it's halloween, but it's also a game day, so who knows? halloween is usually pretty slow cause everybody is at their house giving out candy or they're at parties or whatever. slow. but on the other hand, it's a game day, which are usually busy. my call is that we get busy for a while, but early, and then the place just dies at six thirty.
so everytime the boss and i talk about a particular menu item not selling, all of a sudden, it does. it happened with our bbq wings...he told me we had only sold like four orders in the last couple months and then the next week we sold like six or seven orders. and it happened again yesterday with the lemon caper sauce. ok...a little history...i think it was two mother's days ago, the boss was actually thinking of running salmon a la king. like, seriously. for those that don't know, salmon a la king is a super outdated dish (1960s), it's a salmon filet with (as far as i know) a cream sauce with sauteed mushrooms and onions. in my humble cook's opinion, it's way too heavy for mother's day. first off, it's springtime, and moms, especially older moms and grandmas, aren't likely to eat something heavy like that. anyway, that's what he proposed and i immediately said "dude, no way, that's too heavy and old school...how about something nice and fresh, like some sort of lemon and caper sauce?" and he let me run with it and i made a lemon caper cream sauce (it's a very light cream sauce) with lots of lemon juice and zest, and nice plump capers for a salty bite. i was the first to admit that a lemon cream sauce didn't sound very good, but it actually works quite nicely. anyway, ever since then we've ran a salmon with the lemon caper sauce and our version of chicken picatta, which is a chicken breast lightly dredged in seasoned flour, pan fried, and served with the sauce. my boss's wife actually likes shrimp cooked in the sauce and tossed with linguini. anyway, when we stared running it it went pretty well, but in the last couple months it's slowed down considerably. like a week and a half ago we were talking about how it doesn't sell much anymore and we wanted to try something different, and last night, in the span of about fifteen minutes, i sold three of the salmons and FIVE chicken picattas. it was ridiculous. i was actually getting ready to leave and i ended up staying another half hour cause i had to make another batch of the sauce. i make it in big batches (probably ten or twelve servings) and we reheat it in sautee pans. you have to baby it and watch it cause if you heat it too fast or take your eye off it for a second it will break and more cream needs to be added. anyway, it was wierd. it's a good sauce.
lemon caper sauce (two servings)
1 pat butter
1 tbsp minced onion
1/2 tsp minced garlic
the zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch kosher salt
pinch white pepper
1 tbsp capers
melt the butter and sautee the onions and garlic until they smell awesome. add the zest and lemon juice and incorperate. add the cream and let reduce (what i call "bubbling up then bubbling down". you'll know it when you see it). when sauce coats the back of a spoon and you can draw a line through it and the line doesn't fill in, it's ready for the capers. taste, and add seasonings if necessary (usually are). put it over grilled salmon or halibut or a chicken breast or toss it with shrimpies and pasta.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
stuff i think is totally stupid part six million
so, all the servers are dressing up for halloween, which i think is stupid. i feel if you're an adult there's only two reasons to dress up in a costume...
1. if you're going to a costume party. that one makes sense. costume parties can be kick ass. i'm down for this.
2. if you have kids and they want you to dress up and take them trick or treating. i would totally dress up if i had kids. no sweat. i actually look forward to it.
however, if you work at a restaurant, especially in the kitchen, then dressing up makes no fucking sense. first off, it's hot in my kitchen, and most costumes are a burden, unless you're a sexy blankety-blank, in which case you'll probably just get hot grease spilled on your naughty bits. also i'm sloppy as all hell when i'm busy, so i would probably ruin a costume by spilling spaghetti sauce or gravy all over it. also, i'm 32 goddamn years old. i'm not gonna show up at work in a giant foam spongebob rig. i'd end up lighting myself on fire. one spit of grease and that thing would melt and collapse around me like a goddamn dying star. also, it's stupid. you think i'm gonna rock an eight hour plus shift in a goddamn spider man suit? fuck off. it's dumb. and another thing, all the servers are dressing up as "hardcore griz fans" which is pretty much how they dress every saturday anyway. i hear there's gonna be some face paint or something. anyway, it's dumb. tammy is going as prince, which will probably look maybe a little cool at first but after three or four hours of spilling ranch and taco soup all over herself, plus maybe crying a little, she's gonna look like hell. people will probably think she has a zombie costume on.
listen, if you're twenty something, hot, and into the bar scene, fucking go for it. play dress up. i used to. it's all good at that age, but man, you hit that thirty mark, and things like that start to seem childish. i'd rather just go home and put my sweats on and sit on my couch and watch tv. am i lame? sure. do i think coming to work dressed up as the joker or a sexy blankety-blank is considerably lamer? fuck yes i do.
at least the other cook on saturday feels the same way i do and i'm sure we'll have a good time pointing and snickering and judging and telling everyone they look dumb and i hate their stupid faces.
anyway, it's only friday and it's been slow as hell all week. i got a wee talking to about my on the clock cell phone usage, but so did literally everybody else that works there except the old ladies who can't figure out how to text. anyway, i've been trying to be good, i keep my phone in my jacket in the back instead of in my pocket, but i still sneak back there and check my shit every once in a while. i had been just standing in the kitchen for hours texting my boy mikey about tv shows. the boss doesn't like paying me for that, and i can understand, but sometimes honestly, i got shit else to do. i try to look busy but i'm not very good at it.
also, i'd like to make a request for everybody reading this to send happy thoughts to the greatest server ever and my good buddy tiffani, as the cancer she thought she had beat has come back agressively. she beat it once and she can do it again, but she needs all the support she can get. kick it's ass, tiff...we love ya!
1. if you're going to a costume party. that one makes sense. costume parties can be kick ass. i'm down for this.
