Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Which Came First--- The Chaos or the Chicken?

Well, according to Carolee Bondurant, previous owner of my local Radford business, and the card she gave me for my 23rd birthday, it was the chicken.  Almost 9 years have passed and we all know that the chaos  always floats to the top! 

These days I am working out of of Chaos on K.  Yes, there are new recipes everywhere recently... personally, professionally--everywhere but my kitchen.

I digress.

While creating just the right filing system in my new home office, I came across a journal which reads on the front:
"You must have chaos to give birth to a dancing star".  In this said book purchased from a Carolee owned Encore, circa 1997, was a business plan and sketch logo for the original  Chaos&Chicken.  In this form, Chaos was a kitchen store with a cafe.  A cafe that made amazing chicken salad.  A kitchen store that had a mix of vintage and modern with a sprinkling of gifts and stationary in between.  This concept was explored several times during my tenure as a small business owner.  Once when we were considering an Encore renovation, once when I was contemplating purchasing The Coffee Mill and in my final days when I was thinking about all I was leaving behind.  In between, over the last 13 years, Chaos&Chicken has been used as a label for a line of food I gave for Christmas, inspiration for hand painted, mixed media birthday cards (as seen above, to right), a blog and even a book title with a few chapters constructed. 

As I sit in my shoebox, flipping through my 1997 plan for the concept I realize that for me Chaos&Chicken is organic (as all chicken should be) and will continue to change over time.  Chaos&Chicken represents me, my passions and my dreams.  Chaos&Chicken is a figure of speech, a term of endearment and often a metaphor for this life that is my own.  No matter the recipe, the year, the location or the plan-- life always dishes up chaos, some good and some bad-- but when served with a side of chicken (or lamb), shared with colorful characters and good music, it always seems a little more manageable. 

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