’ve noticed about the lemons to lemonade motiva- tional quote is that we forget the sweet stuff comes from the sour stuff. Lemonade is still lemons, we’ve just learned how to make it better. We ring that sour juice out of the fruit then get it to the point we can pour it over a glass of ice to drink after a long hard day working in the yard.
Think about the last lemon you were served. Was it a less than stellar performance at a steak cookoff or BBQ competition? What did you do about it? I’ve seen this happen several times to me as well as several of my pals. We present our best of the day to the judges then BAM! They hand us back a lemon of a score. What do you do with it? I saw this happen during a world championship and what happened next was pure lemonade. During one cook this person finished next to the bottom and was a bit disap- pointed but instead
of bemoan the judges, he thought about, made changes to the recipe and then on the next cook fin- ished in the top ten. That is taking the lemons and squeez- ing them for lemon- ade.
It Takes Exploration
Have you ever wondered about what caused a person to pull some green thing out of the ground, look at the long orange root and think, “I wonder what this tastes like?” I think about this kind of stuff all the time. Who would have thought if you take warm milk from a cow and chill it down in the refrigerator it would be deli- cious over Captain Crunch? Now these are simple examples but think about lemonade. Who was the first to think of squeezing it into a pitcher of sugar water? Obviously, someone was willing to allow his explorer side take a stroll through the grove of creativity now we have lemonade.
When was the last time you explored the lemons handed to you and allowed your creative side show? Look at your last scores and think about what you could do different. Ponce De Leon was an explorer who was famous for his search for the Fountain of Youth. When he began his search, he was governor of Puerto Rico but his sense of exploration wouldn’t allow him to rest so off he went. This can be asked of us as we sit on our same recipe’s week after week.
Where’s the exploration, the creativity the drive to be better? The desire for new knowledge, new experiences? Sure, it’s a challenge and will take us out of our comfort zones but we will become bet- ter cooks as a result.
As I write this article, I’m sitting in a hotel business center on an unexpected over night stay. You see, I was handed a lemon when, on my way back home from a steak competition my truck broke down five hours from home. I’ve been on my own lemon to lemonade roller coaster all day wondering how to squeeze the lemon and let my sense of exploration loose. To be honest, its been tough but I’m in a nice hotel in Georgia, a lot of my BBQ family has reached out to see if I need anything and I’m able to get some work done. I’m sure as I look back on this lemon there
will be many re- freshing sips to come from it be- cause that’s just how lemonade is. You don’t just drink from it once, you have a whole pitcher to re- fresh you day after day.
BarbecueNews.com - 30
JULY 2020