2. if you have kids and they want you to dress up and take them trick or treating. i would totally dress up if i had kids. no sweat. i actually look forward to it.
however, if you work at a restaurant, especially in the kitchen, then dressing up makes no fucking sense. first off, it's hot in my kitchen, and most costumes are a burden, unless you're a sexy blankety-blank, in which case you'll probably just get hot grease spilled on your naughty bits. also i'm sloppy as all hell when i'm busy, so i would probably ruin a costume by spilling spaghetti sauce or gravy all over it. also, i'm 32 goddamn years old. i'm not gonna show up at work in a giant foam spongebob rig. i'd end up lighting myself on fire. one spit of grease and that thing would melt and collapse around me like a goddamn dying star. also, it's stupid. you think i'm gonna rock an eight hour plus shift in a goddamn spider man suit? fuck off. it's dumb. and another thing, all the servers are dressing up as "hardcore griz fans" which is pretty much how they dress every saturday anyway. i hear there's gonna be some face paint or something. anyway, it's dumb. tammy is going as prince, which will probably look maybe a little cool at first but after three or four hours of spilling ranch and taco soup all over herself, plus maybe crying a little, she's gonna look like hell. people will probably think she has a zombie costume on.
listen, if you're twenty something, hot, and into the bar scene, fucking go for it. play dress up. i used to. it's all good at that age, but man, you hit that thirty mark, and things like that start to seem childish. i'd rather just go home and put my sweats on and sit on my couch and watch tv. am i lame? sure. do i think coming to work dressed up as the joker or a sexy blankety-blank is considerably lamer? fuck yes i do.
at least the other cook on saturday feels the same way i do and i'm sure we'll have a good time pointing and snickering and judging and telling everyone they look dumb and i hate their stupid faces.
anyway, it's only friday and it's been slow as hell all week. i got a wee talking to about my on the clock cell phone usage, but so did literally everybody else that works there except the old ladies who can't figure out how to text. anyway, i've been trying to be good, i keep my phone in my jacket in the back instead of in my pocket, but i still sneak back there and check my shit every once in a while. i had been just standing in the kitchen for hours texting my boy mikey about tv shows. the boss doesn't like paying me for that, and i can understand, but sometimes honestly, i got shit else to do. i try to look busy but i'm not very good at it.
also, i'd like to make a request for everybody reading this to send happy thoughts to the greatest server ever and my good buddy tiffani, as the cancer she thought she had beat has come back agressively. she beat it once and she can do it again, but she needs all the support she can get. kick it's ass, tiff...we love ya!
Friday, October 23, 2009
sorry both mikes and grandma
hey sorry, my computer got a nasty virus and had to be attended to, and then we fixed it but i was scared to put my password in anything, so i haven't updated in a while. did you all miss me? all three of my loyal readers? yeah, i didn't think so.
ok, so i wanna keep within the foodie blogroll guidelines, so i gotta talk about food, but not much of anything happened at work this week, so i'll enthrall you all with the story of how i catered a party one time.
it all began way back in the summer of 09 (seems like so long ago...*snork*) and one of my wife's co-workers asked her if i could cater a 50th anniversary party for her grandparents. it was on a saturday in august (wedding season) so they were having trouble finding a caterer. i've NEVER done anything like catering before, so naturally, i said "sure!" at first i was told it would be for fifty people, and i thought to myself that no matter what the food was, i could knock out a party for fifty. then a couple days later the number was upped to around 80. which is a lot of individual plates, if you're doing that sort of thing. they wanted a brunch buffet, which made things way easier on me, considering i didn't have to make up plates, i just had to make up food. we threw a few ideas back and forth, and finally settled on this menu:
APPETIZERS
shrimp cocktails - i know, shrimp cocktails are easy and boring, but i did do 80 individual ones, in cute little punch cups. those things went like gangbusters. everybody loved them, and they looked awesome.
caprese skewers - once again, the easy route, but i wanted them to be served in vases and look like floral arrangements from across the room. and they did! and nobody ate them because they all thought they were floral arrangements. whoops.
chocolate covered fruit - damn near a train wreck, but the wife and little sister did a bang up job and got it done. i'd never done the whole melting chocolate and dipping shit in it before, and we thinned the choco out with milk and butter (i thought the butter would help it set up) and they were pretty sticky and gooey but they were yummy. everybody got two strawberries and two banana slices, and after the party what we had left over got eaten up pretty quick.
MAIN COURSE
scrambled eggs - standard brunch fare, and one of the easiest things to make for a crowd.
bacon & sausage - same thing. easy way to feed 80 people.
roasted baby red potatoes - rosemary and garlic butter. i didn't want to do hashbrowns but still wanted a starch, and i've done rosemary roasted red many times. good stuff.
pina colada french toast - i know, it sounds awesome, right? it probably was. i didn't get to try it after i got the grill temprature down (i burned a few slices before i got it right. i was working in a kitchen completely unfamiliar to me) it was the one item i wasn't sure of and it seemed to be the one item that everybody loved. we actually ran out.
sockeye salmon en papillote - basically salmon flanks cooked in parchment paper envelopes with fresh dill and lemon slices. i'd never actually done that preperation before, and got rave reviews. one guy told me he hadn't had salmon that good in fifteen years since he lived on the shore of lake michigan. bonus!
balsamic macerated fruit salad - canteloupe, watermelon, honeydew, strawberries, bananas, and champagne grapes, all tossed with balsamic and fresh mint. killer.
pulled pork sliders with chipotle slaw - this part was hilarious, because everybody there was pretty old, nobody knew what sliders were. i didn't have them all made up, i just had the pork, slaw, and cut dinner rolls all together, and most people ate it in pieces instead of making sliders. oh well, people loved it, and my pulled pork is absolutely killer.
all the guests were blown away i'd never catered before, and one lady came up to me and told me it was the best catered meal she'd ever had. it was wierd, as a line cook, i'm used to a fairly thankless existance. i stay in the back, and just assume everybody is happy, and if they aren't, the servers let me know about it. but when people love something i never get thanked, either by them or by anybody else. so it was ackward for me to accept thanks from 80 people. i usually don't talk or even make eye contact with my customers, so it was super wierd for me. i got paid like a king, and i got the experience, which made it all worth it. i never once felt like i was in the weeds, i had awesome help (my dad even rocked the coffee station), and it made me feel ten feet tall.
anyway. there's a story. it's not the whole story, of course, but i'm sick of sitting in front of my computer.
