Two weekends in a row now I have braaied for dinner.

That is pretty unusual for us.

When I get the opportunity I do love it but it does not present itself that often.

The contrast of the two last weekends made me think.

The first we were camping in Porterville at 22 Waterfalls.

I went back to my Boy Scout roots and used a piece of paper (collected from the trash) and one match. Kindling is the crux, you can never have enough. The flame needs to build heat in order for bigger logs to catch. You build the size and volume of wood gradually until you can use the real heavy stuff. Logs that eventually turn into good coals. This takes time, patience and a lot of practice.

The meat was exceptional and we gazed up at the stars as we sipped wine. Life was good.

Only a few days ago I threw meat on the fire made in a Weber in suburbia. [But for the sake of this argument let’s discard the setting for a moment]

Firelighters were arranged, briquettes of identical shapes poured from a bag. A gas lighter provided the flame and the rest is really just a waiting game. Half an hour later dinner was served. But somehow the steak just did not taste the same.

This got me thinking.

Is it possible that in order to get truly great results we need to go through the work. The real work.

We can take short cuts and at some point we all do but we should be honest enough (with ourselves) and look in the mirror. Only then can we see where we are lacking, where we have added petrol to the flame to speed the process. The irony is that most of the time we still end up with a medium rare steak at the end but somehow it does not taste the same. Or put differently a steak done the proper way tastes better. It might take longer and require more attention: that is exactly the point.

Build a good foundation and your fire will never go out.

Shortcut your training and you may have good results for a while but eventually you will be found out. Shortcut your foundation and your house might look pretty but the cracks will eventually show