Malawry

The ground is clear right now, but there's a major snowstorm forecast for today. The university is closed because of it. I called and talked to my boss last night and we agreed that I'd definitely come in for a while, but how long I stay depends on the weather. I did most of the mise-en-place for lunch and got a jump on dinner when I came in yesterday, so it should only take a couple of hours to produce all of today's food and maybe even get started on tomorrow. So far today, I've consumed a PB&J sandwich on toasted Spring Mill Honey Whole Wheat, and I'm working through another mug of Mayorga coffee. A note on the timing of blog posts during the week: I have no Internet access at work. So I will not be posting until I return home. Don't worry, it's coming every day this week.

I don't know how old the house is. The kitchen was installed 10 years ago. The compresser on my freezer was replaced right before I started, and the compresser on the fridge was replaced over the winter break. The university owns the house, so they do the maintenance on the kitchen. The guys who do this work are awesome and I'm always trying to feed them and talk to them when they come by. Just last week, somebody came by to install a new switch on my grease trap--now it's much easier to get to. He took some cookies when he left. (He was also incredulous as to how clean my grease trap was!) I post menus on Friday for the next week. As for how many menus per meal--stay tuned for your response.

I haven't really seen evidence of eating disorders. There's a large pledge class that just came in (they're not even full members yet, they're still in the "pledge period") and I don't know them at all--so who knows what demons lurk within them? I am in pretty close contact with the girls--I pride myself on learning their names quickly, engaging them, asking how things are with them. But eating disorders tend to be very private, and I'm not sure I'd learn about them. Especially since girls with eating disorders are less likely to come by for food from me. I believe all the houses on Fraternity Row, where ZTA is located, have the same layout. I've only seen my friend Stewart's kitchen next door--and his is identical to mine. However, I hear that the fraternities have much nastier kitchens than mine. I try to keep mine reasonably clean, but it helps that the girls don't come in. Scuttlebutt is boys do go into their kitchens in their houses, and it shows. I am lucky to have such a large kitchen. It's almost too large for one person. Yet I still have problems finding space in the fridge and freezer. Nobody's ever satisfied.

Just ate some dinner: first some grapes, then some broccoli, then some chicken wings out of the freezer, with sweet chili sauce. My roommate gave me a glass of pinot gris (Omaka Springs 2003). It tastes ok on its own but terrible with that sweet chili sauce, so I saved most of my glass for now when I'm done eating.

When I've offered to teach them to cook, the reaction has been mostly along the lines of what Lexy surmised. I think I could get around the insurance regs if I was standing over them supervising them while they were in my kitchen. They do come in to wash rented glasses and make smoothies etc during rush events, so obviously it's not totally forbidden for them to set foot inside. But I'm supposed to not encourage them to come in, and it's certainly better from a security standpoint if they're not in when I'm not around. I have enough on my plate without campaigining to train them in the womanly arts. If they wanted to learn that would be one thing, but they don't seem to much care.

You know I would happily have you over anytime.

I was a total alternagirl in college-way too "nonconformist" to go Greek. I never had any interest in Greek life and never considered rushing. I don't think that had a huge impact on my decision to take the job though. When I met some girls during my interview they seemed nice, and they were excited by the menu ideas I brought with me. That told me most of what I needed to know--that many of them enjoy eating, and they're willing to explore. That has definitely been true of them since I started, so it was an accurate impression. Nothing really surprises me except maybe that they're less neurotic than I would have expected. I think of college girls as pretty picky about their food and nutritional intake, but these girls really aren't. Their favorite meals are absolutely the "ethnic nights" I stage most Thursdays. Which is terrific, because those are my favorite meals to make for them!

