Carrot Top

Are you sure you really want to hear of my inner workings? Heh. Steven King has penned nothing that could challenge my own twisted mind. But really, it would not be proper for me to answer till I hear of everyone elses' wonderful tales, now, would it. Thank you for letting us wander through your own story, Danielle. And I am very jealous not only of your talent and determination but also of the way you can make those quote things work. Whew! (Someday, I say to myself, someday. . . )

Parsi, please, Percy. Perhaps? No, particularly.

Welcome, Genevieve. A beautiful name. And the lucky "seventh" post, too. So therefore your luck with your quest will undoubtedly follow! Thanks for the lovely post.

Dear Food Writer (Aspiring or Actual): Here are some questions. Will you tell us your tales? ................................................................................... Who inspired you most in your decision to write of food? What is it particularly that you write of within the wide-varied subject? When did you take up the pen? Where do you wish to publish your writings? Do you have any specific magazines/journals or publishers that you have an urge to present your work to for acceptance? Why do you wish to submit your work to these particular outlets? How do you hope to have your writings affect the world of food and people? ................................................................................. Thank you for your stories.

Niiiiiiiiiiiice shrimp there, Susan!

There is no assurance that he will not respond. As he mentioned earlier when he did answer several questions posted, he is in the process of opening a new restaurant. Any chef I have known involved in an opening is likely to be working 22 hours a day nonstop. ....................................................... And if I were him, (even if there were time) I would feel inclined to wait till the chatter died down a bit to try to sort out what all the questions and comments were so as to be able to respond to them one at a time in a calm and reasonable manner. There is a sense of feral dogs fighting over meat here. Either that or of children at the tag end of an exciting birthday party where too much cake and ice-cream have been eaten and the house is now being torn apart with the curtains askew and chocolate ice cream decorating the carpet. But carry on, do.

I think you've raised some interesting questions, Bux. If it is true that this book is a memoir (as it seems to be presenting itself) then what is the traditional form and substance of a memoir? How many memoirs can be construed to be accurate and without argument as to the "real" truth? Personally, I haven't read many so don't really know. Those of you who have. . .what do you think? Is this book within the boundaries of what a memoir usually consists of in terms of percentage of the inarguable? Or is it out of the usual boundaries in terms of questions it raises as to "what really happened"? I guess where my question ultimately leads to is: Is it the form itself that is creating the potential for detailed argument among those who were not there, or is it the author. . .in this case? (Not that I really expect to hear any agreement on this question either, but hey. Why not ask )

That is a stunning beautiful second post, mochihead. Welcome. . .happy to have you here.

Clickey: Oranges A quote from the article: "And the nineteenth-century French painter Paul Cezanne was so besotted with oranges, he couldn’t stop painting them." ( ) "A most seductive fruit" is what this author claims the orange is. Do you think so? Or is there another fruit that challenges this claim, to your mind? Just what IS "the most seductive fruit"?

This thread came to mind the other night. We were eating pitas filled with sliced steak and some salad stuff that included very thin slivers of red onion. My eleven year old son ate one and asked for another. Fishing for a compliment, I asked "So you like it?" He looked at me and said, "Yes! And what I really like about the flavor is how the onions are STAPLING the steak. It really works!" "Stapling" the flavor. Yeah.

They do look rather glorious! Is the texture different at all?

And yet the dead horse continues to be arisen and led to water. . .

Yes. . .those sauces went to the Western world in the form of Worcestershire sauce (anchovy based). Fascinating. I've been led to believe that Worcester Sauce is actually Indian in origin. Or rather I should say, created in England (by Mssrs. Lea & Perrins, natch) either from Indian ingredients or influenced by a recipe or sauce brought back from India. ← Mmm hmm. The British Empire toting home some quite lovely foods. All those fish sauces in that same geographic area. (A large geographic area, yes, but that was before the individual nation-state idea. . .or at least so I'm told ). I still wonder how that leap was made from Ancient Rome to a slightly-more-current Asia happen. . .when and how? What an adventure all of it is, in retrospect. It probably did not feel too adventurous, those long sea voyages and treks across land on horses and camels. It probably felt tiring. "Just a job", "a way to make some money" you know. But so fun to read and think of afterwards!

Yes. . .those sauces went to the Western world in the form of Worcestershire sauce (anchovy based). Fascinating.

Here's another food that as far as I can see has travelled somewhere around the old Ottoman Empire and extends as far as India but nowhere else that I've noticed: the yogurt beverage. A cold beverage either served strongly spiced with garlic (savory) in the Caucasus regions or with rosewater and spices (sweet) further out towards Asia.

It's a beautiful thing, Tepee. I love to think of the "whys" and the rituals.

I was going to ask project to pass me some of whatever he's drinking, but I think I'd much rather share yours... ← The only beverage that works right is water, straight up and very cold, for these sorts of discussions, kitchenmage. For if you spill it while gesticulating at the computer screen in an effort to make your point clear, or if you happen to spit some out while gurgling answers through clenched teeth, or if you drool some down the front of your shirt while sitting gaping open-mouthed trying to figure out what the other person is talking about, then thank goodness there is no damage to your clothes. It's only afterwards that you hit the hard stuff.

