Le Weekly #110 – Potato Parable 🥔
One quote, one word, one shoutout, one story, one neigh from Philosophical Horse and one question.
Greetings everyone. Happy Monday!
Take a deep breath. Read slowly. Pause after each section. Enjoy.
Le Quote 🗣️
“The rotisserie chickens will be 30 minutes. It’s not that long to wait. Just wait 30 minutes and you’ll get two chickens for R180.” – The lady selling rotisserie chickens.
Le Word 💬
roast (verb) cook by prolonged exposure to heat in an oven or over a fire.
Le Shoutout 🧣
Last week I was invited to a friend’s house for dinner.
“What can bring?” I asked.
“Are you happy to make your delish roast potatoes?” they asked, curious as to why I was speaking like a caveman.
“I will do my best!” I responded.
With that, I popped past the shops after work, purchased some potatoes, and returned home to start cooking. Two hours later, I arrived at their house with a tray of crispy potatoes in hand.
The meal was lovely. Chicken, veggies, and a conversation about Avatar and Avatar 2, too. Eventually, the evening came to a close.
As Henry handed me the empty baking tray to take home, Juls asked how I made them.
It was a simple question that stirred much reflection. You see, a potato, when raw, isn’t something you want to eat. It’s powdery, chalky, and borderline inedible. But after washing it, cutting it, boiling it, and getting it nice and soft, you can toss it around a bit to “roughen up” its edges. Then, after salting, spicing, and drizzling it with olive oil, you throw it into a hot oven, turning it occasionally. Eventually, after all the cutting, boiling, bruising, oiling, and roasting, it comes out golden, crispy and very delicious.
So, standing in the driveway with an empty tray in hand, prepared to share a potato parable, I tried my best to simply tell Juls how to make roast potatoes without turning it into a life lesson.
“First,” I said, trying to stay calm. “You start by buying roasting potatoes, and then… you boil them!”
Thankfully, I don’t make the rules!
Shoutout Henry and Juls.
Le Story ✍️
Yesterday, after church, my 75-year-old “pew partner” slipped a newspaper clipping from the People’s Post into my hand.
“Great read,” she said.
“Thanks Joy,” I replied.
After the service, we stood outside for a bit, spoke about the garden, and then said goodbye to one another. I returned home, sat on the couch, and unfolded the newspaper clipping.
“Human interaction is precious and important,” the article’s title said, written by Keanan Harmse, summarised lightly below:
Looking back on 2025, it feels as though we’ve survived a monstrous mountain climb and can finally look down at the deep valleys we’ve journeyed through this year. As we pray, the glow of a new horizon in 2026 promises health for our loved ones and new opportunities, yet one can’t help but feel bruised by the weight of change and chaos that have impacted our lives in this new modern age we’re navigating.
These days, productivity and profit have become two interchangeable words that are endlessly circling and feeding off each other through the advancements of Artificial Intelligence. Tasks that once required time, patience, and human skill can now be completed in seconds. While this convenience saves hours, it risks costing us something else: patience itself.
There is a quiet privilege in receiving something made by hand — a carved sculpture, a painting, an object shaped by sleepless nights, sore fingers, and deliberate care. You can feel the effort, the stress, the humanity embedded within it.
The convenience and comfort our cellphones are slowly eroding the time we spend speaking face-to-face. Human interaction is precious, important and needs to be protected and nurtured.
The more our eyes slide with the rhythm of our screens, the more they become addicted. We can become attached to our ego, numbing our ability to understand each other in the pursuit of curating a “perfect world” where only we reign, seeing other thoughts or ideas as threats.
History warns us where fear can lead. When fear rules, humanity is often the first casualty. As the world keeps trying to quicken its pace with technology’s innovation, let’s not outrun our humanity in the stress of being “left behind”.
“Hmm,” I said, turning the page to see if there was more to it, but it looked like that was it.
I got up off the couch, turned on the oven, placed two whole chickens on a baking tray, covered them with salt, pepper, spices, and oil, and roasted them.
I don’t roast chickens often, but I realised it would be good to practice my chicken-roasting skills if I can already roast potatoes.
So, after 90 minutes, I opened the oven to check inside.
Golden, crispy and steaming hot, the roasted chickens were ready.
Le Neigh from Philosophical Horse 🐴
“Neigh?” – Philosophical Horse.
Le Question 🤔
Are you nurturing your humanity amidst productivity and profit?
Have a powerful Monday, everyone.
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