I just went in to work for a few hours. But first, I went to my local Costco. This one is in Beltsville, MD. Like Han Ah Reum, it's insane on the weekends. You know, right? I bet you were there too. (Everybody else sure was!) Here's what I bought: Purchases included for work bananas, pineapples, green grapes, new potatoes, three loaf pound cakes, proscuitto. For home: IQF chicken wings, pasta sauce, peanut butter, ketchup, my spouse's Pantene hair stuff and shave gel, smoked salmon, cheddar cheese and laundry detergent. Sexy, eh? I wanted to stop for a hot dog before hitting work (I grew up on the Hebrew Natl hot dogs, only smaller than the ones in the food court) but the line was legendary. Another day--oh well. The Beltsville, MD Costco is actually pretty close to my work. It's about 2 miles up Route 1 from the campus, and the ZTA house is right off of Route 1. Sometimes I take a long lunch break and do my personal Costco shopping during the workday, or I go buy things for work there on a slow afternoon. Because I didn't get lunch at Costco, I ended up at work around 12:30pm. I snapped a bunch of photos of my work kitchen so you could see what my world is like. This is the door to my kitchen. If I'm there, it's always open. As you can see, it opens onto my classic three-part sink plus rinse station. Above the sink in the first shelf to your left are my china cap, chinois, strainer, various measuring cups and spoons, first aid supplies and kitchen towels. The second helf holds some crappy books that belong to the sorority, a couple of books I brought from home, assorted Ziploc bags, and extra paper type supplies. There are also notebooks holding sales information from my food supplier and old invoices, which I reference periodically. Above the rinse station (with the squeezie hose) I store all my bowls and plastic storage containers, plus lids and the various Cuisinart parts. The table-like area where my dish soap and bucket of scrubbing implements reside covers my grease trap, which I desest cleaning line nobody's business. Atop the grease trap lid are all the rest of my cleaning supplies, organized in a milk crate. Just past the rinse station, there's an industrial mixer on the counter. A dishwasher sits underneath. And then there's my fridge and my freezer--both side-by-side models. I roll the garbage can wherever I need it, but my floor is gently sloped so it tends to rest right there (there's a floor drain nearby). Left side of the fridge, interior. NO COMMENTS on the state of my fridge and freezer--they are clean and I know where to find things in them, but they don't exactly photograph well. Top to bottom: condiments and salad dressings, fresh cheeses and sauces, deli cheeses and meats, eggs and recent Han Ah Reum purchases in white bags. Right side of the fridge, interior. Top to bottom: containers of salad bar stuff (heavy cream, butter and chocolate chips are behind these items), peppers and carrots in boxes, more Han Ah Reum supplies and some tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, thyme, mushrooms, celery, cucumbers. Left side of the freezer. I need new hooks for holding up my shelves because some of them are missing, which is why some shelves sag. Here you can see lots of ice cream, lots of chicken parts, chicken stock, and random white sour cream containers holding things like pasta sauce, veg stock, and gumbo. On the top shelf there are all kinds of random ingredients--sweet pickled radish, tasso ham, demi-glace, chocolate buttercream. You never know. Right side of the freezer. Lots of shredded and sliced cheeses, Boca burgers, pierogies, frozen spinach and green beans, shrimp, and a huge fucking box of Boboli shells. I really regret adding them to the lunch menu when I get my food order in and have to try to work around that behemoth in my freezer. Right next to the freezer, in a fit of planning genius, is my range. 6 eyes plus a nice big griddle and two ovens. The oven on the left doesn't work so well so I don't use it that much--it's uncalibrated and unpredictable. The oven on the right holds an average sized pizza stone for the aforementioned Bobolis, and is cranked to 550 degrees during lunch service. And then there's the steam table. There's a long deep shelf under the steam table where I store all my tools (in a couple of big hotel pans) and most of my pots and pans. There's a microwave at the far end of the counter where I melt butter and defrost Boca burgers before tossing them on the griddle. My plates are all on the shelf above the steam table. Where you see my camera bag is where I normally have my cutting board set up--I stand there more than anywhere else. I use the tape behind it with a Sharpie to label everything in my kitchen. The gloves atop those books I wear religiously--I have a skin condition that's aggravated by frequent handwashing, so I try to limit that by wearing gloves often. Underneath this table are two big stockpots and a couple of huge Cambros where I store stock and pizza dough when needed. There are also two more Cambros that hold flour and sugar around there. The shelf above holds all my spices and a few other random things like pastry tips, sprinkles, breadcrumbs, raisins. There's a tin of saffron in front of the Cuisinart which is too good to fraternize with the other spices. You can't really tell, but there's a cheap phone on the wall behind the Cuisinart. If you call it, I will answer, "Kitchen, Rochelle." Nobody calls me but my husband and my food service sales rep, and maybe my boss. If you were one of my girls looking for me or for my food, you'd come to this window which I open when I am around and close when I am not. It looks onto the steam table. Those clipboards are for signing up for meals--they're supposed to sign up if they will be present for a meal, and they sign up on a separate part of the sheet if they will miss mealtime and want a "late plate." To the left of the clipboards is a big fridge dispensing 2% milk. The weekly menus are posted on the side of this fridge--I put them up Friday for the next week. The lime-green sign you see reads "Mealtimes. Lunch: Monday-Friday 11:30am-1:30pm. Dinner: Monday 5-5:45pm. Tuesday-Thursday 5:15-6:00pm. Special events or other changes to this schedule require a 2-week advance notice." They don't always provide that notice, but since I posted that I get at least a week and a half--which is all I usually need. I have a separate dry storage closet. Like the fridge and freezer, it looks disorganized, but I know how to find things in there. All the stuff to the right is snacks and breakfast food for the girls--my boss stocks these items for them, I just order them for her and put them away when they come in. Those huge boxes on the floor are all their chips. Onions, potatoes, and soybean oil are also on the floor. The closet is just too small to store everything on the shelf like I know I should. The red Noel boxes hold chocolate pistoles. So, while I was at work. I did some salad bar prep, I baked off some cookies, and I got ready for tomorrow's lunch. I also did some advance work on tomorrow's dinner. There's snow in the forecast again, so I was hoping to set things up that if I need to just go in for a couple of hours in the morning I will be able to arrange lunch and dinner before coming home. My boss is out of town tomorrow, so she won't even be able to do things like pull stuff out of the oven for dinner--so I talked to a couple of the girls about contingency plans. We'll see what happens. I left around 4pm.

