jeniac42

One of the best things I've ever had is an avocado smoothie bubble tea drink. I have no clue how to make it but MAN was it tasty.

Wow, those both look amazingly good. Especially because it's 81F in my office (IN MY OFFICE) right now and cold, refreshing foods sound amazingly appealing.

I thought it might be because it already had "sauce", but I wasn't sure. I love the tonkatsu sauce so much I'd be likely to ask for it anyway... maybe I should make like the people in those salad dressing commercials and take a bottle with me to restaurants in my purse

Oh, now I am dying for some tonkatsu. I haven't found the Japanese grocery stores here yet, but that will be remedied on Sunday, and then IT'S ON. I have a (stupid) question; further up-thread, someone mentioned asking for sauce with their katsudon which is apparently a huge faux pas... why? I figure I might as well look stupid here instead of looking stupid in a restaurant someday

I would want them to look as perfect as possible. I am far from being skilled enough to make anything I bake or any chocolates look perfect, but that's the eventual goal. Not machine-made cookie-cutter, but no air bubbles, no misshapen blobby things, etc. I think I pretty much agree with Skwerl.

Wow, everyone's desserts look amazing. I had a copy of this book but unfortunately lost it to someone else in the process of moving *ahem* I'd love to get another copy and start baking from it again - I really want to make the pave Faubourg next. I have made the Nutella tart, the chocolate mousse, and... um... I know there was something else but I'm drawing a blank right now. The tart is to die for. I don't bake it anymore because I'd eat half of it still warm and the other half for breakfast the next morning. I also made a "turtle" version of the nutella tart with caramel on the bottom, toasted pecans on the top... that was excellent.

I've pretty much fallen off the face of eGullet over the past year, but I'm back, and good timing, too. I've always wanted to learn to make mole, since it's one of my favorite sauces. It's just too bad I'm in Pittsburgh now and not Columbus, because there aren't nearly as many sources for all the ingredients here. If I can find everything I need, I plan to make the recipe Abra linked to on Monday.

Pizza. I saw one other post on this thread from someone who doesn't like it, but most everyone looks at me like I have at least seventeen heads when I say I don't. I really can't even choke it down (which I tried to do when we had lunch meetings, "food provided" and it turned out to be pizza). Smells like vomit to me. I think it's because I don't like oregano, generally, although I will tolerate it in some places. But oregano plus tomato = puke puke puke. (Mexican oregano is put-up-withable.) I also dislike the chocolate-orange flavor combination. It sends weird shooting pain waves through my jaw, so it's physically unenjoyable. Ice cream. I'll eat it, but I don't really get the craving for it, ever. I'd usually rather just have a custard instead. The only place I think it's called for is on warm desserts, where I let it melt, and there I could just as easily dump heavy cream on the dessert and call it a day.

I read it. It ended up being less about kitchen stuff and more about chick-lit topics. It only took me a few hours to finish so it's not like it wasted too much of my time, and I checked it out of the library so it was free. I wouldn't buy it.

I eat canned tuna fish at least once a week, usually more. I have been known to eat it straight out of the can (and have discovered, by the way, that this is the only thing I know of that isn't improved by the addition of sriracha - just tastes more metallic). Growing up we never had tuna salad, just oil-packed tuna on squishy white bread. No condiments or vegetables. Sometimes I still crave this and then I eat it and wonder why. I like tuna salad with mayo and relish; tuna salad with mayo, hard-boiled egg, chopped dill pickles, and onion; tuna salad with mayo, onion, and celery. I also really like the tuna salad I found in Mark Bittman's book (tuna, olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, habanero sauce) but I find it doesn't hold very well. Tuna with cannelini beans, sage, red wine vinegar, and olive oil is also very good. Chicken of the Sea is advertising, as mentioned earlier, chunkier tuna - and it is. It's much better, and I like it better than the pouches (which I previously enjoyed due to their less-pre-flaked nature). Now I am hungry and should go get one of the approximately 25 cans of tuna out of the pantry and eat it.

My apologies for not posting anything lately. Since my wrist went out, I haven't been doing much baking; mostly I get stuck putting away everyone else's baked goods and working the hot line all night. Disappointing for me and not much fun reading. I'll try to come up with something soon!