ok, so i wanna keep within the foodie blogroll guidelines, so i gotta talk about food, but not much of anything happened at work this week, so i'll enthrall you all with the story of how i catered a party one time.
it all began way back in the summer of 09 (seems like so long ago...*snork*) and one of my wife's co-workers asked her if i could cater a 50th anniversary party for her grandparents. it was on a saturday in august (wedding season) so they were having trouble finding a caterer. i've NEVER done anything like catering before, so naturally, i said "sure!" at first i was told it would be for fifty people, and i thought to myself that no matter what the food was, i could knock out a party for fifty. then a couple days later the number was upped to around 80. which is a lot of individual plates, if you're doing that sort of thing. they wanted a brunch buffet, which made things way easier on me, considering i didn't have to make up plates, i just had to make up food. we threw a few ideas back and forth, and finally settled on this menu:
APPETIZERS
shrimp cocktails - i know, shrimp cocktails are easy and boring, but i did do 80 individual ones, in cute little punch cups. those things went like gangbusters. everybody loved them, and they looked awesome.
caprese skewers - once again, the easy route, but i wanted them to be served in vases and look like floral arrangements from across the room. and they did! and nobody ate them because they all thought they were floral arrangements. whoops.
chocolate covered fruit - damn near a train wreck, but the wife and little sister did a bang up job and got it done. i'd never done the whole melting chocolate and dipping shit in it before, and we thinned the choco out with milk and butter (i thought the butter would help it set up) and they were pretty sticky and gooey but they were yummy. everybody got two strawberries and two banana slices, and after the party what we had left over got eaten up pretty quick.
MAIN COURSE
scrambled eggs - standard brunch fare, and one of the easiest things to make for a crowd.
bacon & sausage - same thing. easy way to feed 80 people.
roasted baby red potatoes - rosemary and garlic butter. i didn't want to do hashbrowns but still wanted a starch, and i've done rosemary roasted red many times. good stuff.
pina colada french toast - i know, it sounds awesome, right? it probably was. i didn't get to try it after i got the grill temprature down (i burned a few slices before i got it right. i was working in a kitchen completely unfamiliar to me) it was the one item i wasn't sure of and it seemed to be the one item that everybody loved. we actually ran out.
sockeye salmon en papillote - basically salmon flanks cooked in parchment paper envelopes with fresh dill and lemon slices. i'd never actually done that preperation before, and got rave reviews. one guy told me he hadn't had salmon that good in fifteen years since he lived on the shore of lake michigan. bonus!
balsamic macerated fruit salad - canteloupe, watermelon, honeydew, strawberries, bananas, and champagne grapes, all tossed with balsamic and fresh mint. killer.
pulled pork sliders with chipotle slaw - this part was hilarious, because everybody there was pretty old, nobody knew what sliders were. i didn't have them all made up, i just had the pork, slaw, and cut dinner rolls all together, and most people ate it in pieces instead of making sliders. oh well, people loved it, and my pulled pork is absolutely killer.
all the guests were blown away i'd never catered before, and one lady came up to me and told me it was the best catered meal she'd ever had. it was wierd, as a line cook, i'm used to a fairly thankless existance. i stay in the back, and just assume everybody is happy, and if they aren't, the servers let me know about it. but when people love something i never get thanked, either by them or by anybody else. so it was ackward for me to accept thanks from 80 people. i usually don't talk or even make eye contact with my customers, so it was super wierd for me. i got paid like a king, and i got the experience, which made it all worth it. i never once felt like i was in the weeds, i had awesome help (my dad even rocked the coffee station), and it made me feel ten feet tall.
anyway. there's a story. it's not the whole story, of course, but i'm sick of sitting in front of my computer.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
this is how we do!
finally!!! we got mad busy last night, for what seems like the first time in weeks. and all the girls knew about and pushed the halibut and pub chips, and we sold out. shit, we sold out of damn near everything. we got busy right after the game (about 4:30) and stayed busy until about eight. and busy busy, not just steady. it was nice to get our collective asses kicked (although i have to say the kitchen did most of the ass kicking). oh, and i found out that jessie was the only one who didn't know about the special on friday. tara knew about it and pushed it and nobody wanted it, and crystal knew about the special but didn't bother telling any customers. she's wierd like that. she'll tell you she didn't have time, but we weren't busy and it's pretty easy to walk up to tables and say "do you know about the special?" so that's way worse than jessie not knowing we had a special. and jessie was pissed i ratted her out to the boss about not knowing about the special, but hey...it's her job to know, and i didn't so much rat her out as i just told boss what was happening.
anyway, it was stupid busy and it was great. that's my element, man, tons of tickets flapping in the breeze and a bunch more piling up on the machine, and just cooking the bejaysus out of it. i love it when it's busy like that, i feel absolutely in my element. sure, it's hot, it's cramped, and everybody is yelling at you for this order and hold the blankety blank on that order, and it's a logistical challenge to get everything up on time and looking good. i get bored and lazy when we're slow, but when we're busy...man, i tell ya, i'm the best guy for the job. i find myself getting all pumped up and yelling "yeah! bring it! what's next? i thought you guys said we were getting busy! this ain't shit!"
hopefully they'll have a good sunday morning out there today...we need a couple hardcore days in a row. it was nice cause yesterday was boss's birthday and he didn't even come in after the game (he's been at work for like two months straight...went and had a party with his family), but we got busy and didn't call or bother him with anything, plus he left his cake so we could eat off it. it was sweet.
anyway. weekend. breakfast with poppa and big brother, and football with the wife.
gonna be a good day.
anyway, it was stupid busy and it was great. that's my element, man, tons of tickets flapping in the breeze and a bunch more piling up on the machine, and just cooking the bejaysus out of it. i love it when it's busy like that, i feel absolutely in my element. sure, it's hot, it's cramped, and everybody is yelling at you for this order and hold the blankety blank on that order, and it's a logistical challenge to get everything up on time and looking good. i get bored and lazy when we're slow, but when we're busy...man, i tell ya, i'm the best guy for the job. i find myself getting all pumped up and yelling "yeah! bring it! what's next? i thought you guys said we were getting busy! this ain't shit!"
hopefully they'll have a good sunday morning out there today...we need a couple hardcore days in a row. it was nice cause yesterday was boss's birthday and he didn't even come in after the game (he's been at work for like two months straight...went and had a party with his family), but we got busy and didn't call or bother him with anything, plus he left his cake so we could eat off it. it was sweet.
anyway. weekend. breakfast with poppa and big brother, and football with the wife.
gonna be a good day.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
umm, whoops
so here i was, all excited to run our now legendary halibut and pub chips, and i made awesome beer batter and the best chips ever, and around seven we had been sort of steady (not busy) and we hadn't sold a single order, and i asked crystal and jessie "why the hell isn't the halibut selling? people usually love it!" and they both looked at me sort of blankly and jessie said "i had no idea we were even running halibut!"