I adore Han Ah Reum. If I lived a little closer, I'd probably do most of our shopping there. They sell a lot of Hispanic foods in addition to the Asian goods, plus some American-style groceries (cereal, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, etc). The girls don't ask me for advice much, no. I have offered to teach cooking classes to them a few times, but they haven't taken me up on it. Sometimes they ask me about restaurants if their parents are coming into town, but they don't even ask me about that usually. They don't have the same image of me as, say, people on eGullet might: I'm mostly just their cook, not a culinary encyclopedia. One of them asked me how I make my soups back in October. She wanted to try making them for Thanksgiving or something. She wanted the broccoli-cheese soup recipe but I suggested she start with something simpler like the tomato soup since she is not an experienced cook. I think I wrote the ingredients and technique out for her but I don't think she tried it. It kinda sucks for them honestly--they have a microwave and a toaster-oven, but no access to the kitchen (insurance regulations forbid them from using it, and I lock it when I leave). I cooked all the time in college--baking bread, soaking chickpeas and cooking them for hummus, etc--even when I lived in the dorm and shared a single stove with 75 college freshmen. Most of them have no idea how to do anything in the kitchen except make Easy Mac. I think it's a shame and wish I could give them basic coping tools for feeding themselves when they graduate.

OK, I just added a few images for ya'll. More to come. Meanwhile, today's breakfast: A piece of honey whole wheat bread, toasted, with a little butter and some zingy grapefruit preserves from La Mere de la Famille. (That's the world's cutest confiserie, around the corner from the hotel we stayed in while vacationing in Paris last month.) A granny smith apple, peeled and sliced, sauteed with a little butter, a tidge of sugar and some cinnamon. A big mug of the Mayorga decaf organic coffee referenced yesterday. Yum. 3 I buy my bread from Spring Mill Bread for home use. It's sold at the natural foods coop close to my home. I love the honey whole wheat--it's so whole-grainy and substantial.

