Your Blog Makes You Sound Like a Dick: Kitchen Edition

Here’s how to run a kitchen, even at home. It’s what I would have taught my friends if they’d ever asked me to cook with them. Maybe Zac and Bryn are all I need in that arena, because they both actually like it.

Start with the basics. Those aren’t sugar, salt, acid, fat. It’s never stopping movement. Wash a dish while something else is cooking. Never wait for one thing to finish when you could be doing something else. Don’t lean when you can clean, and you’ll enjoy cooking much more. People who don’t enjoy cooking don’t have time to think about it, so they don’t think about ways to make it easier, either.

If you have time to lean, you have time to clean. Everything else is procrastination, and the dread of having to do dishes after dinner is miserable. Do all the kitchen dishes while you’re working so you only have to load plates into the dishwasher. You cannot soak a pan. Period. You can leave the stuff soft until you get back, but it will still be as hard to clean it later as it would have been had you not let it soak. If stuff sticks all the time, you’re not using enough oil and/or butter. The reason food is so caloric at a restaurant is that we don’t have time to cook and clean if we don’t have enough pans. If a sponge doesn’t work, get some steel wool. If you say you have nonstick pans, that’s on you. The problem with non-stick is that there’s no real way to get everything off without sucking the life out of the pan. I also need pans built for my height and weight. I am not going to flip a full paella, but I’ve done it and that’s why I don’t do it anymore.

You cannot replace the undertones of anything. Butter flavored Pam will not taste like putting butter in something, and not because the melody isn’t there. You’ve taken out all the chords. With beverages, sometimes you need to let them heat up or cool down, because the extreme temperature makes it where you can’t taste the full measure of the dish.

When you taste something, ask the dish what it needs. If you have added too much salt, add vinegar. If you have added too much salt, add starch. If you have added too much of anything, you can fix it by adding more volume. If I oversalt my mac and cheese, I’ll add veggies that have no seasoning at all. If a dish is too hot, add sugar and fat. If I want to eat hot peppers because my nose is stuffed up, I make the base with tomatoes, avocados, purple onions, and honey. That works with mango and pineapple, the most likely culprits in a habanero salsa. That’s because even different peppers are for different applications.

You might as well be interested, because you’re not going to feed yourself any other way without destroying your cost of living. Not paying attention to food matters. You know how we know you’re not paying attention? You are blind to what goes on in a professional kitchen and don’t have any compunction about telling us that. It’s never you, the customer, that has ever done anything wrong in the history of any dining experience. We are stupid, lazy, angry bastards who have no right to feel what we feel. Who the fuck are you to tell us that?

If you don’t acknowledge your humanity, you have made it known that you think you’re a deity. And we’ve noticed.

I can make all the mother sauces, but only two matter at home. You won’t really touch the rest (Yes, chef. I’ve made all of them.)

Bechamel is the base for all cheese sauces. You can make it any way you like, because it all starts the same. Heat up butter in the pan, and add your vegetables. For mac and cheese, I’ll use anything. Onions, garlic, celery, spring mix, etc. After the veggies are cooked, add some flour. I think it’s a one to one ratio, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll be able to tell when the food is getting more thick and you need to add milk. DO NOT add too much at once. Making the mother sauces the way I do it is like driving a stick shift car. Everything in balance. The sauce should thin out slightly. As it thickens, add more. You can substitute boxed cheese mix for flour if you need to, just add extra butter and keep the heat low so the cheese doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Here’s also where you add your spices. Montreal Chicken Seasoning is good, so are Old Bay and Tony Chachere’s.

Once you’ve gotten the sauce to coat a spoon, add your cheese and stir. You don’t want to add the cheese until last because when it melts, it will make everything stick. Take it on and off the heat if you need to, because you want it to be hot enough to melt, but not hot enough to stick.

When in doubt, finish every dish with butter. Sauce will redeem anything. In short, relax.

Hollandaise and mayonnaise are exactly the same. Put three egg yolks in a bowl or blender and whisk. Add a tablespoon of acid. For Hollandaise, it’s always lemon. For mayonnaise, I’ll use anything just to try it, but I like olive oil and plain white vinegar (I would use apple cider vinegar if I was making a dressing for something sweet, and sesame oil for anything Asian. You can take any of these combinations and emulsify them. Plain, oil and vinegar is mayonnaise, lemon and butter are Hollandaise. If you say that you can’t do it, you haven’t done it 30 times while so hung over you couldn’t breathe. Anthony Bourdain and I have a deeply intimate relationship with Hollandaise being the smell of failure.

