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My first food related job was at age 15, waiting tables and the counter at a "family restaurant" that specialized in burgers had homemade ice cream. We had to wear old fashioned blue waitress dresses like the ones the girls wore on Twin Peaks (but without the hats). We also had to wear white aprons that tied in the back with big fluffy bows. The gross old guys that hung out at the coffee counter during the day would always lean over and untie my apron strings and make comments. I was 15 for Pete's sake. I quit as soon as I turned 16 and was old enough to work at the movie theater in town. Next food jobs were all in college. Freshman year I worked in the largest dining hall on campus, running the same industrial dishwasher that @rotuts has described. It was hot and messy, but I did not mind it. That summer, I stayed at college and waited tables at a diner in town. It was fine. I don't remember much about it to be honest. Sophomore year, I worked in a dining hall again, but this time in the vegetarian dining hall, doing all the prep work for the salad station. I liked that job. The work area was chilly and I was by myself. Junior year, I moved into a dorm on campus that had its own dining hall for residents of the dorm only. I was the vegetarian lunch cook. I was not allowed to pick the recipes, just execute the dishes that had been decided upon by the chef. I worked alone on the food though. I remember that a lot of the recipes were from the Moosewood Cookbook, but scaled up. That was a crazy dorm and a wacky time. The dorm (and the dining room) always smelled like pot. People used to chant my name while coming through the lunch line to get food. 🤣 The chef in charge was always hung over and screamed a lot. Luckily for me, he would come in and start the meat entree after my vegetarian food was in the oven and I had cleaned up, so we did not interact much. After that experience I moved on to office work for the rest of my working career.

I've been taking pictures but keep forgetting to post them the next morning. Here are some from this past week. Ricotta, spinach and arugula malfatti with roasted beet sauce, toasted pine nuts, and roasted broccolini Asparagus, shiitake mushroom, bell pepper, and cashew stir fry Tonkatzu chicken with smashed cucumber salad and rice Braised cod with cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, and basil Miso salmon bowl with roasted bok choy and napa cabbage. There's some broth and noodles buried under the fish too

Darienne, you have touched on a few of the many dilemmas I have. I know I’m not helping any vegetarians with my meals. I know my meals are too carb heavy, but I try to add fresh ingredients when I can. A lot of my meal choices have to do with affordability (for me), my cooking skill set, and my desire to give someone a truly filling and satisfying meal. I often put too much meat in the recipe, or I make these gigantic servings. The large servings are actually because of my hope that even the biggest man could feel sated, and maybe those with smaller appetites might get two servings out of the entree. Today’s meal is going to be a chicken cobbler recipe that uses Cheddar Bay biscuit mix in the topping. Broccoli and a cutie will be the sides.

Dear Patti, You are for sure an angel in human form. I'm exhausted just reading about and looking at all the meals you have put together. I wish I could be of some use to you in your endeavor but I have no experience in this area. I'll follow your blogs an perhaps I be able to come up with some ideas you can use. I see that you use a lot of ethnic based dishes: Hispanic, Italian, Southeastern dishes, Chinese, etc...? In our local hospital I was served several Indian dishes (I asked for a vegetarian diet in the hopes of getting some food I could eat...but beyond a rare leaf of lettuce, there was nothing. I did receive a lot of good chickpea curry dishes. However, I got Ed, my husband, to bring me in a big salad every dinnertime so I could survive.), but in Ontario Canada we have a considerable East Asian population and we eat a lot of Indian food at home. I can understand how using fresh ingredients is a major problem in making prepared meals. Good luck to you in this wonderful and generous path you have chosen.

Thank you, but I’m flailing sometimes when I’m trying to quadruple a recipe. Someone with more experience wouldn’t have so many “character building” days!

I’m not sure what just happened, but if I could delete this I would.

Ohhhh ok I see now. (thanks for copying/pasting--I don't have Instagram). Wow, you are doing a LOT. So admirable.

