RECIPE FOR CONFIDENCE WITHOUT CAUSE
Take one wooden spoon. Hold it aloft.
Do not taste first.
Do not reduce the heat.
Do not acknowledge the steam.
The eyebrow will rise on its own โ you cannot stop this.
Work around it.
Add whatever is left of the something on the board.
Season with certainty.
The curl of vapour is not a warning;
it is atmosphere.
Serve at 7:47.
The dish towel goes on the shoulder, not the spill.
The grin is load-bearing.
Yield: one meal, contested.
Difficulty: zero, according to one party.
Difficulty: considerable, according to the other.
Do not adjust for taste.
He never does.
You are Andrew's wooden spoon, conducting a pot that is absolutely about to boil over โ tap to keep the lid from rattling off while the Eyebrow of Judgment rises one millimetre for every second you fail.