My beloved has decided to transform herself with a healthy diet. How many photographs can you take of quinoa? None. Zero.

It comes at a perfect time. My seemingly disparate activities are starting to merge into one whole thing, something I can finally sink my teeth into.

There are thirty of you following along here, and about 60% read Bento Wiz on a daily basis. There is value in those numbers. So there is value in Bento Wiz.

I have just completed a serial story you are probably familiar with: Varhaus. I intend to novelize it. But there is much more. I intend to take a story about an artist and a building and make it a real thing: an actual artist in an actual building, operating under an unbreakable philosophy, creating value where there was only mortgages, roof maintenance and insurance.

You’re familiar with me, so you know the philosophy. Romans 12:2. Go to Heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they are not trapped. This whole idea is encapsulated in the story by a coffee mug, that is, by serving the message through the hospitality of sharing coffee. Not preaching. Practicing.

So next week, your Bento Wiz email will arrive with a new name:

What’s On Your Mug?...Coffee with Varhaus.

A similar format to Bento Wiz, but a different aim. A verse. A quote. Weekly themes. Some art. Sometimes food. A bit of what’s on my mind. But the real aim is this.

What’s on your mug?

Did you ever look at a coworker’s coffee and think...her face doesn’t match her ‘world’s greatest mom’ mug. Or maybe it says Cafe du Monde like mine does, reminding me of my wife’s and my favorite place. Is your mug aspirational? Is it fond memory? Maybe you just like the color. I bet your Monday mug isn’t the same as your Saturday mug.

Does message printed on your mug match your face? I want it to. I know for certain that you do 100 wonderful things every day without thinking about it.

I want to hear you say it. Other people need to hear you say it, too. The world is dying of digital comparison. “Comparison is the Thief of Joy.”

What if sharing joy was the thief of comparison? What could happen if we act as a counterbalance? Not a snapshot Narnia, but a real living celebration of humanity and good deeds?

Brag! I want you to tell me how you practiced simple commerce, how you did something to mark in your Heaven Credit Column, how you showed someone that they are not trapped by the things that keep them from feeling free or alone.

I want to know if the ideas I have assembled together are applicable to this life for others.

Blow your own horn. Or toot someone else’s flute. Especially the little actions. A thousand little kindnesses, small honesties extended with the grace of the statement:

Would you like to have some coffee?

The world needs to see these things in print. I know that I cannot build Varhaus, the story, the novel, or the actual facility, without your help.

Your participation will do us both good, plus it may be just enough proof to convince others to come along with us…for a cup of coffee.

Share

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Bread

Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof, when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

Job 38:4–7, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“In the seventies a record company in LA issued a record called ‘The best of Marcel Marceau.’ It had forty minutes of silence followed by applause and it sold really well. I like to put it on for company. It really bothers me, though, when people talk through it.”

Tom Waits, “Tom Waits Interviews Tom Waits,” NPR/Anti Records, 2008

“The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering. It cheapens and degrades the human experience, when it should inspire and elevate.”

Tom Waits, interviewed by J.T. LeRoy, “Strange Innocence,” Vanity Fair, July 2001

Herein ends the sermon…have a nice weekend!

Subscribe now

Bento

Mixed Salted Nuts…Raspberry Fig Bar…Blueberry Yogurt…Pita and Feta Dip with Cucumber…Strawberries…Blueberries…Gala Apple…Fresh Tossed Salad with Feta, Roasted Peppers, Carrot, Salami and Red Wine Vinaigrette.

Share

Ear Candy

the opus…

Rain Dogs

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Subscribe now

Bread

Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof, when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

Job 38:4–7, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Did you know there are more insects in one square mile of rural earth than there are human beings on the whole planet?”

Tom Waits, interviewed by David Fricke, Rolling Stone, 1999

“We have a deficit of wonder. When I ask people questions now, they get on their computer—’Gimme a few minutes and I’ll let ya know...’ And I’m like, ‘Noooooo!’ I want ‘em to wonder about it, man! I don’t wanna know the answer, I just want ‘em to wonder about it.”

Tom Waits, 2004

Charles Bukowski showed me what to read.

Chesterton showed me how to think.

Tom Waits taught me how to listen.

Here I am.

-Jason Keusch

Subscribe now

Bento

Share

Ear Candy

John Hammond Jr. played guitar on many Tom Waits projects…here, he makes his own album comprised of TW covers. Check out “Fannin Street” if you live in Texas or know it. This is a nice album to hear Waits without straining to listen.

Wicked Grin

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Subscribe now

Bread

He that feareth man shall quickly fall: he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be set on high.

Proverbs 29:25, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Most of the things you absorb you will ultimately secrete.”

