KEITH GORDON, who holds a high-pressure position as NFL Players Inc. President, spent the majority of the week in Indianapolis for the NFL Combine. He will now fly to his home in Old Town Alexandria, Va., to relish in some family time with his wife, two-year-old daughter MIA and six-year-old son MATTHEW. The three days will be filled with painting, playing Nintendo Wii and delicious -- yet healthy -- cooking.
VAN GOGH IN THE MAKING: I come back from the Combine Friday afternoon and my brother DEREK is actually coming down from New York to spend a night or two with us. So I’ll pick him up from the airport when I come home. Then we’re probably going to take the family out for dinner. I think what we’re going to do during the week is we’re going to clear out a space in the garage so my brother -- he’s an artist of sorts -- he’s going to help the kids paint a wall mural in the garage. My daughter’s inspiration is to get as much paint all over yourself as you can. And my son’s is simply experiment with mixing as many colors and see if every color actually turns brown.
LET'S KICK IT: My son plays indoor soccer currently on Saturday mornings but this weekend is their bye week. So I’m organizing a practice Saturday morning down on the waterfront. I’m sort of an assistant coach, I’m like DC: dad coach. Whenever the coaches are not around, I substitute, fill in and I’ll do a lot of the drills. I usually bring the treats at the end of the game. I consider myself the trainer. I’m sort of a closet cook, so last week I brought mini muffins. With kids, especially young kids, I’m always sort of sensitive to the amount of junk that they have. We brought mini muffins, healthy banana muffins, sugar-free juice for them to drink, as opposed to bags of potato chips and Gatorade.
SOME LIKE IT HOT: When I was younger I used to work all of my summers in Nantucket as a sauté cook. I used to work at a place called Vincent’s on Main Street. I worked as a cook a lot because I really love being around food, but I knew that I could never stand to be around food as a job. It was just too hard, too long and I think the constant smell of garlic and onions on you was always a repellent for any girl. My signature dish these days is white bean and chicken chili. It’s healthy, I make it for all the neighbors usually and I make it for the people in the office. It’s got a nice little kick to it, I usually put some habanero peppers inside. Like everything else that is worthy of indulging in, it takes several hours to prepare. But I do it maybe once a month and it’s sort of a rite of passage for the neighborhood dads, they all like to come over and get their helping.
KARATE CHOP: My son and I are also closet “American Ninja Warrior” fans. We’ve never missed an episode. After we go to practice on the weekends, we usually go to the playground and we try to recreate all the “American Ninja Warrior” obstacles. My son is all of 45 pounds, so he can lift himself pretty easily. Of course his dad, it’s a different story. So I try and encourage him and partake when I can. It’s either the playground or sometimes in the living room. Of course, there have been several things that have been damaged because we’ve been going through our obstacle courses.
WATCH OUT WORLD: This last weekend I actually finally broke down and bought a Wii for the family. So there has been a constant Wii competition going on amongst the Gordon family. Literally when my son and daughter are asleep, my wife and I are playing the Wii. Of course, my shoulders, my back, my arm: Everything is sore.
BOOK WORM: When I do travel I like to listen to audio books. Being a cook for as many years as I have been, I like to read some ANTHONY BOURDAIN books, he’s just sort of a funny but graphic type of writer who isn’t afraid to pull punches but also savors life. Sometimes that’s my escape. When I’m taking personal time to do things like reading, I try to go in the complete opposite direction of what I do for a job.