*sigh*
k, here's the thing...we have this clipboard, and it has what i call the special sheet on it. this piece of paper has who's working what shifts, what section they're in (for servers), the soup of the day, the specials for the day, and whatever might be 86'd (anything we ran out of). it's right inbetween the computer where we all clock in and the soup pots, sitting on top of the server microwave. so, it's pretty much right there where all the servers are all the time and i always look at it when i clock in...it's pretty important for me to know what specials there are, although we run a pretty predictable schedule. friday and saturday night and sunday morning are different, and occasionally wednesday we do something. and since i always look at the special sheet, i just assumed all the girls did too. now, granted, they all work the same shifts every week, and i'm pretty sure they're all in the same sections week in and week out, but still. it's right there. look at the special sheet!
of course after i told them we had the halibut jessie went out and sold one on her next table. the boss walks by and i go "haha! none of the girls knew we had a special, and it didn't even get written up on the board. we just sold our first one." and he looks at me and just shakes his head and goes back in the office. classic. then about a half hour after i get home he calls me and says "lets run the halibut again tomorrow. make sure the girls know about it. ok. thanks." and pretty much hangs up. it was like a seventeen second phone call. and he could have just left me a note on the special sheet for today and i would have seen it. so i dunno, maybe he thinks it's my fault for not telling everybody that we had the halibut and pub chips. but, you see, i didn't tell anybody because THERE'S A GODDAMNED SHEET WITH ALL THE INFORMATION ON IT RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SERVER STATION!!!
so, yeah. we're running the halibut again. also it's boss's birthday and there will be cake involved. it's my friday and there's a new snl, plus the saints (my team) host the giants (wife's team) on tv tomorrow morning, so it's gonna be a good day off. but one more day in the trenches, and it's a game day, so hopefully we'll be busy, but the last couple weeks we've slowed down considerably. by all rights we should be busy on a game day, but last week was homecoming and there was the whole not-having-a-single-ticket-for-an-hour-and-a-half thing going on. so who knows. all i know is it's my fave crew to work with, and laughs and good times will be had.
*sigh*
k, here's the thing...we have this clipboard, and it has what i call the special sheet on it. this piece of paper has who's working what shifts, what section they're in (for servers), the soup of the day, the specials for the day, and whatever might be 86'd (anything we ran out of). it's right inbetween the computer where we all clock in and the soup pots, sitting on top of the server microwave. so, it's pretty much right there where all the servers are all the time and i always look at it when i clock in...it's pretty important for me to know what specials there are, although we run a pretty predictable schedule. friday and saturday night and sunday morning are different, and occasionally wednesday we do something. and since i always look at the special sheet, i just assumed all the girls did too. now, granted, they all work the same shifts every week, and i'm pretty sure they're all in the same sections week in and week out, but still. it's right there. look at the special sheet!
of course after i told them we had the halibut jessie went out and sold one on her next table. the boss walks by and i go "haha! none of the girls knew we had a special, and it didn't even get written up on the board. we just sold our first one." and he looks at me and just shakes his head and goes back in the office. classic. then about a half hour after i get home he calls me and says "lets run the halibut again tomorrow. make sure the girls know about it. ok. thanks." and pretty much hangs up. it was like a seventeen second phone call. and he could have just left me a note on the special sheet for today and i would have seen it. so i dunno, maybe he thinks it's my fault for not telling everybody that we had the halibut and pub chips. but, you see, i didn't tell anybody because THERE'S A GODDAMNED SHEET WITH ALL THE INFORMATION ON IT RIGHT SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SERVER STATION!!!
so, yeah. we're running the halibut again. also it's boss's birthday and there will be cake involved. it's my friday and there's a new snl, plus the saints (my team) host the giants (wife's team) on tv tomorrow morning, so it's gonna be a good day off. but one more day in the trenches, and it's a game day, so hopefully we'll be busy, but the last couple weeks we've slowed down considerably. by all rights we should be busy on a game day, but last week was homecoming and there was the whole not-having-a-single-ticket-for-an-hour-and-a-half thing going on. so who knows. all i know is it's my fave crew to work with, and laughs and good times will be had.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
this is getting bad
man, we were slooooow last nite. barely sold any spaghetti. and it's only $6.99 people! all you can friggin eat! it was boring, and all totaled up i made a whopping six bucks in tips. barely bought smokes. usually i'm busy in the afternoon and the mid shift server tips me that much. yesterday i got two bucks. it was bad.
also for some reason we were running chili dogs yesterday. i had two days off and i guess we became a gas station while i was home. seriously...chili dogs? they were actually polish sausages, which technically isn't a dog, but whatever. i sold one. after six hours of running it. i don't think people come in to my restaurant to eat chili dogs. we also have egg rolls, and it seems like only the servers ever eat them. i just think some things are kind of situational, and chili dogs are certainly one of those things. you're at a ball game, sure, go for it. drunk at 2 am and the 7-11 chili dogs look good, then hop to it. but coming to a restaurant that doesn't ever serve any sort of hot dog, and ordering a chili dog? good luck, pal...it's your colon.