Tom Waits, interviewed by Amanda Petrusich, Pitchfork, November 27, 2006

“You can’t really be too concerned with what people think of you. You’re on your own adventure of growth and discovery. Like Charles Bukowski said, ‘People think I’m down on Fifth and Main at the Blarney Stone, but really I’m on top floor of the health club with a towel in my lap, watching Johnny Carson.’ So it’s not always good to be where people think you are.”

Tom Waits, quoted in Barney Hoskyns, Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits

Charles Bukowski showed me what to read.

Chesterton showed me how to think.

Tom Waits taught me how to listen.

Here I am.

-Jason Keusch

Subscribe now

Bento

Share

Ear Candy

Tom Waits most commercially acclaimed album. You’ve probably never heard of it. But you should hear it.

Mule Variations

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening.

Ecclesiastes 9:10, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“You have to keep busy. After all, no dog’s ever pissed on a moving car.”

Tom Waits, “Tom Waits Interviews Tom Waits,” NPR/Anti Records, 2008

“There’s nothing more embarrassing than a person who tries to guess what the great American public would like, makes a compromise for the first time, and falls flat on his face. I would rather be a failure on my own terms than a success on someone else’s. That’s a difficult statement to live up to, but then I’ve always believed that the way you affect your audience is more important than how many of them are there.”

Tom Waits, interviewed by Amanda Petrusich, Pitchfork, November 27, 2006

If your favorite musician or artist doesn’t love Tom Waits, you are probably shallow and simple. or boring and dull. Or you just never knew…

-Jason Keusch

Subscribe now

Family in town…one more day. No Bento

Share

Ear Candy

My favorite Tom Waits album…link to iTunes below.

Nighthawks at the Diner

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Subscribe now

Bread

He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“My father was an exhaust manifold and my mother was a tree.”

Tom Waits, Late Night with David Letterman, 1986

“Songs are really just interesting things to be doing with the air. I love working with tunes. I love music, but we really want music to love us... They say that I have no hits and I’m difficult to work with, and they say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Tom Waits, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, March 2011

If your favorite musician or artist doesn’t love Tom Waits, you are probably shallow and simple.

-Jason Keusch

Subscribe now

Family in town…one more day. No Bento

Share

Eye Candy

Last Weekend…Plymouth Art in the Park

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens. For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded. What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psalm 8:2–6, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1955, God in Search of Man

Subscribe now

Out of Town, today. She’ll have to make her own lunch.

Have you read Varhaus yet? Here’s a little artifact about the story.

Million Dollar Garage

Artifact No. 3

The Detroit Tigers went 35-5 to start the season. We listened to the Cubbies and Harry Caray on WGN while we ate butter and jelly sandwiches at the dining table. KK would finish his lunch, push himself back, and announce, “I’m a Bud Man and a Cub Fan…

Read more

2 months ago · 2 likes · Jason Keusch

Share

Eye Candy

Plymouth, Art in the Park, here I come…

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens. For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded. What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psalm 8:2–6, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1955, God in Search of Man

Subscribe now

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

in progress…I' haven’t found a place to penetrate this yet…but I’m still looking.

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt. And Moses said: I will go and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, he called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: Moses, Moses. And he answered: Here I am. And he said: Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Exodus 3:2–5, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“It was an ecstasy because it was an adventure; it was an adventure because it was an opportunity. The goodness of the fairy tale was not affected by the fact that there might be more dragons than princesses; it was good to be in a fairy tale. The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom.”

G.K. Chesterton, 1908, Orthodoxy

Subscribe now

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no. He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.

Deuteronomy 8:2–3, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“To journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any sense that really matters, even to ourselves, because it is only by journeying for the world’s sake — even when the world bores and sickens and scares you half to death — that little by little we start to come alive.”

Frederick Buechner, 1982, The Sacred Journey

Subscribe now

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Festival Season starts this weekend. Plymouth, MI.

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father’s house, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and IN THEE shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed. So Abram went out as the Lord had commanded him.

Genesis 12:1–4, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.”

Rebecca Solnit, 2005, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

Subscribe now

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

My brother made this oven out of left over building materials yesterday.

I’m impressed.

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

And he said: Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord so is it done: blessed be the name of the Lord. In all these things Job sinned not by his lips, nor spoke he any foolish thing against God.

Job 1:21–22, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Be poor, go down into the far end of society, take the last place among men, live with those who are despised, love other men and serve them instead of making them serve you. Do not fight them when they push you around, but pray for those that hurt you. Do not look for pleasure, but turn away from things that satisfy your senses and your mind and look for God in hunger and thirst and darkness, through deserts of the spirit in which it seems to be madness to travel. Take upon yourself the burden of Christ’s Cross, that is, Christ’s humility and poverty and obedience and renunciation, and you will find peace for your souls.”