Add my interested vote to the idea of this subject, mizducky! I have to admit though that I am sleepy this morning and read SuziSushi's post as having something called "Man on a Stick" Which I'd never heard of before. The thought does come to mind of one food that I have never heard of being served outside China (and not often in China, either) which is live monkey's brains. When I think of it, there are more foods Chinese or Asian that have ritualistic or medicinal purposes within the society than anywhere else (or let me rephrase that: foods which are defined by the culture as being so, for hidden yet widely accepted meanings exist within foods in all cultures). . .and also a larger variety of foods that are not served elsewhere. Tiger lily buds? Birds nests? Just for a start (though who knows, it may come to light that these are served somewhere else ). I am not an expert on Chinese food by a far stretch, but there seems to be a plethora of richness there. Can't wait to hear more answers.

That rosemary bush is awesome, Susan. They say that rosemary helps memory and erases forgetfulness. I think perhaps I need to sleep under a huge rosemary tree, the way I have been lately. Lovely blog, am enjoying it. Shout a big "hey" from the hills to your hubby for a belated happy birthday!

Time to serve coffee and dessert, project, after this many-course meal we've had on this subject and then I am "outta here". The grass on my lawn has grown about an inch and the mower (you know, the one with a choke) refuses to do the work by itself. For dessert I will offer thoughts of honey. Honey, dripped gently onto anything, makes it beautiful and attractive. Plus, you can catch more flies with it when trying to prove a point. Vinegar, though bracing and useful, people tend to avoid. Unless it is well-oiled and temptingly seasoned. ................................................................ For coffee, here's a thought that hopefully will be strong enough to make me walk out the door of this fun though somewhat offbase discussion and not walk right back in. I could be wrong about the overall concept of what this book should be. And you, could be right about it. Being wrong at least fifty percent of the time in life seems a good thing to me. Why? Because it gives others so much happiness when they can be right. And that, is an excellent thing.

cakewalk is right, Rogov. That maple syrup does sound awfully goyish(e). When you spoke to G*d about this, are you sure you dialed the right number? So much switching in the telephone systems . . maybe you got transferred to the wrong number. For really, now that I think of it, maple syrup sounds like something they might use to tar Herbie. You remember Herbie. The thing with feathers. But then again, maybe maple syrup was created for the leftover challah tossed to the Shabbitz Goyim. Yeah, I'll take it.

Okay, project. In many of my past posts I have been tongue-in-cheek with you. Why not? You are fun to be tongue-in-cheek with and certainly a challenge to be tongue-in-cheek with. This will be a short answer today, for I have actually got to find time to do other things for some bizarre reason. Yes, you are right that it was rather inexcusable for the kitchen to run out of anything that would affect the guests dining "experience". And yes, the excerpts of the book were written in a certain way that could invite the sorts of comments you wrote. I can understand your anger (if that is the right word, if that is the word you used, it was intimated anyway but I do not have time right now to go back and check for the exact words you used) because I am prone to it myself. I have a different way of taking on these things than you do, though. And I hate to say it (let's not even go there as to why I used that phrase although I should not hate to say it and indeed I probably don't really hate to say it ) but as I think of it, generally I do it in the way a woman is traditionally considered to rather than the way a man would. I smile and go "around" whatever it is, giving a tweak here and a poke there and a small push there till the final hopefully better conclusion is finally reached, rather than just directly address the "problem" smack-head on. Yes, in my "career" I learned to be outspoken, bold, and someone who would not be challenged outright by big strong testosterone-loaded guys in the kitchen. But to do it daily just in life does not feel right to me. So I go "around". This can and does work. It is actually the "traditional" strength of women. And it can be more palatable for many people to accept challenge that is personally directed at them when shaped in this kinder fashion, also. It is wrong that the workings of the kitchen did not go as efficiently and as well as they could have. A good manager that was on-task could and should have been able to straighten this out, though, with the tools that we do have in use. No reason why not. Again, if you are curious, PM me and we can talk more specifically about what tools are used for controls in the kitchen. Or maybe start a new thread on eG, that would provide a variety of responses that would be more "all-inclusive" of methodology. Yes, it is "sickening" that that should have happened. But ultimately, overall, that is the best that is out there. ADNY, even, is subject to imperfection according to the excerpt from the book. It's my feeling, though, humans being humans, that whatever tools one gives them (us, me even to be inclusive ) they will f*** up sometimes. And of course, that makes a "story". One that can be written and sold. And in looking at this sort of thing in a broader or more philosophic way ("this thing" being my proposal that operations controls can never really perfect human endeavor) I often think that if every single thing in the world WERE to be made "idiot-proof" we all would simply, in that moment of time, POP! disappear off the face of the earth as if in some science fiction novel. For idiots are part of us, an integral part of the chaos that ties the universe together. If they were eliminated, where would we be? POOF! I like to imagine we would just disappear. I've lived in many places but never in Texas. You can read my bio if you are interested. ................................................................ Oh. Still, I enjoyed reading the book excerpt.