anyway the chili was actually pretty good and i ate a cup of it. it wasn't as cold yesterday but a cup of hot chili went down pretty smooth. i don't think we have a dinner special today, and our lunch special will undoubtably be something dumb. for some reason the opening server picks our lunchie, and she never checks to see what we have a lot of or anything, nor does she ever try to be creative, she just picks something off our menu and knocks a buck off of it. i prefer to make specials that we don't normally have, which makes them special, ya see. every time i'm allowed to make something up it sells like firecrackers, but most of the time i'm just grumbling under my breath. anyway. five bucks says our lunchie is a mushroom burger. i'll let ya know.
also for some reason we were running chili dogs yesterday. i had two days off and i guess we became a gas station while i was home. seriously...chili dogs? they were actually polish sausages, which technically isn't a dog, but whatever. i sold one. after six hours of running it. i don't think people come in to my restaurant to eat chili dogs. we also have egg rolls, and it seems like only the servers ever eat them. i just think some things are kind of situational, and chili dogs are certainly one of those things. you're at a ball game, sure, go for it. drunk at 2 am and the 7-11 chili dogs look good, then hop to it. but coming to a restaurant that doesn't ever serve any sort of hot dog, and ordering a chili dog? good luck, pal...it's your colon.
anyway the chili was actually pretty good and i ate a cup of it. it wasn't as cold yesterday but a cup of hot chili went down pretty smooth. i don't think we have a dinner special today, and our lunch special will undoubtably be something dumb. for some reason the opening server picks our lunchie, and she never checks to see what we have a lot of or anything, nor does she ever try to be creative, she just picks something off our menu and knocks a buck off of it. i prefer to make specials that we don't normally have, which makes them special, ya see. every time i'm allowed to make something up it sells like firecrackers, but most of the time i'm just grumbling under my breath. anyway. five bucks says our lunchie is a mushroom burger. i'll let ya know.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
well that sucked
so we had a couple of decent early dinner rushes on fri and sat, but both days our last table was at 8:30 and we close at ten. an hour and a half without an order on a wed afternoon is rare, and for it to happen on friday night is fucking incredible, and then for it to happen again on saturday, well, that's just fucked up. i would bet we start closing earlier next week. there's just no point being open if nobody's coming in. so that sucked. it was homecoming weekend and we were hoping to be crazy busy and i was hoping to make shitloads in tips but neither happened. lame.
also, the hoods seemed to stop working halfway through last night, and i had a couple ribeyes on that just fucking smoked up the whole restaurant. and the boss wasn't sure the hoods weren't working, but when i cleaned the grill after we closed, the entire kitchen and back room were full of smoke/steam and i could barely see what i was doing. it sucked. i guess the hood guys are coming to clean tonight so hopefully when i go back to work on tuesday everything will be fine. i doubt it, but i hope.
anyway, it's my weekend and i really don't wanna sit here and talk about work. i wanna watch playoff baseball. peace.
also, the hoods seemed to stop working halfway through last night, and i had a couple ribeyes on that just fucking smoked up the whole restaurant. and the boss wasn't sure the hoods weren't working, but when i cleaned the grill after we closed, the entire kitchen and back room were full of smoke/steam and i could barely see what i was doing. it sucked. i guess the hood guys are coming to clean tonight so hopefully when i go back to work on tuesday everything will be fine. i doubt it, but i hope.
anyway, it's my weekend and i really don't wanna sit here and talk about work. i wanna watch playoff baseball. peace.
Friday, October 9, 2009
every year it happens, and every year i want to die
first snow.
yeah, i know. i live in montana. i know it's coming. i can see it in the mountains around the valley for weeks before it actually makes me scrape my car off, but it doesn't make it any better. to the casual outside observer, i'm not a very good montanan. i imagine those of you reading from anywhere but here think of us as a bunch of hunting, fishing, cowboy backwoods motherfuckers. COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. the only person i know that hunts is my dad. he used to get me to go with him but i always hated it and complained, and the only time (when i was thirteen or fourteen) i actually had to shoot anything, i kind of botched it and had to walk up and shoot the thing in the head from point blank. it was a yearling moose, in fact, and it was fucking looking at me. and that turned me off of hunting forever. i like fishing, and shooting guns at cans and stuff is always awesome, but i'm not a fucking cowboy, i don't ski or snowboard anymore, and i pretty much hate every fucking second of snowfall we get. i haven't been to yellowstone in fifteen years, and i haven't been to glacier since i was like five, and i've never been camping.
so, yeah. i like staying indoors and playing video games. shoot me.
anyway, i was gonna talk about work but i'd rather talk about how i'm dreading driving to work. i have a mustang. it's badass, sure, but not the greatest snow car. at least i got new tires this year. last year my tires were bald, especially the back ones, and i had many an aggrivating drive to work, and actually for like a month straight my car didn't leave my apartment parking lot. i couldn't even back out of the spot i was in. i had to drive my dad's truck. anyway. i'm sure i'll be fine, and it's not the highway i'm scared of, it's getting to the highway. at least people in montana know how to drive in the shit. the year i was in washington (mikey, back me up here) if it snowed like an inch eveybody went screaming back into their houses and nobody went to work or school. they closed the mall in olympia one day when it snowed a half an inch. i didn't even have a coat on. and everybody on the road looked bewildered but didn't like, adjust their drive times or styles to suit the weather. it was hilarious and dangerous.
ANYway, it's homecoming weekend at u of m, and i'm sure we'll get pounded all weekend, starting tonight. i hope so. i need the tips. the homecoming game is against cal-poly, and i love when warm weather teams have to come into missoula and play in blizzard conditions. when i was a senior in high school, u of m beat sw texas state 72-3 cause there was like five inches of snow on the field and it was blowing all around and like five degrees and those fucking guys didn't know what to do with themselves. also i cooked them dinner on their way to the airport. not really, i worked at wendys at the time, and i kinda remember being on the register. sue me.
god, i'm going nowhere with all this.
bye.