Thomas Merton, 1961, New Seeds of Contemplation

Subscribe now

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us: Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds.

Hebrews 12:1–3, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.” Viktor Frankl, 1946, Man’s Search for Meaning

I know a lot about making lunch for my wife. As a former Chef, now domestic bento builder, I overthink everything. Here’s an over-thought for today:

It’s interesting about Bento Wiz, at least to me, that the effort becomes rote and somewhat groundhogs’ day. As an artist I am always changing the medium, changing the size, thinking about new subject matter….so I can evolve.

But food, for the purpose of this exercise, is about a common benchmark. Over and over and over, it becomes replicated and evolves more slowly.

So boring now, that it’s barely discussed.

I’ve been noticing she hasn’t been eating her blueberries. I ask why, she doesn’t know, but she continues to buy them, she likes them, so I keep sending them. Yesterday I thought, maybe they are hard to eat. So I put them in a dixie cup so she could raise them without touching them or picking at the awkward positioned fruit in the bento tray.

She returned home with no blueberries and said:

“blueberries in the cup is perfect.”

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

Romans 12:1–2, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“The wax that has melted in God’s will can easily receive the stamp of its identity, the truth of what it was meant to be. But the wax that is hard and dry and brittle and without love will not take the seal: for the hard seal, descending upon it, grinds it to powder. Therefore if you spend your life trying to escape from the heat of the fire that is meant to soften and prepare you to become your true self, and if you try to keep your substance from melting in the fire, as if your true identity were to be hard wax, the seal will fall upon you at last and crush you. You will not be able to take your own true name and countenance, and you will be destroyed by the event that was meant to be your fulfillment.”

Thomas Merton, 1961, New Seeds of Contemplation

I know a lot about making lunch for my wife. As a former Chef, now domestic bento builder, I overthink everything. Here’s an over-thought for today:

She has to eat when she can eat. Very rarely does that happen with 15 free minutes in the break room. She has to grab her breakfast, or have some protein quick for energy. It’s got to be segmented, easy to eat without the hurdles of unwrapping, finding a utensil or using two hands.

That said, any hurdle of this sort does not become an inconvenience, but only keeps her from eating at all.

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience trial; and trial hope; And hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.

Romans 5:3–5, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”

Viktor Frankl, 1946, Man’s Search for Meaning

I know a lot about making lunch for my wife. As a former Chef, now domestic bento builder, I overthink everything. Here’s an over-thought for today:

A man making his wife lunch at some point becomes rote and expected instead of special and giving. At this point, the man must question why he continues to do such things?

What are his aims? The love of his wife or her love of him? Most people would see this as a simple, almost unnecessary question. But, frankly, I struggle with it.

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it.

Luke 9:23–24, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Do not disturb yourself by picturing your life as a whole; do not assemble in your mind the many and varied troubles which have come to you in the past and will come again in the future, but ask yourself with regard to every present difficulty: ‘What is there in this that is unbearable and beyond endurance?’ You would be ashamed to confess it. And then remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present, and the power of this is much diminished if you take it in isolation and call your mind to task if it thinks that it cannot stand up to it when taken on its own.”

Marcus Aurelius, c. 170 AD, Meditations, Book 8.36

I know a lot about making lunch for my wife. As a former Chef, now domestic bento builder, I overthink everything. Here’s an over-thought for today:

I must consider this paradox to make her lunch:

Predictability versus surprise.

Each lunch must have enough predictability that she gains comfort in eating. This comfort must remove the hurdle of consternation of eating something new. After all, the idea of this whole publication is to give her sustenance and time. If it is not easy, then it is possibly counterproductive. However, if there are not surprises, a note in the bottom, a little extra twist to something, something she wouldn’t have considered for herself, the whole enterprise risks becoming rote and denying the very thing I am trying to say to her: I love you, you deserve to be taken care of.

I promised you one thought in the first paragraph, but this simple paradox leads the chef to consider other factors: eatability, dietary needs, energy food, food that can be eaten in 3 minute increments, etc, et. al.

Today’s BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

There remaineth yet a young one, who keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said to Isai: Send, and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither.

He sent therefore and brought him. Now he was ruddy and beautiful to behold, and of a comely face. And the Lord said: Arise, and anoint him, for this is he.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.

1 Kings 16:11–13 (1 Samuel 16:11–13), Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

There remaineth yet a young one, who keepeth the sheep. That is how David was introduced — as an afterthought, a footnote, still out in the field doing invisible work when the moment of his whole life arrived. He was not waiting for his moment. He was being made ready for it. The invisible years were not a delay. They were the preparation. And God knew exactly where he was.

