I was chatting to Lexy Martin about a month ago, discussion the blog and how I write about cycling and HR all the time, trying to reach lame analogies. It was apparent in our conversation that I really have two major activities that dominate my personal time, first the cycling and second eating. (and yes, I do have blogs both about all my eating pursuits as well as a full blog just about my bike). She asked me why I never write about food, so here goes.
When we’re kids (and for me in college) tater tots were almost a daily food item. Prepared correctly, they are the perfect bite of potato goodness. A friend of mine describes the tater tot as the only food that is acceptable to steal off of a stranger’s table (or in most cases a tray might be more like it). They are those things that not only call to us because they bring us joy, but they also take us back to childhood, even though they are just grated potatoes reconstituted into a bite sized chuck and deep fried. Really nothing special.
I was also recently introduced to the truffle oil tater tots. No, these are not immersed in super heated truffle oil and deep fried in it, that would be much too costly. Instead, post tater tot preparation, you simply put a few drops of truffle oil on your tater tots and toss. The result is a transformation from the already good tater tot into a rather magical food. Earthiness is accentuated and the aroma of truffles lightly permeates bringing the simple tater tot to a whole new level.
As the first post of 2010, I’m challenging all of us to bring HR to a whole new level. I’m not going to do the predictions thing. I’m not going to sit around thanking everyone for a great 2009. But as I look at HR, we’re getting comfortable with talent management, the whole Web 2.0 movement, and advanced HR analytics. We’ve been doing some really cool and important things in the last five years, but it’s now time to find what our next growth engine will be – the one that really launches HR to the forefront of business. What is that next great ingredient for HR? I’ve been waiting for years now, and I’m ready to find out.
(Special shout out to Lexy – I promise to write about food on occasion)
2 responses to “Tater Tots and Truffle Oil”
Please find me a recipe for rabbit sugo and blog on that. We had it at Botteca in Napa recently. TDF! Frankly the next great ingredient may be for HR to “go off the reservation” and get creative with process integration, using tools like SOA middleware.
[…] usually write about cycling here, but I generally make it no secret that I’m a wannabe foodie. 1 Great food is sometimes about simplicity, and other times it’s about depth and flavor […]