Cooking for 34 seemed almost impossible at the beginning. I had a hard time learning how to manage my time--I came in early and stayed late pretty much daily for my first month. It's become easier, though, and now it's unusual for me to log extra hours. I'm going in today because I took off most of Thursday and because I need to get ready for Tuesday. It's really not that bad. Keep in mind that I set the menus, and it's not fine dining. So I can stick to my limits. I have done a few crazy things for them before. Twice I've made pasta from scratch for lasagna--the easiest management of fresh pasta, IMO, since you can just roll out the noodles and slap them in the pan as you go. Once I made portabello raviolis for the vegetarians on a steak night. I made a "graveyard cake" for them for Halloween--4-layer devil's food cake layered with fresh chocolate Italian buttercream, topped with crushed oreos and chocolate-dipped Vienna Fingers as dirt and graves. That dessert was way more work than I normally invest in desserts, but I broke it up into several days--baked the cake one day, made the buttercream the next, filled and frosted the third day, and then decorated right before serving. It was fun and a challenge for me (I try to challenge myself every so often), but not something I'd like to repeat. I made simple sugar cookies with red sugar on top for Valentine's day--much easier. That being said, I do mail it in occasionally. They love stuff like chicken, rice, cream of mushroom soup, mushrooms and cheese baked in a casserole, so I make that every so often. Monday night is normally pasta night--just pasta with assorted sauces, which is extremely easy to accomplish. Ice cream is super-easy as a dessert: I just buy big drums of Edy's ice cream and set it out with some purchased toppings and let them go to town.

Good question. And it deserves a complete answer. Making the dough is a PITA, frankly. I do have an industrial mixer at work, but I don't want to burn the motor out on pizza dough. I usually start the dough in the mixer and finish kneading it by hand. Then there's shaping, topping, baking it. For dinnertime, when all the girls usually come at the same time, there's no way to do food like this to order. It might be possible at lunchtime, but I only get to work 90 minutes before I start service and I have a buttload to accomplish in that 90 minutes every morning. So no, it's not so simple. One of the things I have to consider when setting menus is how much time it takes to make a large quantity of food, and then how to store it. Pizza for 34 takes a lot more work than pizza for 4. I can't get pizza together in time for lunch because of when I come in. I can't do it on a Monday because the dough needs to ripen overnight in the fridge, and I rarely go in on Sundays. So if I make pizza, it's only for either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night (remember, no dinner Friday). Thursday night is best since I get my food order in on Tuesday morning, which completely packs up my fridge. If I can spend Tuesday night and Wednesday morning clearing out fresh produce that takes up a lot of space then by Wednesday afternoon I can make the pizza dough and actually have room for it to ripen in the fridge. (Dough for 34 takes up a lot of space!) Then I'm good to go for dinner Thursday. I offer a short-order menu at lunchtime--more on that coming on Monday. Pizza is on this menu, in the form of individual Boboli shells with a limited selection of toppings. So pizza is accessible to them daily, but I only make it from scratch once a semester. Finally, they order pizza every Sunday night for dinner, so I don't want to flog it to death.

We just finished dinner. I prepared a "duet of cod": a cod cake and a piece of bacon-wrapped cod. The cod cake contained the cooked, cooled, shredded tail and trim from the two pieces of fish I'd bought at Han Ah Reum today, combined with scallion, celery and red pepper. There was a bunch of mustard and some mayo to hold it together, and then I coated the outside in breadcrumbs. I let them set in the fridge. The bigger pieces of fish were wrapped in thick-sliced Smithfield bacon. They, too, set in the fridge. I made two salads for my sweetie and I and then I seared off the fish and the cakes. Didn't suck.

