Le Creuset White Returns, the Complex Art of Kindness and Theatre Disappointments
Andrew Bluett-Duncan
Director
Friends, I’ve found, can be very useful things, and come up with surprises, usually nice as in the case I’m going to tell you about. After this, I shall, as threatened last week, I am going to introduce you to Le Creuset’s latest offering in the form of White cast iron.
Oh, and before I start on useful friends (noting that I’m beginning to sound like the Rev. Awdry) two other friends and I went to the theatre on Monday night to see a play called “Slave Play”. I was quite excited at the prospect because it promised to address racial prejudice, sexual attraction and powerplay in a romantic relationship. All issues that I find interesting and important.
It might be me being a little self-indulgent, that whilst the acting was of a high standard, I found the script absolute drivel, with missed opportunity after missed opportunity. Strangely, a lot of the audience seemed very engaged with it, which along with most of the play I didn’t understand. However, after several days of thinking about it, I still look back with intense irritation. Two hours, without an interval, at least half of which was a group therapy session for the three couples involved, without a serious question explored once. What a shame!
Anyway, back to useful things, one such was rootling through my bookshelves the other day and came across a book called “A Boy, a Mole ,a Fox and a Horse” by Charles Mackesy. A sort of cross between Winnie the Pooh, Mr God this is Anna, and The Wind in the Willows. In short, it’s a delight to read and were it not for some of the thought provoking one liners, even I (a slow reader) could read it from cover to cover in half an hour. Jan, our accountant, gave it to Babette, the Christmas before she died, but strangely I don’t recall her talking about it. Maybe she mentioned it to me, but it went in one ear and out the other. But anyway, I’ve got there now.
One of the first observations was between the mole and the boy. The mole asks him “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “Kind.” replies the boy. This set me wondering what we understand when we hear the word “kind”. And does it have the same meaning to both the giver as the receiver? Does it mean thoughtfulness, or vulnerability, or strength, or weakness? Is it a way of connection, it can after all make us feel understood and looked after. It made me wonder if it easy or difficult to ‘do’ kind.
I think it can be really difficult to do, especially when it may be misinterpreted. I was talking with a colleague the other day about new people when they join us. Our policy, which I implement as tightly as I can, says that if a new person is struggling to fit in to our way of working, we will first try to understand where they are coming from. This typically will take several weeks, sometimes a few months. Then in turn seek to explain what we are expecting from them. If those two trajectories however, remain on very different paths then I will eventually ask the individual to start looking for a job elsewhere, somewhere they will be happy with the ethos (at this point we believe that we have explored every avenue, but without success).
And so, coming back to the word in question, I believe that this is kindness, because working in an environment where you do not feel at home is very difficult and stressful, it’s also challenging for those they work with. Being given a chance to find a new place to work, whilst you still have a job, leaves you in a strong position and is probably the best outcome in a very difficult situation. To me, this is a kind act, but it is undoubtedly also very tough for everyone concerned, and many will disagree wholeheartedly with me on this approach. My experience of this sort of situation though, tells me that it is kinder to do, than to leave a situation which inevitably eventually affects their colleagues as well. And we have just as much responsibility to be kind to them.
So, in giving this contentious example, I’m merely scratching the surface of this complicated word. Kindness can be warm and fluffy of course and that’s the obvious example of what the word implies. But one need look no further than what we have to do as parents, in putting limits to our children (which is a kindness to them), to see that kindness can be seen as anything but, at times.
So, to product.
Le Creuset White Cast Iron
I like white as a “colour”. It goes with almost anything else, creams apart, food looks very good on it, and it has a lovely clean, simple, sophisticated look and feel to it. Funnily enough, from memory this is the third time that Le Creuset have reintroduced white into their cast iron offering. And personally, I welcome its return. However, my guess is that someone at Le Creuset over ordered on their new gold lid knobs a little while ago.
* Whatever the reason, someone with questionable taste has put these (tasteless excrescences) on all their latest introductions Chambray and Rhone** and now White. Luckily, if you have the same reaction to them as I do, feeling that they’d look more at home in Harrods than in your kitchen, you can buy a quieter stainless knob for a few quid. If you don’t, then I suppose you might feel I’m calling your good taste into question……….? Well, worse things happen at sea.
**Now renamed Garnet…what was their marketing department thinking of? “Garnet”….difficult to imagine a less appropriate name
If you’re still reading and not thrown your phone/ipad at the wall, husband, wife or dog then let me finish by saying that in the cast iron range there are Round Casseroles in three sizes, Oval Casseroles in two sizes, Shallow Casseroles in two sizes, a 23cm Frying pan, a 26cm Grillit and lastly a Kone Kettle (which is enamelled steel, not cast iron). And incidentally, the white enamelled cast iron items have white interiors, not the cream of the other colours in the range.
In White stoneware, there were already plates and bowls in two sizes along with their standard mug but now in addition there is a Jug, a Butter Dish, a Utensil Pot, a Coffee press, a Teapot, an Egg Cup and a Ramekin and 3 sizes of Rectangular Oven Dish. Lastly, the 350ml mug has been joined by Espresso, Capuccino and Grand Mug sizes.
That’s it for this week.
I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.
Warm regards
Andrew
Andrew Bluett-Duncan
Director
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