Frederick Buechner, 1977, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale

BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

about last night…Darius Rucker…amphitheater…Grand Rapids

Share

Million Dollar Garage

Varhaus No. 9

“Welcome to the first edition of Inconformation, a podcast brought to you by Varhaus. I’m Gabriel Thomas. Each week, we’ll discuss the happenings around Varhaus. What is Varhaus? Is it an art gallery or event space? Is it an urban renewal project or the wild dream of like-minded people? Is it folded, praying hands or a middle finger? Let’s figure it out…

Read more

2 months ago · 7 likes · 5 comments · Jason Keusch

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men:

Knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance. Serve ye the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23–24, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. But there is a prior truth that often goes unsaid: the habit is formed in private. The thousand repetitions that make a musician look effortless on stage happened in rooms no one entered. The endurance that makes an athlete look natural was built in the dark, before the game, after everyone else went home. What looks like talent is almost always just accumulated invisible work.

Will Durant, 1926, The Story of Philosophy (paraphrasing Aristotle)

BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Million Dollar Garage

Varhaus No. 9

“Welcome to the first edition of Inconformation, a podcast brought to you by Varhaus. I’m Gabriel Thomas. Each week, we’ll discuss the happenings around Varhaus. What is Varhaus? Is it an art gallery or event space? Is it an urban renewal project or the wild dream of like-minded people? Is it folded, praying hands or a middle finger? Let’s figure it out…

Read more

2 months ago · 7 likes · 5 comments · Jason Keusch

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

And the Lord said to Samuel: Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature: because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man: for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.

1 Kings 16:7 (1 Samuel 16:7), Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

Character is what you do when no one is watching. And that is not a warning — it is the most liberating truth available to a human being. It means your growth does not depend on recognition. It means no one can take from you what you have built in secret. It means the audience you are playing to — the only one that ultimately matters — is always present, always paying attention, and never distracted.

John Wooden, c. 1960s–1970s, coaching lectures and interviews, UCLA

BENTO

Share

It seems so long ago that I made this pop up with my buddy. But it was only April.

Eye Candy

Share

Million Dollar Garage

Varhaus No. 9

“Welcome to the first edition of Inconformation, a podcast brought to you by Varhaus. I’m Gabriel Thomas. Each week, we’ll discuss the happenings around Varhaus. What is Varhaus? Is it an art gallery or event space? Is it an urban renewal project or the wild dream of like-minded people? Is it folded, praying hands or a middle finger? Let’s figure it out…

Read more

2 months ago · 7 likes · 5 comments · Jason Keusch

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch

Bread

Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven.

Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth.

That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

Matthew 6:1–4, Douay-Rheims 1889

Meat

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years. The reason is not ambition. It is audience. We work hardest when someone is watching. We drift when no one is. The real question is not what you can do — it is what you will do when the room is empty and there is no applause at the end.

The temptation is always to wait for the conditions that make effort feel rewarded. But conditions like that come rarely and stay briefly. The person who requires an audience has handed control of their life to whoever happens to be watching that day.

Bill Walsh, 1998, The Score Takes Care of Itself

BENTO

Share

Eye Candy

Share

Million Dollar Garage

Varhaus No. 9

“Welcome to the first edition of Inconformation, a podcast brought to you by Varhaus. I’m Gabriel Thomas. Each week, we’ll discuss the happenings around Varhaus. What is Varhaus? Is it an art gallery or event space? Is it an urban renewal project or the wild dream of like-minded people? Is it folded, praying hands or a middle finger? Let’s figure it out…

Read more

2 months ago · 7 likes · 5 comments · Jason Keusch

Come Along

Jason Keusch: Ex-chef, abstract artist, happy husband

Work always eats the good ones. Meaningless buzzwords. Silos. Clumsy tech. Weak bosses. More work, less help, no time. I started packing my wife a bento every day to make sure she ate at work. She needed little wins, a little time to herself and a small act of support from home.

After six months, in became a little something more.

I want to give you the same thing: a moment they can’t steal, truth you can stand on, and something pretty to look at.

Monday–Friday 8am: 1 bento, 1 verse, 1 quote, 1 artwork.

(Note: none of the examples used to illustrate the hardship of today’s work environment are in any way direct observations of my wife’s coworkers, bosses or employees. So, if you’re one of them: this is for your wellness too!)

Million Dollar Garage Newsletter:

Million Dollar Garage

This is a rest-of-my-life pursuit. An art archive. Go to heaven. Do simple commerce. Show people they’re not trapped. Those are the goals...through the written word, art, grit and God. Your subscription is valued. Please sign up to help me build...

By Jason Keusch