I like the Jose Madrid salsas, which are made in Ohio. Mostly I just get the specialty ones, like the garlic-olive or the raspberry. By and large I don't like jarred salsas because they taste like vinegar, and I don't like tomatoes and vinegar together very much. Especially not when I think, "Hey, salsa sounds good!" because for some reason I associate salsa with fresh tomatoes and the vinegar just kills that for me. (I grew up eating tomatoes out of hand with just a little bit of salt, so this may have something to do with my feelings on the matter.)

This is fully and totally unhelpful to the question at hand, but this thread reminded me of the Southern-type restaurant where I used to work. Deep-fried catfish was the number one seller there. When I worked the fry station, I hated having to use the buttermilk mixture if someone else had made it. The other guy tended to put heavy cream (?!?!) in it and the crust would burn way before the catfish was cooked. Can you say "pain in the ass"? I knew you could! (I never had a problem if it was mostly buttermilk, which I suppose has fewer sugars than cream?)

Wow, I had no idea they had an Italian background. The shop does Austrian/German stuff, primarily. I've been trying to find out if they're traditional and what the story is, so if anyone else knows I'd love to hear it.

I really appreciate all the nice words and support. It's hard for me, because I just made this major career change and am finally doing something I enjoy (most of the time), and along comes my wrist, making me afraid I won't be able to continue doing it. I spoke with the owner of the bakery today. He's being very understanding, and said that since it's very busy today he does need someone who can keep pace with the work that needs to be done and has someone who can fill in for me. He also said that my job is completely secure, because I've been doing well and I will be there for the longer term, so make sure the wrist is rested and well so I don't burn myself out. It's nice to work for good people. I think I have found a free clinic here that's open on Mondays, which happens to be my day off, so I will probably try that this week. Maybe they can suggest some theraputic exercises or something so I can get myself back to working 100%. Meantime I think I might go to the library and see if they have the Kaffehaus book mentioned earlier... do some research in my down time.

They don't seem to have these knives on the SLT website. We have a SLT store here but I don't know if they carry them - I don't recall seeing them there. I really don't need any more knives, but I can just go play with it at the store... right? I am familiar with the anthropomorphization of one's knives. I feel guilty when talking about my Bunmei in front of my Wusthof. I also think Wusthof steel has it out for me - I love the knives but they're also the only ones I've seriously cut myself with. Hmm, could it be jealousy?

Oh, just to be clear: I don't really get frustrated that he doesn't know to move out of the way. He doesn't mind if you tap him on the shoulder on the side you're passing on, so that's how we let him know not to back up suddenly or turn around while holding a bowl because we're standing there, etc. It's actually quite nice for me because I am not very loud when I speak and a lot of times hearing people don't hear me when I say "behind you" so I was pretty much down to tapping on shoulders anyhow :grin: He does the same to have us move out of his way. With my wrist acting up I'm not cooking at home right now, but as soon as it's better I'm going to try the earplug exercises. I'll be sure to report back.

Oh, I'm willing to ask for help. I'm just not sure where to try to find that kind of thing. I've done a few web searches and haven't gotten very far. I ended up not working today. I was going to go in and work the dinner service and just try to be really careful, but they got someone else to fill in. This sucks for me, because I can't afford to lose the hours, but sometimes I guess it can't be helped. Since I've only been there for a short time, I am afraid of losing my job; not because they're mean, but if you run a small business you may not be able to afford keeping someone on who can't work 100%. Argh.

Yeah, I figure I will see a doctor about it as soon as I can come up with the money or get insurance. It scares me, because I like this profession and I don't want to have to give it up because of wrist problems. I mean, I'm 25 now, so in 20 years I imagine it will be pretty bad. I do feel terrible about leaving and I'm afraid I won't be able to go in tomorrow, but it's such a busy week, I also feel like I have to. Especially since I've only worked there for a month! (There's really no external pressure to do this, by the way; the owner said to take my time and get my wrist better, so I think he might be amenable to my doing work that helps out but won't overtax the wrist.)

