Boiled down by time

Forgive me if this isn't a very well-organized or articulate thought. It only occurred to me the other day, and I just had enough time to jot down the essentials before I had to get back to errand-running.

I was thinking about someone I know -- her identity makes no difference to this train of thought -- and about some of her various traits and habits, both good and bad. I've known this person for many years and have been able to see some of her habits take hold and develop over time, from mere airy suggestions to more deep-seated behaviors. I thought about some of my own little oddities, how they've developed or been winnowed out over the years. And I thought about the oddness of habits, how they tend to develop and grow stronger over time.

I also must have been thinking about cooking, because all of a sudden a striking simile flashed into my head -- namely, what happens when you boil down a liquid to reduce it to a sauce. Most such liquids start out quite thin, with the merest whispers of flavor, but as the reduction process occurs, the flavors strengthen and intensify and the liquid thickens. It's important to get the proportions right before reduction, if possible, and to taste and adjust for seasoning as necessary during the process, because while reduction intensifies rich and desirable flavors, it also intensifies qualities which are less than desirable -- bitterness, sourness, or a general lack of proportion in the ingredients.

Cauldron illustration based on original Creative Commons image by Malcolm Lidbury

And I thought: time boils us all down. Time reduces us, concentrating and magnifying our particular habits, making them stronger and more obvious, until those habits become the defining forces in our lives. This is not to suggest we are mere slaves to our habits -- only that perhaps, like most excellent cooks, we need to check for seasoning now and then, be brutally honest with ourselves about what we discover, and make adjustments when necessary, because the reduction we are creating will flavor and influence everything in our lives. Also, the process of adjusting for taste is probably a lot easier when it's done early and often.

Guess this also means I should stop watching the Cooking Channel before bed.