Perception Versus Reality and Good Soup

Morning Folks
As a chef I make a lot of complicated meals. I get paid to do this and I have the time so I can, however most people are short of time, energy and have a budget so I am going to give you options once in a while of some short cuts I have picked up over the years. This is going to be a quick tasty meal. Buy a large can of V8 juice, 2 cans of condensed tomato soup like Campbells. While your at the store go to the produce department and get a small bunch of fresh basil..usually 10 to 15 leaves. Either buy stuff for a salad or go to the salad bar and make one there. I am the only one that eats salad at my house so this is much more cost effective and saves time from all that chopping. Next stop is the bakery dept and get a loaf of your favorite bread..I like a good crusty on the outside and soft inside loaf for dunking. Not supposed to dunk but hey, your gonna be at home so I won't tell if you won't. That's should be about 15 minutes so far unless you have more to buy. When you get home open the V8 and soup and put on the stove. Take the basil and separate the leaves from the stem, toss the stems out, and chop the leaves up fairly small and toss into the soup. You want the soup to come to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Open or make your salad, slice the bread and set the table. When your ready to eat, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top of your soup and maybe your salad and enjoy. You can put in a can of diced tomatoes if you like a heartier soup but, if you do be careful of the heat. The toms tend to sink to the bottom of the pan and burn/stick so you have to stir it more often. This freezes well if you have some left over so all you have to do next time is grab a salad and bread..which you may even already have in the house. Enjoy and hope you like it.
Perception versus reality is the next one here. I have been seeing myself in a different light for the past few weeks and started to pay more attention to how others perceive me as well. Some of you know me personally and some from online contact only. I am 6ft2, 245 pounds, usually either a flattop or shaved head, goatee and stache, fairly deep voice. I tend to wear jeans and tee shirts, denim or corduroy shirts in colder weather. Work boots, boots or sneakers and once in a while hiking boots. Denim or leather jackets. It is a type of clothing I grew up with and is comfortable for me. I see myself as sort of a big teddy bear. However it seems I scare the hell out of people and that kind of bothers me. I intimidate people and that is not what I want to do. On a recent trip I bought a wind breaker type jacket..sort of a blue/gray diagonal design and have started wearing it. People talk to me more in that, strangers say hello as compared to my leather or denim ones. I decide to push this further so I talked to people I work with about their first impressions of me. Nate, captain of the football team, co-captain of his wrestling squad, all around jock, my height and weight but all muscle, recruited by the marines when he finishes high school. 17 when he started washing dishes, 18 now. He almost quit on his first night cause he was so scared of me, I thought he was just shy. Annie, 5 feet even, maybe 100 pounds. First meeting she walked up to me and call me Scooter..no idea why. She still does and when I asked why and she did not have an answer..just said he seemed to fit..she still does. I recently shave my goatee off and left a fu-manchu/70's porn star stache. So I put on a pair of dress pants, a white shirt and tie, tweed sports coat and went out to do some research. I went to the mall, Sears, Target and Barnes and Noble and eventually Olive Garden. What an amazing difference. People said hello or nodded, some started talking about whatever. This was primarily women of all ages and older folks my age. Now very curios I went home, traded to black jeans and tee shirt, black leather jacket, boots and a Yankees ball cap. Now back to them all except Olive Garden. About 3 times as many men as women nodded as I walked by, sort of a "hey buddy" kind of thing. I was avoided like the plague at Barnes and Noble. Walmart was jackpot of nods and the occasional hello. Almost all men again. Most women would not even meet my eyes and kids would not either. Went to a HallMark card shop and was followed around by 2 employees like there was sign on my back saying shoplifter.
I guess we all are products of our environment, upbringing and what we see on tv. Without making a conscious choice, at least I don't think it was I dress like the bad guy. Being tall and big I have no choice in, same with my voice. My facial hair I like, I am starting to grow my goatee back..it's been prob 40 years I have had one and its to much a part of me to let it go. Guess I will change my name to Snidley Whiplash and get on with it. This may be common knowledge to you people but it was kind of a shock to me. I tend to react to most people with an open mind till they give me something to work with to form an opinion. Maybe being big helps me not be intimidated..don't know. There are rare times when I see or meet someone and all my self defense mechanisms start screaming..those people I watch very closely but that has only happened a couple times and it has paid off. I just had to get away from these people at all costs and I listened to my intuition.
Well folks, I feel great this morning. Going to go for a walk, take some pictures of the foliage for a later post and then get ready for work. I am going to try to go to Boston on my day off and just wander around. If you have any comments leave them here or send an email. You all be safe and take care of yourselves.
Happy Trails
Dale