Bechamel is the white sauce used in Alfredo. Alfredo is just butter, flour, milk (whatever kind you want- I can make vegan bechamel just as easily). Just add parmesan. A good bechamel requires excellent ingredients. If your parm doesn’t cost $8-10, you’re going to think it’s kiddie food. See Olive Garden for details.

Most people get frustrated with cooking because they don’t have a professional palate and don’t know how to catch a mistake and correct it before service. That doesn’t come through anything but time. The way we get better so fast is making every dish a thousand times so that our ability to tweak is incredibly refined. It also allows us to understand what we haven’t tasted.

Really developing palate came through my sense of smell. I was a dishwasher. I smelled all the food once it was already mixed together. Ideas came to me that didn’t come to other people. I can taste food without having to eat it because I can analyze it like sheet music, no lie.

Nothing makes a cook boil like being at a party and someone saying the food is so good someone could cook professionally. I do not want to see their bullshit on my line fucking ever. Get out of my house unless you’re willing to do the work.

You absolutely do not want to start as a dishwasher. You absolutely do not know what it feels like on the brigade. You don’t want to know what it feels like to have to carry out the trash after your adrenaline has come down. You don’t see how fast we clean because we’re racing against our energy.

So, you cook at home and disrespect us. We could teach home cooks a thing or two, but there’s two good reasons why we don’t, and there’s a great big fuck you behind it because you’re making us walk a fine line.

When we offer to help, you say no. When you say yes, you criticize us because being a home cook and being a professional is like, the same. Bitch I earned this.

I earned it with blood, sweat, tears, and searing flesh and I don’t give a flying fuck if you think I’m a dick for saying so.

In terms of caring whether you respect me or not, I wrote this all in one shot and it took 15 minutes. Bite me. There’s your fucking resume and recipes.

41 thoughts on “Your Blog Makes You Sound Like a Dick: Kitchen Edition

    1. Something jumped out at me…. One of my friends said “your blog makes you sound like a dick,” so now I try to work that phrase into everything because it’s like the point *almost* hit her in the face.

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  1. Thank you so much. I do indeed know what I’m talking about, even if my main job has always been to be a thorn in chef’s side….. 😛 I sent this to some of my own cooking coworkers and to the dishwashing subreddit, because if it connects with me, it will connect with all of us. If there’s anything that cooking gave me, it’s the ability to write about it.

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    1. dishwashing subreddit… actually makes me miss my potwashing days. Might be the most physically laborious and the least appreciated job in the kitchen, but I never had to actually work 70hr a week, or running on caffeine to carry on. Stock check means making sure that I have enough chemicals, gloves, and sponges. Aah… good old days

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      1. I worked in IT/webdev for a long time and hated every second. Cooking was the first job that *gave* me energy rather than taking it. It’s exhausting and yet nothing feels like walking out last knowing you WON.

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      2. How so? I miss being a line cook, but I’ve never made sous or chef. I’m not interested in it. I mean, I am, but not to the degree that I’d have to do inventory and scheduling and food cost and all of it….. I’m just not built for that, but I admire the hell out of people who are.

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      3. You summed it up exactly what I was thinking.
        I guess I was so focused on climbing up and forgot the joy of cooking for awhile. And then suddenly I was a burned out grumpy sous. I think when I come back to the kitchen I want a step back and taking care of my own section instead of the whole kitchen operation. Was in pastry for a whole year, best time I can remember

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      4. Pastry being your favorite is surprising. Not because I’m surprised it’s your favorite, but that a pastry chef can become sous and chef. It has always seemed that pastry was off in their own weird little world of science (I can’t bake for shit). I prefer saute. I’m not good at it, but I prefer it. 😛

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      5. I do not know how I crossed that too, to be honest. Maybe because I wasn’t always in pastry, and was dropped in that section by accident (pastry chef left, nobody else can make meringue).
        Saute… Bet you like it because you can flambe the shit of anything, and dont have to clean the grill :p

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      6. Unfortunately, I’ve never had a menu item that called for flambe. I have, however, burned the everliving fuck out of my thumb with a blowtorch for a creme brulee when I was on pantry. I love saute because that’s where you learn all the flipping tricks that actually make your life easier and will impress the hell out of people at a party. 😉 Dude, you have the best job security ever. No basic bitch line cook is ever going to know pastry. They’d shit a brick if you asked them to whip up a basic icing recipe. I know I did. 😛

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      7. And I don’t have to clean the grill? How dare you. I make that bitch shine like the top of the Chrysler building. It has been a competition in every restaurant where I’ve cooked. I will not use grill cleaner. I will use club soda vinegar to deglaze it first so that my job is a lot easier. That’s actually something I forgot to put in the piece… that if you can’t get something off, try putting it back on the stove and adding some vodka or wine.

