From Little Things, Big Things Grow

Recently I ventured into territory where my organising skills are not always welcomed. My husband’s desk. He had asked me to find his watch. To my horror one of the drawers wouldn’t open because it was jammed with notebooks not lying flat inside. I took it upon myself to very generously, and quickly, tidy the drawer before he was due to arrive home and catch me in the act :-)

I recognised the top notebook as one that he had used in a previous job for menu planning and writing down recipes. I opened it and discovered that a lot of the writing was beginning to fade, due to the age of the notebook. What a sad loss it would be to lose all that valuable information, especially for one day when we have our own restaurant; it will be an excellent resource.





Again to my horror, I realised that all of the other notebooks in the drawer were also recipe/menu notebooks of his. He has only been a fully qualified chef for 4 years, and yet he has managed to fill 8 or 9 notebooks (all fading) with barely legible, scribbled, and utterly amazing creations.



This is an excellent example of how small jobs quickly (or slowly) turn into very big jobs. I will now begin the somewhat daunting task of going through each notebook to type up each recipe carefully, so that Shane will have them far into the future. Thank goodness I discovered this now and not in another 4 or 5 years...

This is one of Shane's degustation menu's

Tasks that need constant attention, such as typing recipes, or de-cluttering the kitchen bench, are best done regularly. If you set aside an appropriate amount of time to keep on top of the task (2 hrs per month, 5 mins per day; whatever it might be) small tasks wont get the chance to grow into big, overwhelming jobs. A little effort regularly will help keep things in order long-term.