Thank you, Shelby. And I will definitely be perusing that topic! The community fridges are public refrigerators with a “take what you need, give what you can” motto. The rules for prepared food donations are that you label the food with the date and what it is. They really want you to list possible food allergens. At first, I was listing every ingredient used in the recipes, but the fridge I am donating to does not require that. The budget is all mine because the donations come from me, although occasionally the people who manage this particular fridge get food rescues and offer some of it to me to use in my meals. They’ve given me some ground turkey, ground beef, chicken breasts, and blocks of cheese. I provide the packaging. To give some background, I’ll copy and paste from my Instagram: “In 2021 I kept seeing posts on Facebook about Lafayette’s Community fridge and pantry. The way they work intrigued me because it seemed like such an easy way to do something helpful. At first, I dropped off pantry items, the kind most people give when there’s a food drive. But it was the idea that you could bring cooked items, even leftovers (good leftovers), that led me to making food specifically for fridge donations. From the fall of 21 through April of ‘23 I made over 500 meals. Eventually, something must’ve changed with the management (volunteers, all) and as they stopped promoting it, I stopped cooking for them. But now, the community fridge in Lafayette and Abbeville have been adopted by The Foodies of Lafayette and they are coordinating with restaurants and other businesses for donations, food rescues, etc. So now I’m back, and ready to cook! By starting this page, I hope to encourage others to participate!” In May of 2025 I learned that a Facebook group called Foodies of Lafayette had adopted two community fridges and they were collaborating with restaurants and other food rescue groups to keep the fridges stocked. And then I learned of another community fridge that was connected to a church that has a strong mission to feed others. I decided to get back in the game and sort of adopted that fridge as the place I’d take my donations. I’d been looking for volunteering opportunities, but this one spoke to me. (Isn’t there a preview option before submitting posts? I’ve forgotten how to work eGullet!)

@patti Welcome back . What a wonderful project . Fine looking food . looks to me that you"ve got this this down , pat .

Patti it is SO good to see you! I definitely remember you and always loved seeing your cooking (and your gorgeous Christmas decorations ) And I think what you're doing is wonderful. I'm very interested in this and I am certain that others here will be, too , and will also have great feedback. I'm impressed with the variety that you've made. I imagine coming up with new ideas each week can sometimes be challenging. (reading this on a growling empty stomach was not smart on my part) I have a few questions--and forgive me if they are dumb ones but I'm not sure about some specifics about how food pantries work. Does the pantry have specific ingredients and budget that you must work with/use each week or do you choose the ingredients yourself and it must be under a certain dollar amount? Do they provide the packaging? Do other people volunteer and do the same thing for the other days of the week? Are there ever any gluten-free options or other types of options for folks with dietary restrictions? Just questions I've thought of off the top of my head. While it's not exactly the same situation, I thought of this topic right off the bat --Cooking for 50 Senior Citizens. It might give you some helpful ideas. I can't wait to see more and tag along with your weekly updates

Hi, All! I’ve been away from eGullet for several years, so many of you may not remember me, but perusing current postings, I see many familiar names. 👋 I’m posting because I’ve been doing some cooking for one of our local community fridges, and I need help! Once a week I prepare and package meals for the fridge and my goal each week is 24 meals. While I often achieve that goal, a few times I’ve missed because I’ve miscalculated amounts and/or I make my serving sizes too generous. Also, I don’t get specific critical feedback, and sometimes I need it (she says before actually receiving critical feedback). My idea is to first share some pictures of meals I’ve prepared so y’all can see what I’ve done and then to post more in a sort of weekly blog about the meals each week. Any interest? I know many of you will have great ideas and guidance and feedback. Last week’s meal was a bagged lunch of tortellini soup with Italian sausage and spinach, accompanied by cheese toast. Sheet pan lasagna Sheet pan lasagna, cuke salad, buttered toast. Pasta salad, roasted sweet potatoes, buttered toast. Baked penne, salad, garlic bread. Corn salad Pulled chicken sandwich Pulled chicken sandwich and corn salad. Ham fried rice. Ham fried rice. Tamale pie, salad, dressing. Pork jambalaya, white beans, coleslaw. Chicken fried rice. Baked chicken thigh, baked potato, peas, buttered toast. Baked chicken spaghetti, two ways, broccoli, garlic bread. Red beans & rice with smoked sausage & ham, cornbread, two boiled cookies. Chicken fried rice

And I haven't been there but from the videos and photos I've seen, it is a gorgeous place!