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      8. Aaw sorry for your thumb.. I love blowtorching stuff! I even bought a pink household blowtorch that I also used as an emergency cigarette lighter. We do live dangerously don’t we?
        Ha! Line cooks and their special super powers! I could never flip anything 😦 not without turners or tongs. I have to use a turner to flip a pancake, and cannot do that wok shaking thing.
        I am definitely not the cool chef 😅

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      9. I don’t flip pancakes, either, because I load them up with too much butter. I can make crepe style, but I prefer to make them thick and load them up with cherries or something. Today it was dried cherries and butterscotch chips for me and my housemate. I definitely have lived dangerously, but I am much more dangerous at home. The kitchen at home is not designed for me because it’s not built to be ergonomic. Therefore, my knife comes down differently, etc. At work it was burns. Lots and lots of burns. I have the shape of Virginia tattooed on my arm courtesy of something I no longer remember. There are others, that’s just the biggest. If you want to learn to flip, it’s easy enough to start with eggs……. after you’ve practiced with a piece of bread for an hour. 😛

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      10. I love it when my old colleagues and I met up and we started to compare our battle wounds. And reminiscing the time we had to carry on after spending long minutes being benched for cuts or burns 😂 itched to get back to mis en place because we only have less than an hour to service.
        Are you still working as a cook then?

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      11. No, I left the kitchen before the pandemic and haven’t gone back. I just don’t have the chops anymore. I mean, I’m still a great cook. I’m just not physically fit enough to do it for eight hours in a row. I have cerebral palsy (a very light case, not always noticeable), which makes my performance go up and down. I can handle more on some days than others. Where I really shine is being the one that never says no to anything. Chefs know when they’ve found a 24 hour person. I have won more brownie points for showing up on time every day than I ever did flipping shit. 😛 “The mise” is my favorite part. Day shift, everything is quiet. Night shift? You have a certain amount of time to get this finished before everyone and their dog wants food…. and they all order within 10 minutes of each other. I don’t know that I could put my body through it again. I think about it constantly, but I’m reticent. My experiences on the east coast were vastly different to the west. I don’t know if it’s that I haven’t worked in enough restaurants on the east coast, or whether that’s objectively true. I was sexually harassed at my last job…. another line cook came onto me that had been my friend previously (funny how that’s always true), so there’s fear there, too. I loved cooking because it gave me time for writing when I wasn’t exhausted. I got my best writing done from midnight to 0400. It takes a lot of strength for “the life,” and I’m 45 now. I don’t know how much more I have in me to that physical extreme.

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      12. I am so sorry if I opened up an old wound. I hope my question has not offended you. I can sympathise with you. I had to ramp down the hours if I want to keep my physical and mental health, and it is not always an easy choice.
        Kitchen always feels like another separate way of life, doesn’t it? Some of us have got desensitised so much that any harassment got treated as either another kitchen banter, or just a nuisance, but never properly called out as it is. I have to admit that I am guilty of ignoring things like that, mainly because at the time I was so laser focused on my goal I felt like I had to do whatever it takes… does that even make sense?
        how is east coast different from the west coast in the US? I live near the east coast, but I am in the UK lol, so that probably means nothing 😀

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      13. You didn’t open up any wounds. You provided me with more to write about. 🙂 I actually do know a little bit of the UK. Which country do you live in? I, like everyone else in the US (it seems) am obsessed with the Wrexham Red Dragons. I am also a Whovian, and love all UK TV, really. I’ve watched so much of it that it’s changed my speech patterns. 😛 The west coast of the US (I lived in Oregon) is very, very, very liberal. The East Coast is, too, but it’s a different kind of liberal because it’s a part of the culture naturally, whereas Alaska/Washington/Oregon/California is a culture all its own. Washington, DC (where I live) has a palate I can work with easier because Oregonians don’t like heat, etc. As in, I could make the same chili with twice as much cayenne because it would be popular. In terms of the sexual harassment, I waited way too late because I was scared of what would happen. I think that if I hadn’t waited several weeks, I wouldn’t remember it now. But this was closer to a month because of my own fear, not what anyone else did. I shouldn’t have put up with it, but I did.

