Posted on August 25th, 2008 by tyronebcookin
(this is a personal rant)
I was talking on the phone to a friend recently who is in multiple facets of the food service business. One thing we have had in common in the past (many times) is the frustration and anger of being judged negatively by your ‘bosses’ personal taste buds, even though everyone else’s taste buds are being satisfied every day.
Here’s the scenario: You have a boss that eats some of your food and because he personally doesn’t like the meal he feels like your ‘heart’ was not in the meal. But later your boss eats a meal that he really loves (you know the standard ‘meat & potato’ meal with no creativity) and he thinks your doing ‘better’. But really that was the least amount of work and thought you ever put into a meal, actually it almost cooked itself.
Its really hard to be judged according to someone else’s taste buds when their taste buds are inexperienced and offended at anything different. My friend is in a similar situation to me. He cooks by menu’s he’s developed to help accommodate some international ‘taste’ so its quite easy to ‘offend’ the ‘meat & potato’ mouth. Especially when the ‘meat & potato’ mouth accuses you of not putting your ‘heart’ into your job. Frustrating. Wouldn’t the boss like to know it took like ‘zilch’ effort to cook the meal he liked the best?
I had a similar experience in the past…cooking a certain lunch crowd I pulled out the creativity and went a little ‘Asian’ style with some grilled chicken salads. Later a ‘colleague’ commented that the interim boss -a temporary boss- asked them (the colleague), if I was ‘ok’ or doing well because they felt like something was wrong with me AND THATS why my lunch chicken salad was not what he liked or expected(not the BIG BOSS that arranged the lunch who I have cooked for over & over again — and they know and like my ’style’). He thought I made a poor lunch and questioned whether I did it on purpose because I didn’t like my job. Does he not realize that everyone else doesn’t enjoy the boring food he likes? Or even comes from the same country or cultural background?
Hello, the lunch was not for him or arranged by him. He was just a guest of the bigger boss.
I hate it when people judge our performance or ‘welfare’ based off of their BLAND NON-CEATIVE taste buds…Ah, but that was in the past, in a land far away…but it does really make me MAD for my friend because I recognize the ‘mind-set’ he is dealing with.
SORRY my friend, I feel your pain and It makes me just as mad knowing you have to deal with it!
(End Tyrone’s personal rant, sympathy, & empathy for a fellow Epicurean)
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Posted on August 24th, 2008 by tyronebcookin
My mother writes about my niece & nephew (Noah is 8)…
They are studying the presidents, and we talked about them when Noah and Katy were here last night. Noah is impressed with little quotes and sayings, and he told me that Kennedy said,
“Ask not what your country can do for you! Ask if you can do one for your country!”
I asked them which president left the White House in disgrace, and they didn’t know, so I told them it was Nixon, and then they asked me what he did (to bring disgrace on himself) and I told them that Nixon was involved with a bad thing that folks call “Watergate”.
Noah said: “Oh!…….I thought he was involved with POLITICS!”
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Posted on August 21st, 2008 by StephanieRN
Posted on August 21st, 2008 by StephanieRN
I have been working in Recovery Room for the past 3 weeks and I really love it. Although, I must admit I do miss the relationships that i have with the patients on the ward. I truly believe I have the best of both worlds by switching back and forth from the recovery room to the ward.
I am really happy, well actually I think I can accurately use the word joyful to describe where I am at right now. I think the reason why I finally have this joy and the undertones of being miserable are gone, is because of the time I have been spending reading the Bible. I have known forever that reading God’s word is important but I did not know that it would quench my thirst. I did not know that it would allow me to rest easy, as the Liberians say.
When a patient wakes up from surgery the first thing they say is “I want drink”. See, they have not been allowed to drink anything since midnight the night before and by the time they waited most of the day to go to the OR and then they finally woke up after their surgery they are truly parched. This is a huge picture in my life right now. I have been parched, but no more I know the keeper of the well, and I will thirst no more.
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Posted on August 20th, 2008 by tyronebcookin
Below is a article recently published in the “Liberian Observer Online” in which Dr. Gwenigale forcefully dismisses the recent rumors. [If article is blurry, click it for full view]
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Posted on August 19th, 2008 by tyronebcookin
The following pictures are of the Corn Tortillas that were sent on the frozen container - I just recently started using them. After having them pulled from the freezer and defrosted for half a day I discovered that even though they were frozen there were ADVANCED cases of MOLD on them and I threw at least half of the case away in the trash/rubbish. I have not looked at the other cases yet but we bought both corn and flour.
Yes, its a little scary to know the mold was advancing on the tortillas sometime before they arrived for us…especially since that doesn’t happen unless they have been thawed out and froze again.
If you try to fry these corn tortillas they will probably kill the mold culture and be safe to eat, BUT the mold still makes dark spots on the chips when frying them.
Another good way to tell mold if you can’t see it well is by smelling the product. Mold smells, and it smells like no corn tortilla you ever sniffed or any other food for that matter.
Its really going to be a shame if the rest are that way…another unplanned trip to the ‘deep freeze’ tomorrow. Oh what Joy!
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