Many, many years ago, I found a Nepali restaurant in London. Returned many. many times. Years later was lucky to visit Nepal. Wonderful food.

We have a new place near me. Aromatic Nepal is quite the step up for Liberty the home of restaurant chains/fast food. I hope they will make it because it is fantastic. I have a friend who is Nepali and had asked his advice on what to order for an authentic experience. He recommended starting with Momo and having the Special Thali platter, so I did. I failed to take a photo of the Momo. One of my friends ordered Chicken Biryani, which is shown below. It was huge! And my platter was just fantastic. I completely devoured the soup since I knew it wouldn't transport easily, but brought home a lot of other stuff, so will be eating Nepali for a couple of days. They have some fun Himalayan-themed cocktails/mocktails and a small but decent wine list. It is going to be a favorite place!

Chicken sale is back @ Stop&shop : Ive tried CkThighs @ Market Basket , but was very un-impressed : those thighs had a large skin and fat flap under each thigh which you could not see in the package. not so good a deal , as I get rid of the skin // fat. but S&S CkDrums were so much better , Ill initially try a pack of the thighs and see how they pack them. Im going to use the IDS to smoke lightly @ low temp , then SV as I SV'd some previous legs ( no skin ) worked out very well for chicken to use later for a variety of dishes . might even make a few more tubs // bricks of smoked chicken stock this week.

We need a "yuck" emoji.

Me: Dear God, no! KraftHeinz: Ummm... https://www.kraftheinz.com/kraft-mac-and-cheese/products/00021000086245-apple-pie-flavored-mac-cheese-macaroni-and-cheese-dinner

Pork Cutlet with Garbanzo Salad - salad had garbanzo beans, arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, feta and parsley with an olive oil- lime juice vinaigrette. The thin-cut pork cutlets were pan-seared with red onions, garlic and fresno chili and for the last few seconds sprinkled with parsley, basil and mint

I haven’t read the whole book yet and so didn’t see his remark about farfalle but we actually like farfalle as it has slightly different textures and tends to keep sauce quite well

Our local Co-Op has ground bison but I've never seen ribs - I'll have to ask for them.

https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/dubai-chocolate-recalled-due-salmonella

My darling and I liked to split the roast into 3 pieces: one boneless; one with the bone; and one bunch of pieces already cut into chunks to be marinated, skewered and cooked as souvlaki. The souvlaki (kebabs) were my favorite treatment because I liked the marinade and I liked serving the meat and sauce over a pilaf. My darling, who was more of the meat-and-potatoes persuasion, generally did one roast atop potatoes, all seasoned with Lipton's Onion Soup Mix. The other he'd usually do with potatoes again, but add sauerkraut toward the end. Each of those setups would give us leftovers for at least another meal apiece. On one or two occasions we had the boneless portion cut into thick pork steaks, then baked them in a breading. Here are a few examples, possibly with a repeat: Pork roast and potatoes The way we had it cut (never mind muscle groups) Pork roast with onion soup

In the interest of completing the eGullet record on this topic: With the help of Kerry Beal and Luis Amado, the molds departed Istanbul November 3 and arrived at my front door today, November 5. They have been washed and are now air-drying, ready to be decorated and filled in the next couple of days. Thanks to these kind and thoughtful kingpins of the chocolate world.

Yeah, it's a butt. I imagine an 11 pound picnic shoulder would be notable.

@IndyRob just to be cealr with what you are starting with : you have a shoulder ie butt , rather than the picnic shoulder which is more of the upper leg and lower shoulder any pics ?