yeah, i know. i live in montana. i know it's coming. i can see it in the mountains around the valley for weeks before it actually makes me scrape my car off, but it doesn't make it any better. to the casual outside observer, i'm not a very good montanan. i imagine those of you reading from anywhere but here think of us as a bunch of hunting, fishing, cowboy backwoods motherfuckers. COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. the only person i know that hunts is my dad. he used to get me to go with him but i always hated it and complained, and the only time (when i was thirteen or fourteen) i actually had to shoot anything, i kind of botched it and had to walk up and shoot the thing in the head from point blank. it was a yearling moose, in fact, and it was fucking looking at me. and that turned me off of hunting forever. i like fishing, and shooting guns at cans and stuff is always awesome, but i'm not a fucking cowboy, i don't ski or snowboard anymore, and i pretty much hate every fucking second of snowfall we get. i haven't been to yellowstone in fifteen years, and i haven't been to glacier since i was like five, and i've never been camping.
so, yeah. i like staying indoors and playing video games. shoot me.
anyway, i was gonna talk about work but i'd rather talk about how i'm dreading driving to work. i have a mustang. it's badass, sure, but not the greatest snow car. at least i got new tires this year. last year my tires were bald, especially the back ones, and i had many an aggrivating drive to work, and actually for like a month straight my car didn't leave my apartment parking lot. i couldn't even back out of the spot i was in. i had to drive my dad's truck. anyway. i'm sure i'll be fine, and it's not the highway i'm scared of, it's getting to the highway. at least people in montana know how to drive in the shit. the year i was in washington (mikey, back me up here) if it snowed like an inch eveybody went screaming back into their houses and nobody went to work or school. they closed the mall in olympia one day when it snowed a half an inch. i didn't even have a coat on. and everybody on the road looked bewildered but didn't like, adjust their drive times or styles to suit the weather. it was hilarious and dangerous.
ANYway, it's homecoming weekend at u of m, and i'm sure we'll get pounded all weekend, starting tonight. i hope so. i need the tips. the homecoming game is against cal-poly, and i love when warm weather teams have to come into missoula and play in blizzard conditions. when i was a senior in high school, u of m beat sw texas state 72-3 cause there was like five inches of snow on the field and it was blowing all around and like five degrees and those fucking guys didn't know what to do with themselves. also i cooked them dinner on their way to the airport. not really, i worked at wendys at the time, and i kinda remember being on the register. sue me.
god, i'm going nowhere with all this.
bye.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
that went surprisingly well
so, before he left in the afternoon yesterday, the boss told me to run some sort of a rib eye steak special, cause we haven't been selling them much lately and we had a few in the walk-in that we needed to turn. i actually threw four rib eyes out last week cause they were sour, but these ones were fine. anyway, he told me to do whatever i wanted and just adjust the price accordingly. it's awesome and very rare when he says "run a special...do whatever you want" and i was stoked cause we usually don't have a dinner special on wednesday. so i initally thought about just doing some nice garlic mushrooms to serve on top of the steak, cooked in butter and white wine, but i like to have button mushrooms to do that and all we had is pre sliced shrooms and they didn't even look all that great, so i scrapped that idea. then out of the blue i was like "bleu cheese balsamic!" and i (for the first time ever, actually) made a great balsamic reduction sauce. just cooked the steaks and crumbled some bleu cheese on them, not too much, and then put my sauce in a squeezie bottle and drizzled it over the top. some of you may be thinking, "dude, you've never reduced balsamic before? and bleu cheese and balsamic isn't even very forward thinking and/or challenging!" well, i'm not a chef, i've explained that before, and the place i work is far from fine dining, and none of our customers expect anything but good, home cooked, normal food to fill their bellies. i actually thought the bleu cheese would turn most of our customers off. anyway, we ended up selling like ten of them before i left, which is pretty awesome considering that it was a $16.99 special on a fucking wednesday, in a place that on tuesday runs $6.99 all you can eat spag and on thursday does $9.99 prime rib sammies all day. i couldn't believe that old folks and truckers were shelling out seventeen bucks to eat a steak covered in skunky cheese and vinegar. i was proud as hell of how it looked, too. oh, and before dinner rush started, boss came back to get food to bring home to his wife and originally he just wanted two porkies (breaded pork chop burger type sammies), and he seemed interested and vaguely grossed out when i told him what i decided to do as a special, and he was like "just gimmie the porkies" and i put a bit of my balsamic drizzle on a spoon and made him try it and he kinda snapped it around his mouth for a second and said "ok, gimmie one of those specials too." it was great. tammy asked me at one point why boss doesn't let me do this (make up specials) all the time. it's funny, he was just trying to get rid of some steaks, and i got to play around a bit and turned it into a pretty nice special, and we made a couple hundred bucks. everybody's happy.
balsamic reduction
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 cloves garlic
i actually ran the garlic over my microplane and made paste so there wouldn't be any chunks stopping up my squeeze bottle. bring everything to a boil and let reduce for fifteen, twenty minutes. you'd think it would be too sweet with the honey but the garlic cuts it just right and you end up with a nice sweet/savory sticky sauce that works just as good on steak as it would on ice cream.
balsamic reduction
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 cloves garlic
i actually ran the garlic over my microplane and made paste so there wouldn't be any chunks stopping up my squeeze bottle. bring everything to a boil and let reduce for fifteen, twenty minutes. you'd think it would be too sweet with the honey but the garlic cuts it just right and you end up with a nice sweet/savory sticky sauce that works just as good on steak as it would on ice cream.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
ok then
so, tuesday spag day was kind of a bust, as it has been recently. the regulars were out there, including my boy fred, and that family that wants too much sauce, but i barely went through half a soup pot of sauce, and like a month ago i was rocking two pots of sauce to the last little bit. so the weather and kids being in school again and all that has us slowing down. which, on one hand, is fine cause i get paid the same either way (except obviously i get more tips when we're busy), but we love what we do and we wanna do as much of it as possible.
