But it wasn’t just cooking that he made look easy; whether it was jumping off a cliff into Lake Powell or playing a concerto by Rachmaninoff, my dad seemed to do most things without pause or hesitation. … Some people say reading books is like taking a vacation , but for me that was dinner. Sometimes we had Chinese night and ate on our special green china, the meal complete with chopsticks and tea. We ate curry, pad Thai, moussaka, baklava, and enchiladas. …