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      14. Wrexham is the football club Ryan Reynolds bought? I actually never watched Dr Who, something that my English husband kept lamenting about. I am originally from Indonesia, and just moved to this part of the UK some 10 years ago. I live in a beautiful place called Norfolk, it is a county in the East of England (East Anglia).
        I can totally relate to different kind of palate, coming from Indonesia. My parents moan so much about food in the UK when they came to visit long time ago. Everything was so bland, and when they’re not bland they must be some kind of overly sweet (desserts/cakes). Ha!

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      15. Can you get all the hot and spicy stuff you like in Norfolk? And yes, Wrexham is the football team that Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElheney bought. The first series was so good and I haven’t caught up on the second yet I would never tell a British person that they are bad because they don’t watch Doctor Who. However, it’s a huge flaw in their character. I feel like I should say I’m kidding here. Does your husband work in the industry as well? If not, is he understanding of it? I am sure where you live is beautiful, because I have been to London. However, I have not explored all of England. Or Wales. Or Scotland for that matter- if I make a trip, I will bring you hot sauce.

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      16. Nowadays in the bigger cities of Norfolk we could find more culinary diversity. Sure we can find something for everyone now 🙂
        Ha! Good job I am not British :p yet. My husband is not from the same industry, but his father is. He does not understand the industry but he understand what comes with it.
        I am actually grateful that he is not working in hospitality, because he can always put a break when hospitality goes too far. Giving me a perspective like: if he does it in the office, he would have got fired!
        And he is always willing to be the guinea pig whenever I practice with my cooking.
        OOh you have been to the UK before! I have never been to the US 😦

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      17. I have been to the UK, but I’d like to see more. I have friends in Scotland and England, but not Northern Ireland or Wales (except Ryan Reynolds, because he’s an adopted American and we all know each other. 😛 I’m going to guess that you’re just now starting to feel comfortable in your skin in the UK… and not because there’s anything wrong with it. Even moving within states here is equivalent to going to a different country. Everything is just so spread out- a whole different picture of the US than it was when we were ruled by The Crown. It’s 3,000 miles from one end to the other. People have more in common regionally than they within state lines. Every one has something that makes it unique, but for instance, the man I’m dating now grew up in Arizona and I grew up in Texas. Therefore, not completely dissimilar and not completely alike, either. My biggest culture shock was moving from the South (I lived in Virginia for a while as well) to the Pacific Northwest. In Texas, we didn’t even have recycling and it took forever to learn to separate trash. I wish I was kidding. The PNW is absolutely driven to achieve sustainability. The rest of the country, not so much. Green construction is getting more popular, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be.

        Guinea pigs are amazing. I have them. I am them. Just put it in my face.

        Food is one of the things that excites me because I don’t drink often enough to care about pairings anymore. I feel like Diet Coke goes with everything. 😛 😛

        Zac (aforementioned man in my life) loves cocktails and mixology, so in that instance, I’m always the guinea pig. I love how alcohol tastes, whether it’s sweet or savory. I just don’t like it enough to have it all the time.

        Come to DC if you can- it’s not about visiting me, though that would be nice. It’s just that if you don’t know anything about the US, it’s a great place to start. Many museums, and this part of the country is just gorgeous. Lots of places to hike, bike, swim- even ski.

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      18. Oh! Virginia! There is a Norfolk in Virginia, isn’t it?! I watch a lot of NCIS (that US series about people solving navy-related crimes). I might feel much more comfortable in the UK compared to ten years ago when I started but whenever I just came back from my home country I got a gently reminder that I am a bit different in one way or another.

        Talking about pairing… I actually have been looking at a particular wine course so that I can learn to pair a dish with wine. Gosh I would be a complete snob once I have mastered the art of pairing

        I mean diet coke…? May I introduce you to this delectable cold beverage called Pepsi Max?

        I would love to visit the US! I thought I know a lot about the US, until you mention it, and I am not sure that I know a lot outside Disney, Las Vegas, and whatever the popular movie and tv shows describe. But I do love museums! A lot of people think it is boring and snobbish, but hey I worked in a fine dining restaurant before, I can afford to be snobbish once in a while :p

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      19. You should check out the Smithsonian’s web site- there are 17 of them and they’re all free, including the Zoo. Coming to DC from the UK is a relatively cheap vacation if you’re not doing expensive meals because all the best attractions are free….. except the Spy Museum. It costs money, but it’s worth every penny.