off topic a bit (topic? did i even have one?) i'm sitting here getting over being sick, and i feel pretty ok for the most part, but my left ear is a little plugged up, which reminds me of the time my eardrum blew up during lunch rush. i was working at a god awful hellhole of a place, a restaurant that was busy as hell, but that had an absent, idiot asshole owner, the worst designed kitchen ever (fryers in the dishpit, anyone?), and the highest turnover rate i've ever seen. it was a nightmare. we weren't allowed to go outside to smoke cause somebody somewhere in the past had gotten high in their car, so we had to sit in the casino at one particular table, unless there was someone already sitting there. so most of the time we had to stand up in the corner of the casino, with all these lights and keno machine noises, and it never really felt like a fucking break. anyway. the place sucked. i got tons more stories about this place. but this one goes like this...i had a headache all day, it was one of those too-much-pressure-in-your-cabasa sorts of deal, and i was working saute, and i was agitated as fuck all day cause my head hurt and i was pretty much agitated as fuck all the time there anyway, and all of a sudden BOOM! my right eardrum actually exploded, right there, and i dropped me to my knees, and i had all this nasty juice dripping out of my head, and when i tried to explain to a manager what happened, and that i should probably leave and go to the doctor, i got a line of shit about how i couldn't leave cause they'd have to call cody in and he'd end up with overtime. i was like, "yes, but you see, my MOTHERFUCKING EAR JUST EXPLODED ALL OVER MY CHEF JACKET AND IT'S DRIPPY AND HURTS AND DEAR GOD LET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE!"
i did end up leaving, but i kind of remember it was like two hours later.
god i hated that place
off topic a bit (topic? did i even have one?) i'm sitting here getting over being sick, and i feel pretty ok for the most part, but my left ear is a little plugged up, which reminds me of the time my eardrum blew up during lunch rush. i was working at a god awful hellhole of a place, a restaurant that was busy as hell, but that had an absent, idiot asshole owner, the worst designed kitchen ever (fryers in the dishpit, anyone?), and the highest turnover rate i've ever seen. it was a nightmare. we weren't allowed to go outside to smoke cause somebody somewhere in the past had gotten high in their car, so we had to sit in the casino at one particular table, unless there was someone already sitting there. so most of the time we had to stand up in the corner of the casino, with all these lights and keno machine noises, and it never really felt like a fucking break. anyway. the place sucked. i got tons more stories about this place. but this one goes like this...i had a headache all day, it was one of those too-much-pressure-in-your-cabasa sorts of deal, and i was working saute, and i was agitated as fuck all day cause my head hurt and i was pretty much agitated as fuck all the time there anyway, and all of a sudden BOOM! my right eardrum actually exploded, right there, and i dropped me to my knees, and i had all this nasty juice dripping out of my head, and when i tried to explain to a manager what happened, and that i should probably leave and go to the doctor, i got a line of shit about how i couldn't leave cause they'd have to call cody in and he'd end up with overtime. i was like, "yes, but you see, my MOTHERFUCKING EAR JUST EXPLODED ALL OVER MY CHEF JACKET AND IT'S DRIPPY AND HURTS AND DEAR GOD LET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE!"
i did end up leaving, but i kind of remember it was like two hours later.
god i hated that place
dirty ol todd
*sigh*
todd is a guy i've worked with for like three and a half years, and he's awesome. he's a tiny little fella, just whispy thin, only about five four, he's somewhere around 50, he's got a fantastic moustache, and he's damn near the dirtiest old man i know (my old man wins every time). todd smokes faster than any human i've ever seen...we always joke about how he just goes outside and eats a cigarette cause he's always back in like forty seconds. he's an old school rodeo cowboy, from back in the days when rodeo wasn't on espn, and those dudes broke their asses for peanuts. todd is badass. love me some todd.
found out yesterday that todd has cancer in his brain.
been staring at a blinking cursor here for a couple of minutes, cause i don't really know what to say. other than life seems to fuck awesome people over all the time. todd isn't the first person i've worked with to get cancer in the last couple of years. it happened to tiffani, who is without question, the single greatest waitress ever. she's just the best. and it's great to see her out at the restaurant on sat and sun mornings doing a little paperwork, and she's got her cancer beat and she's well on the road to recovery, so i can look forward to working with her again sometime down the road.
the doctors told todd there was really nothing they could do. i wouldn't count todd out just yet, he's a tough sumbitch, but it's gonna be a battle, and i just want to use this forum to say that i'm rooting for ya, buddy. miss ya on the line.
todd is a guy i've worked with for like three and a half years, and he's awesome. he's a tiny little fella, just whispy thin, only about five four, he's somewhere around 50, he's got a fantastic moustache, and he's damn near the dirtiest old man i know (my old man wins every time). todd smokes faster than any human i've ever seen...we always joke about how he just goes outside and eats a cigarette cause he's always back in like forty seconds. he's an old school rodeo cowboy, from back in the days when rodeo wasn't on espn, and those dudes broke their asses for peanuts. todd is badass. love me some todd.
found out yesterday that todd has cancer in his brain.
been staring at a blinking cursor here for a couple of minutes, cause i don't really know what to say. other than life seems to fuck awesome people over all the time. todd isn't the first person i've worked with to get cancer in the last couple of years. it happened to tiffani, who is without question, the single greatest waitress ever. she's just the best. and it's great to see her out at the restaurant on sat and sun mornings doing a little paperwork, and she's got her cancer beat and she's well on the road to recovery, so i can look forward to working with her again sometime down the road.
the doctors told todd there was really nothing they could do. i wouldn't count todd out just yet, he's a tough sumbitch, but it's gonna be a battle, and i just want to use this forum to say that i'm rooting for ya, buddy. miss ya on the line.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
back to the salt mines
well, i'm feeling better enuf to go back to work. i still don't feel great. but i can't miss out on any more money. it's good ol tuesday spag day, so i got a fairly easy shift in front of me. plus the last few days i've been rocking a humidifier and it's been nice so i guess standing in front of the steamer is not gonna be so bad. it's wierd, i actually kind of miss all the cats i work with. i went in yesterday to get my check and ended up hanging out for like half an hour, smoking with jenney. a lot of times i'm totally over the folks i work with...not like i hate or despise them, it's just...ya know...work. i always say that i'm friendly with the people i work with but we're not friends, and to a certain extent that's true, except i only got like three friends outside of work, and if i count my coworkers as friends then it seems like i have a lot more friends and therefore i must be attractive, hilarious, and charming. and i guess it's wierd that i miss everybody, so maybe they really are my friends. i dunno. i doubt any of them are reading this but if you are "HEY BUDDY! GOOD TO SEE YOU, PAL!"
anyway, i miss work, and i'm glad to be working tonight, closing with crystal or tammy, and good ol danny boy is washing mah dishes. so it's gonna be a good night. i plan on smoking a lot.
anyway, i miss work, and i'm glad to be working tonight, closing with crystal or tammy, and good ol danny boy is washing mah dishes. so it's gonna be a good night. i plan on smoking a lot.
