dave s.

Although I'm from armadillo territory I've never encountered anyone who would admit to have ever et one, although I've known a possum fancier or two. I s'pose it's because they're so kind of helpless-seems like it would be depraved and gruesome to extricate them from their shells. Much worse than cooters which are snapping turtles. Plus most of the time one sees them smushed by the roadside which does not so to speak pique the appetite.

I agree with most of the preceding, and I'll also recommend some other basic items that unfortunately some people omit to carry to work:pens and permanent markers. Cheap ones because they will inevitably be borrowed and not returned-as well, a wristwatch is usually good to have-some kitchens have easily visible clocks, some don't. My footwear preferences are either synthetic Birki Pros or Klogs-the latter are a good bit cheaper. I'm definitely not a fan of leather shoes in the kitchen-hot liquids penetrate them, they absorb odors, etc. Synthetics clean up easily and are surprisingly durable. And, of course bring a good attitude. That sounds pretty trite but it is so important, especially as a newbie-it's easy to get discouraged. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears(and mind!) open and you'll do well.

Black bananas are indeed vital to this sort of endeavor! They don't look very nice, but have you ever noticed a nice-looking banana is not a tasty banana? And lightly mashed is good. I myself do not make banana bread. I make banana cookies like my Grandma Vada used to make for me-with Crisco(gasp)yet. That's what she used so that's what I use. They are pretty much the same as banana bread in drop cookie form-they never ever get dark no matter how ripe the bananas are!

If you're working on the hot line and using a plastic pastry bag to, say, pipe mashed potatoes, beware! With some (I'm unsure of exact brands), after they've been hot for a while, they tend to loosen up around the tip with unfortunate results. They're also murderously hot on the hands. I finally gave up and went back to the tried-and-true lined cloth bags-Ateco's good, and Edward Don's heavy duty model is very long-lasting.

I feel very strongly about this topic. In one of Mark Bittman's books he mentions that every chef has certain ironclad rules some of which are pure nonsense, and in my experience this is true. My ironclad rule is this-be fearless! My God, it's a wonder anyone ever gets into cooking anymore with all the propaganda floating around out there. I like Alton Brown, but in almost every one of his shows he has some dish which cannot possibly be made without a certain gizmo or apparatus, usually quite pricey. And most books and magazines about cooking do the same sort of thing, as if they're shills for the cookware industry. I have nice gear, but I use it like 50 hours a week. Most people have no need to buy high-end stuff. As far as cooking methods, whatever works, works! And you have to know who you're cooking for-as somebody said, not everyone likes al dente pasta. Very few people-if any-can discern the difference between a dish cooked with jug wine or a rare vintage. And why-WHY, the irrational prejudice against the use of garlic presses? You can't do this, you must do that-it's all jibber-jabber for the most part.

I feel for ya. Somebody already mentioned sucking it up 'til you're done with school, and that's what you'll have to do-but as someone who has worked PMs for a LONG time, I'll tell you this-if you intend to work those hours in the future, forget about bouncing out of bed early in the AM. You'll need time after work to process the day's events, eat-in moderation, 'cause going to bed after a big meal is a REALLY bad idea unless you just want to gain a lot of weight-play on the computer, watch the tube, whatever-but the bottom line is : you're always going to be out of synch with most of mainstream society. And they'll try and give you crap about things like sleeping until 10 or 11, going grocery shopping at 2 in the morning, etc. For me that's normal! The night time is the right time-for police and thieves and cooks! To hell with the civilians, anyway. Persevere.

This has certainly elicited some hard-nosed responses! I cook in a country club where reservations are "encouraged"(whatever that means) but not required. To complicate matters, eighty-sixing anything is cause for Extreme Freakouts on the part of Upper Mgmt. So the idea of actually having some idea of how many folks I'm supposed to be cooking for on any given night is quite foreign to me. Must be nice. At any rate, in my view making a reservation is indeed entering into a contract, albeit an informal one, and certainly every effort should be made to honor it. BUT- things happen, and everyone knows that. As is the case with everything, there has to be some give and take in these situations. I have to wonder at a business which is running things so close to the bone that a certain number of cancellations can't be factored in. And, honestly, I feel that taking a small child to anyplace nicer than a fast-casual restaurant is perhaps not the best idea, but that's another topic.