        Pepsi Max is one of my other favorites, I just forgot that you’d also know it in the UK. Trying to use a universal term for “diet soda LOADED with caffeine.” I drink way too much.

        Let me know if you have any questions about pairing. I know quite a bit from having worked in pubs and a wine bar. You have access to some of the finest whisky in the world. I don’t really like it, but you might. 😛

        You’ll find that the countryside in Virginia looks a bit like England- probably why they named it Virginia, to be honest. The best thing about DC besides it being my favorite city in the world is that it’s only a four hour trip to New York, and a seven hour trip to Boston. Getting to Montreal and Ottawa isn’t hard, either, if you are also interested in more of the Commonwealth. 😛

        You can also eat at Zaytinya, Jose Andres’ restaurant (I think he’s closed most or all of the others). I would pay money to give Jose money for his food, seriously. He’s just incredible and I hope World Central Kitchen raises billions.

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      20. Smithsonian is where the film “night in the museum” set, isn’t it? I probably would love that, and would definitely visit if I ever visited DC. But I would hunt for museums which has a specific theme, like (opening trip advisor for examples), the holocaust memorial, or the History Museum, or the one you suggested the Spy museum. I find it easier to absorb information that way.

        Uh… I do like certain kind of whiskies. I went to Edinburgh long time ago and was ‘scotch whiskey tasting’ (pub hopping while drinking shots of whiskey). I don’t remember much of it, but I think I had a great time.
        But if you are in Norfolk, you would hear more about Gin. We have many gin distilleries in Norfolk. Embarassingly, all I know about gin is… that the pink one tastes better for me. Do you know much about gin?

        You know what? If I ever… in the future.. set foot in Washington DC, US, and you happen to be not on any holiday outside DC, I will request a local tour with you, and I will bring a bottle of random Norfolk gin for you 😀

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      21. The Smithsonian is an institution, not one museum. There are 17 different museums that all have the name, including the Zoo. My favorite is either African American History or Air & Space. I haven’t met anyone who’s ever visited DC who didn’t love Air & Space. 🙂

        Julia Child’s kitchen is at one of them, but I can’t remember which- maybe science and industry……… but it should be at the spy museum……..

        I loved the part about “I don’t remember much of it, but I think I had a good time.” I have had many nights like this…. but luckily, they are far behind me and not because I have anything against drinking. I love drinking. I hate being hung over…. and the older you get, the longer they last. I am not 25 anymore, when I could run on caffeine and hatred till midnight, drink all night, and show up the next day wondering who the hell closed.

        I would love, love, love some real English gin, and so sweet of you to think of it. I’ll put it on my bucket list of things we should share. Virginia does have some nice wines according to friends, but I haven’t tried any. Too spoiled on the pinot noir living in Oregon. All that aside, I don’t think gin pairs well with anything, except maybe eating a Christmas tree for lunch.

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      22. 17 museums?! gosh it would take a couple of weeks in DC to be able to enjoy everything then?
        Ah… the whiskey thing… (un)fortunately it was not a party. I was in Scotland for some visa business, and I was by myself. I did not have anything to do that evening and of course it was raining outside. I saw that one ‘portion’ was really tiny, so I though I could handle a couple while doing a taste test… I underestimated its power…

        Gasp! You know what? I never thought of pairing gin with food! Maybe I should, but I have never 😮 Not on its own, but I know that it is a good ingredients for cocktail. Like Martini, or G&T.

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      23. If you’re a news junkie/museum nerd, you will get here and never want to leave. Bet. You’ll end up working for Jose Andres and I’ll never see you again unless it’s Monday or Tuesday at 0900. 😉 That’s because DC is one of those cities where you could see a new thing every day until you died and still not see everything..It’s not a hard sell. I mean, Barack Obama loves it here (lives in a neighborhood called “Kalorama”) and he also loved Indonesia.

        I was kidding when I said “a Christmas tree for lunch,” and now you’ve got me seriously thinking. If we’re talking about mixed drinks, I love gin and juice, which is traditionally pink grapefruit. I think you have a variant in England called the greyhound. It’s a gin and juice with a salted rim. That would go with any chicken or fish dish with a tropical feel…… and killer with brunch. What do you think of orange blossom creme brulee? Gin pairs well with salads because it’s so floral. If I was having a martini, I would go bold with a grilled ribeye, because gin is so strong it will overpower everything if you let it. I need something that can stand up to it. Gin is also very good with venison. You are giving me so much food for thought that I’m thinking we should keep talking and publish the conversations as entries. It would be like a podcast, but with a lot less bullshit.