Sure, sometimes they make special requests. I try my best to accommodate them. I have two vegetarians and one girl on Atkins who I manage to accommodate daily. There is one girl who does not mix meat and dairy, and two who do not eat pork (one's allergic, one is Jewish). One girl was avoiding sugar Monday-Friday last semester since she was trying to stop being such a sugar freak, but that appears to have been discarded this semester. Several of them are Catholic and are observing various lenten guidelines (especially Fridays). One of those cut out caffeine and meat as her lenten vow, which means she won't even eat chocolate right now and she's exploring the world of Boca burgers and mushroom pizza. No diabetics. I'm always open to suggestions--indeed, I try hard to encourage as many suggestions as possible and then do everything I can to make those suggestions a reality. Most suggestions these days are along the lines of, "Can we have Swedish meatballs for supper sometime?" (I made them about two weeks ago.) Back when I started I got a lot more suggestions, because when they hired me the girls got a lot less service from me than they were used to from the catering service. (The service had three people in the kitchen much of the day, and they had a fryer. I'm only one person, and I am glad to be without a fryer. Without a fryer I can't offer fries and chicken fingers at lunch, though, which they clearly miss. I do tater tots sometimes in the oven and fry a couple times a semester in a pot on the stove, but that's it.) Over time I grew into my job and came to the point where I was able to do many (but still not all) of the things the catering service did. I like to think I do everything I can handle better than they had it before. I am supposed to provide dessert twice a week, which I almost always manage. Dessert is my lowest priority, so if I'm running ragged it's the first thing to go. Usually I serve ice cream with assorted toppings once a week and then make a scratch dessert some other night. Sometimes it's something interesting like a mango granita with almond cookies to finish an Indian meal, or coconut pudding with bitter chocolate sauce. But it's usually something more simple like chocolate chip cookies or brownies. I do all my baking from scratch. Once a semester I make pizza from scratch, and a couple times each semester when I offer "breakfast for dinner" I make assorted breakfast breads. I recently baked three varieties of scones (apricot, cranberry and choc-chip) and some banana bread for one of those dinners, which I supplemented with purchased donuts. They loved it.

I ate an apple with some sharp cheddar earlier, and then I went and did some grocery (and other) shopping. I stopped by Han Ah Reum, a big Asian supermarket just north of downtown Wheaton, MD. I love Han Ah Reum because it's bright, clean, has an amazing produce department, carries wonderful and cheap fish, and plays 1980s pop music. I don't like how crowded it is on weekends, so I normally try to visit on weeknights instead, but I needed some things for work for Monday night. Purchases included scallions, Shanghai cabbage, Thai rice stick noodles, some filleted cod, Italian flat-leaf parsley, shiitake mushrooms. Normally I buy a lot more but I just went last Wednesday. I was planning to make some Thai-style food Thursday night, but I didn't cook dinner Thursday due to snowfall in my area. (I refuse to risk my life on the roads. I went to college in the mountains and have a healthy respect for snowy weather.) So it's back on the menu for Monday--except since the whole chapter meets Monday nights, I will need to make twice as much of everything. Hence, I picked up a little bit of extra stuff for Monday. The cod, scallions and parsley are for tonight's dinner. A few errands later, I went by Giant, an area supermarket chain. I bought some apples, pretzels, marshmallows, caffeine-free diet coke, light bulbs, and three cartons of Breyer's CarbSmart low-carb ice cream. My husband does a basic low-carb diet to control his weight and he loves this ice cream. I try to eat reasonably low-calorie and sometimes eat the low-carb ice cream as a splurge. (I'll probably have some later tonight.) We didn't really need more, but when it's on sale 50% off I try to stock up. The marshmallows and pretzels were for work, as you shall see later this week. Muah.

There's a catering company that runs the food service in several of the Greek organizations. They used to have my house, but the girls and the house director didn't like the product after a while so they didn't renew the contract and they hired me instead. When I interviewed for the job they were still cooking for ZTA, and I remember being horrified to look in the freezer and see prefab chicken cordon bleus, frozen broccoli, and other insta-food. I vowed to feed them well right then and there. (I do use shortcuts occasionally, as you shall see when this week progresses, because I'm only one person.) I am good friends with Stewart, who is the chef for the sorority next door. Like me he's a C-school graduate with a fine dining background. Unlike me he has an impressive resume from a long tenure in the business. He's fantastic--we've become close, and we talk a couple times each week. He's my first resort if I find I'm out of something I need for dinner. We compare menu notes often, and he's a good sounding board when I'm frustrated about something. I'm lucky that he's around and appreciate his friendship tremendously. I like to think the chef aspect is an attraction for potential new members. But all of the houses have either a catering service or a cook or a chef of some sort, and the food is apparently better than food service in all of them. I like to think I'm a cut above most, but it's hard to say. During rush, what the sororities can serve rushees is pretty tightly regimented--there's nothing but beverages allowed at some earlier events to prevent wealthier houses from steamrollering the process. I work a lot of extra hours during rush week and bid day to provide something special when food IS allowed though. It's in my best interest--if they don't get enough girls in the chapter, there won't be enough girls to occupy the house. And if there aren't enough girls to fill the house, the sorority loses the house since they can't pay their rent to the university. Which means another Greek organization moves in and I lose my job.

