(By Larry Hodges)

Who knew that cooks could be so good at table tennis! With a little tongue in cheek, and yet the touch of truth, here are fifteen ingredients to table tennis success.

1.      Put in lots of practice thyme.

2.      Always turnip on time for practice.

3.      Lettuce be thankful for all the hard practice you’ve put in.

4.      Have peas of mind while you play.

5.      Be cool as a cucumber.

6.      Don’t grape about problems.

7.      Squash any thoughts about losing or the score.

8.      Focus on the pear of serves coming up.

9.      Pepper your opponent with tricky serves.

10.  Banana flip those short balls.

11.  Focus on your own playing style, telling yourself, “I yam what I yam.”

12.  Use good tactics to put a steak in your opponent’s heart.

13.  The path to tea tea success is a rocky road, but you can persevere.

14.  Don’t be a hot dog when you win or crabby when you lose.

15.  When your game goes to lemons, make lemonade.