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      24. What kind of city is DC? I just wonder, because I felt like that about London (seems to be absorbing all kind of culture like a diversity sponge, which in return provide us with an infinite amount of museums, galleries, and new restaurants opening every day to try), and Jakarta (the smaller, Asian version of it). But I ended up envying a more sedentary life of much smaller city, with no traffic jam, low crime rate, and kinder folks.

        I know, right? Now that the conversation about gin is rolling, suddenly memory comes like flood to me.
        I remember once we were serving poached pear in pink gin and prosecco as dessert, instead of the usual red wine. Pink gin already have this spicy notes poached pear usually go with. God how long ago was that?
        Gin gets really popular again in the UK that here where I live, every year (except those pandemic years we do not talk about) they have the Gin and Rum festival. I have never went because I only knew about it recently, and unfortunately I had to miss it this year because I went away to see my parents.
        I do not like drinking a lot, so I always hesitant to buy myself a bottle of something. But if there is an opportunity to go and sample a lot of different thing and compare (oktoberfest, wine tasting, or… you know whiskey tasting), I would definitely love that. For science.

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      25. What kind of city is Washington? I’m going to use that in my blog entry today because the prompt is “what do you like about where you live?” So. Hold please.

        I do not like drinking a lot, either, because I feel like I got my fill. 😉 The best drinks I’ve made lately have just been adding a sip of something to fizzy water so that the flavor comes through and not being drunk/hung over. For instance, a quarter to a half oz of whiskey per 16 oz of fizzy water. I forgot that I do like some whiskies, I was specifically talking about scotch from Islay because the peat moss flavor is just overwhelming. To me, it smells like Band-Aids.

        Oh! Here’s a recipe from Texas that you’ll love. I don’t know what ratio you like, but tequila and fizzy water with lime is called “Ranch Water,” very popular in Texas/northern Mexico. I like it because I dig the bubbles and the fact that it’s less sweet than a margarita.

        I would, however, go to a rum festival to people watch because I overhear things all the time. For instance, “she is my soulmate and I will name her Tallulah.” This was a teenager on the Metro talking about her iPhone.

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      26. You wouldn’t want me on a podcast… I have a weird grammatical impairment with my English, and also a weird accent and pronunciation. Still working on it 😀

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      27. I meant that it would be like a podcast because we’re talking, not actually making a podcast. 😉 Also, I’m an American. What makes you think I don’t have a weird accent and pronunciation? I know you’re originally from Indonesia, but as an adopted British person I believe that gives you the right to take the mickey.

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      28. You did something for me, chef, and I have to tell you because no one would understand that’s not in the industry. I felt the fire in the belly, and though I doubt I’ll return because of the physical aspects, it created a lot of grief inside me when I realized what needed to be done. I am wearing my chef pants for the first time in five years, and you did that. You gave me back some memories I hadn’t thought of in a very long time, and it is invaluable.

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  2. Ooh oooh… and when people think the end of service is the end of our day lol. Cleaning (inside and out the fridge, the surfaces, and the floor. The grill, the flat top, the stove, the sink… the walls. And if you have a deep fat fryer needs to be emptied, let’s hope you don’t spill too much on the floor), checking the labels (again!!), checking the stock for prep list, and order list. Phoning in for orders (several phone calls, to the grocers, the dry goods, the butchers). Paperwork (fridge temp check, daily clean check, etc). Did I miss anything?
    This job has been heavily romanticised. Glamourised even by celebrity chef (TV and social media). None of us actually look like that in the kitchen especially after a weekend service. During the peak of summer.
    Anyway…. None of what you said made you sound like a dick. But if it does… well, most of us are dicks anyway :p

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    1. OMG, you summed it all up. The energy I was trying to create. Yes, we’re all dicks. But actually the title is from something a now former friend said…. “your blog makes you sound like a dick.” I figured that since it’s true, I might as well use it. Oh, the only thing you forgot (although maybe you lump it in with the fridge) is emptying/cleaning the lowboys.

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  3. oh that! I rarely have those where I worked. Only two places that have them and I always… always forget that they exist. And cleaning/emptying salad fridge. Keep forgetting that they exist too.
    You know what else I keep forgetting? former friends 😀

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    1. You have no idea how hard you just made me laugh. Oh. Yes, you did.. 😉 Lowboys are the bane of my existence. It’s always the thing I have to go back and check I did three times. 😛

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