This guy's been working there for three years, so he's got a reasonably good system, I think. Or at least a tolerance level, anyway. I doubt I could get everyone there to go in with earplugs, but I'll certainly try it at home sometime soon. I think I kind of rely on my hearing a lot. I don't like to work when there's a lot of noise and it's hard for me to focus if I'm in a loud environment. I can't drive with loud music on because I feel like I'm not adequately aware of my environment. So I think the earplugs would be a good experiment for me. About the ASL for "thank you" - I thought I had it and did two things today, silly. First I was all flustered and my coworker put the paddle on the Hobart for me, while I was carrying a bunch of stuff. So I tried to sign "thank you" with a bench scraper in my hand, which I think is probably a faux pas. Plus I got it wrong, so he corrected me. I'm not sure what I said, exactly, but I know it was something I've seen him do. This is a little off the topic, but related to the conversation. I was a linguistics major for a while so it's always cool for me when I've got people using different languages around me. I've taken a lot of language classes, including ASL (but only for six weeks, and that was ten years ago, so I don't remember any of it). I also worked with a guy whose parents were both deaf, so he was fluent in ASL. That's why I know about the different grammars.

I'll admit I haven't had time to read through all the Q&A, so maybe some of this has been covered. I work in a bakery and one of my coworkers is deaf. I'm not sure if he was born this way or if it happened later in life (though, at a guess, I would say born that way; when he writes things down they come out in ASL grammar instead of English grammar). He doesn't seem to have balance problems, but it's made me think about how difficult it must be to cook without hearing. He can't hear his timers going off, so we all pitch in to let him know. As you probably know if you've been in a professional kitchen, moving around with so many people can get frustrating, and even more so if you can't ask someone to move out of your way easily or hear them saying "behind you" so you can anticipate having to move out of their way. As an aside, he still manages to do more work in a day than almost anyone there. I am trying to learn some basic ASL signs (I've got "thank you" down, anyway) so I can talk to him better. So far it's mostly pidgin signing, which he usually understands.

I am so frustrated today. My wrist started acting up badly, so I wore my brace, but it was too late I guess. I got shooting pains down my arm and it made me so slow at work, and finally got to the point where I was in tears from the pain. I try to never let 'em see me sweat, so this was a big deal. Anyway, the PC asked if I was OK, I explained about my wrist and said that it would probably take me two or three times as long to get everything done tonight. He and the owner decided to send me home. So I left behind unfinished work that someone else now has to do. I don't want to be that person who creates a burden for someone else, especially not during such a busy week. So now I have to try to rest the wrist and hope it's better tomorrow. I guess I can go in and volunteer to run dishes through or something if it's not. ARGH. What do you guys (pros) do when you're hurting at work? What's the line? I mean, I guess if I went on working I'd have put myself out of comission for longer, but I'm still so disappointed in myself.

I think I've seen Lyle's at the World Market (Cost Plus) around here, too.

Wow, the days at work are long. Today was kind of an accomplishment for me: the first time I made something start to finish, 100%. I mixed, formed, and baked all the chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Hardly a triumph of baking, but it was still a milestone. Plus, I got to use the 140qt Hobart, with the automatic bowl lifter. That was cool. I can't even remember what else I did. It's very busy right now, because we're participating in an outdoor festival and graduation season is upon us. I know my back hurts from jockeying sheet trays around all day. I'd probably be a better server now - I can sure carry stuff up on my shoulder. Unfortunately my tendonitis is kicking in. My right wrist is swollen pretty badly, and the pain's starting back. It was very bad a few months ago, when I worked the grill station and had to use the very heavy saute pans there. My joints hyperextend (double-jointed) and so I'm going to have to start wearing my wrist brace again. That should be interesting, given how gloves probably won't fit over the thing. I feel like I can't even think of anything interesting to say. I guess I should make notes through the week and post when I'm not brain-dead!

That seems like a pretty good deal for a copper pan. There's a SLT near me now, so I might consider picking one up. Why is copper best for sugar work? I know I've heard this, and we have a giant copper bowl at work that's used for all the sugar cooking, but I can't seem to remember the science behind it. Adele, the creme brulees were not too hard once I figured out (actually on my own, although I know it's standard procedure now) to put the water in once the pan was in the oven.