#technique

#technique

Nobody knows for certain when luge the French word for sled started, since nobody surely took note of the first time someone slid feet-first down a slope. Some say the 15th century, with evidence that there were races in Norway around that time. USA Luge believes that the sport could date all the way back to around 800 B.C., citing research that Vikings used sleds that had two runners, kind of like those kids have gotten for decades.

A rich, cold weather stewed concoction remains a favorite. Later, my culinary training would teach me new names for stews. Fricassees, stews bound with creamy sauces. Blanquettes, white stews enriched with cream or egg yolks. Etouffees, stewy mixtures served over rice whose name is derived from the French word for smothered. They're fancy names for comfort food that uses common slow-cooking processes producing scrumptious tidbits surrounded with sauce.

But you can hit a million shots on the driving range or in front of a mirror. It's possible to replicate conditions and practice your swing over and over and over again. To a certain degree, you can practice golf in a vacuum. In surfing, you cannot. There is a magical, confounding component so elusive and finite that it adds to the sport's seduction.