The "hugh" advantage to me would seem to be Hugh Grant, but that is up for argument, of course. Glorious photos, Adam. Life itself. A breath of fresh air.

Good morning, project. Nice weather we are having today. ............................................................. Your critical analysis and explanation of the Monte Carlo and the Poisson processes undoubtedly is correct. Unless there is someone out there that can say differently, and I doubt that, but who knows. Life is full of surprises. What I think the problem might be with the notion of applying these concepts to restaurant operations, however, might be VEFE. The dreaded VEFE again, indeed, or even in this case paradoxically the very lack of it that exists in the sort of very rigid controls that you describe. People enjoy the tussles, the wants, the needs, the excesses, that occur in everyday life. It allows them the opportunity to problem-solve on their own. If there are no problems to solve, then what would life "feel" like to people? No VEFE actualized, no fun. The sort of rigid controls that clean everything up nicely are beautiful in concept. But in reality, who wants them? Unless, of course, you are talking about war. War between either countries or businesses, it is much the same. Someone wants to kill off someone else, and in their each individual minds for very good reason. But usually the restaurant business is full of people who want to create and nurture through food. It is full of hidden VEFE-lovers who probably did not even know they were. For an example of this, I must point you to the other thread currently running on eGullet about Doug Psaltis. Supposedly about Doug Psaltis' book, again. Lots of discussion there, but most of it not on his book. Most of it on him, himself, as personality. As celebrity chef. Over 4500 views of this discussion last time I looked, and what is this discussion? Is it about what he cooked or created including the book? Is it about a "subject"? No, it is sheer fun gossip about a person. This, is what people like. Would they be interested in the same story about some guy down the street? Nope. For they would not get the same sense of self-importance and of being in some sort of imagined "in-crowd" if the story were only about the guy down the street. So again I am afraid that VEFE rules, project. The thrill of the everyday, the gathering of the slavering crowds, the very excitement of feeling human, a part of things, part of the problem-solving process, this feeling that exalts itself in VEFE or alternately in real life drop the V/EFE is what makes people get up in the morning. VEFE, control, perfection. All anyone really wants is a sense of being human and of being a part of things. And what that translates to is: Monte Carlo is preferable as somewhere to travel to on vacation, and Poisson is much more interesting when it is something caught jumping from the sea waiting to be cooked into a tasty delightful dish to be brought to the dinner table.

Beds are not food. Beds are a stable product that sit in one place in relationship to the user. Food comes in to the professional kitchen and it is of varying weights even though you may have ordered it one weight. Because of time limitations you may have to use it. Food comes in and some of it needs to be trimmed off more than the day before. Therefore the processes of the day require operational adaptations "a minute". Just to give two quick examples of how beds and food are in different categories of reality. The user of the bed takes the bed as is. They do not ask for it without shallots or with a cream sauce, also, again "a minute". Another example of differences in the relationship between beds and food and users. As far as "being ahead now" in the restaurant industry because of your information: first of all I do not care where or what you taught because I have no great respect for MBA programs "just because" we are supposed to. MBA programs to me have the same odor that VEFE has to you. With the difference perhaps being that although they have an odor to me, I realize and accept their appeal to others and do not have a problem with that at all. As far as your informing me that Princeton is fully correct, well they may be. Or not. All I know is that the partners of Goldman Sachs (who might have some spare change in your book of knowledge and power, perhaps a bit since they are the employers of these hungry MBA's who enter into the business world panting in anticipation of their glory to come whereby they themselves might have a shot at being a Goldman Sachs partner). . .the partners of Goldman Sachs chose me to be their executive chef when I was in this industry. They chose me because I did my job and did it well. They demanded daily that this job be done to the level that they demanded every job be done in that corporation and I must say that it is a rather high level of excellence demanded. They chose me even though I have a ninth grade education. Did they choose the Princeton MBA? No. Why? Because the average Princeton MBA does not know how to run a foodservices operation. Because the average Princeton MBA is so wet behind the ears in terms of real life that when they enter any part of Goldman Sachs they are considered rather silly "newbies". Some of them make it there, some of them don't. Some of them go off to teach in other MBA programs, I guess. So you will teach me of restaurant operations? There is a saying in the writing business: "Show, don't tell." Show me that you can feed the partners of Goldman Sachs and their guests as well as I did and get promoted to VP in the Operations Division because of that performance. Show me that, then I'll listen to what you tell. By the way, "Poisson processes" to me means what you do to the fish. ................................................................. Oh. And P.S. Thank you for informing me that ADNY requires a fat checkbook. I might have been able to guess this as it was part of my job to visit places just like ADNY so that we could keep in the loop with our own kitchen and service. And the reason why, finally, I don't really need your help in "getting ahead" in the industry is that I left it. I made enough money while I was in it. Don't need help to get ahead.