Monday, October 5, 2009
sorry guys
hey i've been hella sick the last few days...i got sent home on friday (i'd much rather show up at work and get sent home for being sick than just call up and say "i'm sick"), missed saturday, and also had sunday and today to get back to fighting form. i still don't feel 100%, i'm hovering around 70%, but in my line of work, if you have even a whiff of sick on ya you can't come to work. period. if you work in a cubicle banging away on a computer, or if you're a garbageman, or if you stock shoes at foot locker, you might get away with going to work as sick as i am. however, when everything you do at work you do with your hands, and everything that you do with your hands ends up in someone's mouth, then it's a different story. it's just safer. i'm gonna be screwed money wise, cause i missed two big shifts (and all the tips that go with them), but i'll manage. i always do.
anyway, that's why i haven't been posting angry rants about shitty late customers or tipping issues. i seem to have some sort of snot factory inside my head, with what i assume to be tiny snot gnomes pourning tiny snot buckets of snot down my nose. i dunno where they get the snot, but there's a lot of it, and i can only imagine the hilarity of their high pitched snot gnome voices whilst they sing as they do their work. also, i bet they all have rubber boots.
anyway, that's why i haven't been posting angry rants about shitty late customers or tipping issues. i seem to have some sort of snot factory inside my head, with what i assume to be tiny snot gnomes pourning tiny snot buckets of snot down my nose. i dunno where they get the snot, but there's a lot of it, and i can only imagine the hilarity of their high pitched snot gnome voices whilst they sing as they do their work. also, i bet they all have rubber boots.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
what a ho hum week so far
so yeah, tuesday spag day was boring, and so was yesterday. i was mad for most of yesterday but i'm not sure why this morning. that seems to happen a lot. i just remember being all grumbly and sullen. today i'm fine. today is a little wierd cause i switched jenney shifts so she could go to some party so i don't have to work until five. unfortunately i will miss parks and rec and the office but i got the dvr so i can watch them later, and a new sunny is on tonight too. anyway, it's wierd sitting here at ten to eleven in the morning and not getting ready to go to work. i'm gonna miss some hours today so i picked up a couple extra on tuesday and i stayed a little later last night cause we got a ten top right as i was leaving. don't get me wrong, aaron can damn sure handle a ten top himself, just like i can, but boss would have gotten mad at me if i knew there was a ten top and still left. if i would have left two minutes earlier i would have gotten out of it. oh well. it was easy, and probably got me a couple extra bucks in tips.
this has nothing to do with cooking, but i just wanna shout to my buds mike, amber, and lily...i'm gonna miss you guys. we haven't hung out enough lately, but you have a baby (who's adorable and wonderful even though i seem to frighten her) and i'm completely lazy and worthless when i get off work. we've had time, and we just haven't done it. so i'm sorry. i dunno if you'll ever read this (although mike did say he read the blog sometimes). i hope you kids enjoyed your time in ol montana, and enjoyed getting to know all of us. and mike, i hope (even though i was hilariously drunk that day) we changed your mind on good ol 1-aa football. seriously...anybody reading this, even though the university of montana isn't a division one school, we got a hell of a program, and in my opinion the best damn stadium atmosphere in college football. hey mike, (are all my friends named mike?) remember when i introduced you to family guy and orgazmo and we used to eat crispitos on the way to the bitteroot to repo somebody's furniture? remember when i used to occasionally use...eh...nasal decongestants in the repo truck, and we'd get hot wings on tuesday nights at the despo? remember terry? what a douche! you guys are wonderful buds and even gave us an absolute one of a kind experience for a wedding present (fucking yankee-red sox tickets, ya'll! and for everybody's information, it was actually roger clemens last game ever. and he pitched like a champ.) and jenn and i are better people for knowing you. sorry i passed out in the middle of ocean's 12. i'd give your baby kisses but she screams like a banshee every time i approach because i have quite the shady look about me.
anyway, good times have been had the last few years, good friends have been made, and many good wishes for your future. i'll leave ya with an old irish proverb:
there are good ships
there are wood ships
there are ships that sail the sea
but the best ships are friendships
and may they always be
this has nothing to do with cooking, but i just wanna shout to my buds mike, amber, and lily...i'm gonna miss you guys. we haven't hung out enough lately, but you have a baby (who's adorable and wonderful even though i seem to frighten her) and i'm completely lazy and worthless when i get off work. we've had time, and we just haven't done it. so i'm sorry. i dunno if you'll ever read this (although mike did say he read the blog sometimes). i hope you kids enjoyed your time in ol montana, and enjoyed getting to know all of us. and mike, i hope (even though i was hilariously drunk that day) we changed your mind on good ol 1-aa football. seriously...anybody reading this, even though the university of montana isn't a division one school, we got a hell of a program, and in my opinion the best damn stadium atmosphere in college football. hey mike, (are all my friends named mike?) remember when i introduced you to family guy and orgazmo and we used to eat crispitos on the way to the bitteroot to repo somebody's furniture? remember when i used to occasionally use...eh...nasal decongestants in the repo truck, and we'd get hot wings on tuesday nights at the despo? remember terry? what a douche! you guys are wonderful buds and even gave us an absolute one of a kind experience for a wedding present (fucking yankee-red sox tickets, ya'll! and for everybody's information, it was actually roger clemens last game ever. and he pitched like a champ.) and jenn and i are better people for knowing you. sorry i passed out in the middle of ocean's 12. i'd give your baby kisses but she screams like a banshee every time i approach because i have quite the shady look about me.
anyway, good times have been had the last few years, good friends have been made, and many good wishes for your future. i'll leave ya with an old irish proverb:
there are good ships
there are wood ships
there are ships that sail the sea
but the best ships are friendships
and may they always be
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