The budget is about $36k/semester (USD). I'm way way way under budget--I've been trying to find ways to spend more, but I'm hampered on some levels by fridge and freezer space. You'll see some more luxury type foods this week, which reflects my efforts to get the girls to eat the budget up. (It's not like I get it, or they get it back, if I don't spend it.) Sisters pay a flat fee. If you live in the sorority house the fee includes room and board, if not it allows you to eat 2 meals a week in the house. (One is supposed to be Monday night, when the chapter has its weekly meeting.) You're technically allowed to bring a friend or SO once a week if you live in the house. There's no penalty if you don't eat in the house, and there are girls who rarely eat my food for whatever reason. These rules are not strictly enforced, but if somebody starts abusing it I can talk to my boss who will intervene on my behalf. A couple girls abuse it but I figure it equals out with the girls who never eat with me. Special feast nights: Why yes. Tuesday is one long special feast. Stay tuned for details.

My name's Rochelle. I think I had the original foodblog here on eGullet--I blogged twice a week for six months while I was a student at L'academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, MD. (Lookie here if you're interested.) I go back and read that blog sometimes and I'm amazed at how many stories are within--my journey from amateur to professional started there, yes, but I was also journeying from vegetarian to omnivore. Culinary school isn't the end of the story--not by a long shot! I've been busy working on all the things I wanted to do in the culinary field since graduating. I have a steady cooking job, I teach little kids cooking skills at a day camp in the summertime, and I started writing for a new local magazine on area food recently. Cooking, writing, teaching--these are the reasons why I wanted to go to culinary school, and I'm fortunate to be able to do them all. So what do I do for my regular job? I am the chef for the sorority Zeta Tau Alpha at the University of Maryland. I embody the cliche chief-cook-bottle-washer. I control the food budget, I set the menus, I order the food, I put the food away when it arrives, I cook the food, I wash the dishes afterwards. I can't blame anybody but myself when things go wrong. My boss, the "house mom," is not a cook--the few times I've been unable to make it because of illness or weather, I've ordered food from a place near campus and arranged to have it delivered. (Big food budget bite--that's a last resort.) I love the level of responsibility this job requires, and I enjoy getting to play around with food for the 34 girls who live in the house. They're good eaters--many do watch their weight, but others tuck enthusiastically into beef burgers or linguine alfredo. I cook lunch and dinner, Monday-Friday for them. There's no dinner on Friday, so Friday's a short day (thank God, my feet are starting to kill me by then!). I rarely work into the night or on weekends, but I plan to go in for a few hours tomorrow to start getting ready for Tuesday, when I run two special events in one day (a record for me!). But more on that later. When I'm not at work, I don't cook all that much. I used to, but I'm a little more tired of it than I was when I started this job. I cook mostly simple American food at home. It's easy and satisfying. I still haven't decided what to make for dinner tonight though, so we'll see what happens. My parents are visiting next weekend so I expect to cook something a little more interesting for them. I have two ducks in the freezer, so they're sure to figure prominently. Suggestions welcome. So far today, I've consumed a bowl of oatmeal (the rolled kind, from the bulk bins of the natural foods coop we belong to)--with a touch of butter, a little milk, Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend, Penzey's cinnamon, and a tiny bit of brown sugar. Big mug of coffee alongside, which I am nursing as I write this post. I was working my way through some coffee with chicory from Community Coffee but I ran out. So today's is the dregs from Costco's in-house coffee roaster. I have a big sack of beans from the local Mayorga Coffee Roasters which I am eager to break into. Hopefully tomorrow. I am a big fan of coffee though I am no coffee connoissuer. I drink decaf almost exclusively. I have enough energy without the drug. I will try to get photos into this blog when possible, but I make no promises. There's only one computer in my house with photo-editing capability, and my spouse is on it most of the time since it's his desktop. (He's a doctoral candidate in the school of music at UMD, which makes my job super-convenient. When he's on spring break, so am I. We shared a langorous winter break together recently--five delicious weeks, two of them in Paris.)

I like that parchment sits right on the food--unlike a lid, which sits well above the food and creates a condensation cycle. I usually tear a small hole in the center of the cartouche (parchment round) I stick onto my food. That way the pot contents don't get terribly hot, yet they don't evaporate away either. I use cartouches mostly for braised foods, and for preventing skins on mashed potatoes, sauces, or soups that I'm keeping warm in a bain-marie.

I have a Foley I bought in 1992. I don't use it often but there are some jobs it's perfect for. It's cheap, so if you have the space to store it I think it's a worthwhile investment. (I was a freshman in college when I bought mine, and therefore didn't have the space, but I was so accustomed to having access to Mom's that I couldn't do without it! But I did things like bake bread in the dorm kitchen, so that tells you something right there.) Anyway. The jobs I use the Foley for: 1. Hummus, if I don't want the skins of the chickpeas in there. The Foley screens the bean meat through and leaves the skins behind. And the bean meat is smoooooooth. 2. Mashed potatoes, if I'm making more than just a couple portions. (I use a ricer for small portions.) I've worked places with huge food mills that they process 50lbs of potatoes into mashers daily in only a few minutes. 3. Certain soups. But I use the blender and then the chinois more for soups usually. My mom's special Jewish chicken soup depends on Foley-ing some of the veggies to add texture.

Some restaurants do make their risotto entirely to order. Then they upsell you..."Our risotto is from scratch and takes 40 minutes. Would you like an appetizer while you wait?" (Yes, I have heard that question before.) Shogun is so right about leftover risotto. Fritters! I add an egg to leftover risotto and chill until firm. Cut into squares, roll in breadcrumbs, pan-fry in olive oil. Snarf with spicy tomato sauce. You can also press little cubes of cheese or fresh mozz into the center and mold them into balls before coating in crumbs and deep-frying, if you want to snazz it up a little. I don't bother though--the plain fritters are excellent enough as is.

I cook at work using Sysco's finest--produce, meats, spices, grains, beans, canned tomato products. These are thoroughly average supplies. I use a gourmet product supplier for a few things where Sysco's quality is not up to standard (chocolate callets, olives), and I buy most ethnic ingredients at area specialty markets (sweet chili sauce, bean thread noodles). I don't generally have the budget or the wherewithal to source the world's most amazing whatever for these girls. However, I am strict about assessing the quality of everything I buy before accepting--especially produce--and I employ classic, tested techniques when preparing these ordinary food products. I happen to think the end product is pretty darn good. At home I prefer cooking with premium ingredients, partly because it's a change of pace from what I do at work. There is absolutely a difference--but it doesn't mean the ordinary products are bad at all.

Mnebergall, they're the same owners. Actually the CF Folks catering operation is housed in the Well-Dressed Burrito space.

Oh, CF Folks does great catering. I used to work in an office where CF Folks catered a lunch once a month--it was widely regarded as one of the top benefits of the job.

California Tortilla does a better job with catering than Chipotle in my experience, but it all depends on whose burritos ya'll like better. I think you should try to go Asian. Meiwah could probably do it for you. Indian is a great suggestion, if there's a decent place nearby. For that matter, all the sandwich chains cater, so if you can stomach Au Bon Pain or Corner Bakery they may work. (I wonder if Breadline caters? Worth a call.) There's also places like Penang and even the Greek Deli on 19th. There has to be better pizza available--maybe Sette could do it, and provide some salads alongside?