April, 2024 ~ the month of fools?

Cookin Lore wrote:Is the kitchen staff properly trained?

Nope. That is the problem. They hire kids, or fill a dishwasher position, and then move them up the line.
None of them, have been properly trained.

It is like fighting City Hall.. no win situation. The only thing that has pretty much gotten to them is: The fact that more and more people are asking for a sandwich for supper, instead of the main meal. And that the dining room is practically empty.

not sure about supper tonight. I did buy some salad stuff. Or I could go down and see if they are offering a 'surprise' special.

I think it was Anthony Bourdain who said that when he was staffing a restaurant, he preferred to hire Mexicans. No matter what kind or restaurant it was, Mexicans always did well at preparing food. There is a Greek restaurant near here that we go to and like. The food is always consistent and good and you can hear Spanish being spoken in the kitchen.

Training in the service industry in North America is, I think basically non-existant. But, I think that's really for another whole discussion.

Ok-- I guess, this is a slow thread, now that Beth is not available to post. Beth is the "heart and soul" of this forum...

Yesterday was a 'nibble' day, all day.. No wonder why I cannot lose weight. I ate everything I laid my eyes on... not good...

Today was no cooking. I had almond milk yogurt for breakfast with coffee. Lunch was seafood salad in a small pita bread, with a decaf iced coffee. I was not interested in supper. Just made an old fashioned pot of popcorn: real kernel popcorn with some oil, in a pain.. added a bit of popcorn butter (fake) for taste-- with a couple glasses of flavored seltzer: mandarin/ginger.

What did you have?

Yesterday was a weird day. I did some cleaning, picking up around here; kept bothering Geoffrey! He loved it.. He did not get a chance to nap at all, during the day! We played, cuddled, I did stuff in between; then, I attempted some paperwork. It was actually a continuation of copying and calculating my financial stuff for yearly recertification. I had done a ton of it before. I was supposed to just review things, and copying a few small items. I put the envelope in a 'safe' spot-- in full sight..
Well, wouldn't you know it~~~~~ The envelope, in my "safe" spot in "full" sight, disappeared! I went crazy trying to find it. I was getting desperate. I was really sweating it. So glad I had kept copies of copies; and the originals.

So, I had to re-copy a lot of things.
After about 1.5 hours of this; I had it.. I was getting confused, and aggravated..
When lo and behold, I found "The Envelope" !! It had slid down between pieces of furniture!! My 'safe' spot!!

I gave up! I just organized and paper clipped things, and put it aside. I also found a lot of receipts which I thought I had thrown away!! Yes, St Anthony ALWAYS comes through...

So, it was almost 2 hours of paperwork, copying things, paper clipping them, organizing, putting in the special manilla envelope for Tuesday! I swear, recertification is worse than having taxes done. I get really confused after about an hour or 1.5 hours.

I needed to get out!! I needed a break! It was a cloudy, raw day; but I needed out and away from this junk. It was semi-close to supper time. I decided to walk down the street and pick up a nice Greek Salad from a Greek/American restaurant, on the beach. The salad was huge. Nice fresh feta, nice fresh pita bread, which they re-heated, and great salad dressing.

I ate 1/2 of the salad, leaving the rest for today. I did not add all the dressing. I kept some for today, so the salad is still nice and fresh. The pita bread was so good with it.

This morning, after church, I picked up some nice fresh pita at the grocery store. That will be my supper.

I just finished my leftovers from last night's beef on the bun dinner in the building. Yummy! We had the beef/gravy and roasted potatoes from a local market. Fabulous! I am chair of the social committee which organizes, so we took some of the leftovers home. We ordered way too much beef, so an unused/unopened 5 lb. container of beef and gravy/buns went to a local shelter. No picture of the food, but I'll send a picture of the people! We also had peas/carrots from Costco served in a large crock[-pot. and a large coleslaw made by one of the committee. Dessert was ice cream on a :stick" we had four different ones so poeple could choose. $15./person. It was a fun evening.

I’m not cooking for the next several weeks so I won’t be posting. But if you want some more activity….ill post pics of my trip thru Panama Canal. Wait a few days

From Lore:

"Dinner Last night. Beef on the bun party in my building. One picture of the room, the other, two members of our committee Anne and Rick. No, not a couple, Rick is our only male member and is absolutely a gem at organizing parties etc. He jokes about having the “gay gene” for that. He was serving the beef and potatoes.

i know I posted here today but I don't see it. I must have forgot to hit send. Charlie asked for ribs again since the last batch was gone too soon for his liking. I made my favorite coleslaw. Someone from church would bring it to potlucks when I was small.

Good morning from sunny Niagara!  Question about coleslaw.  Just for fun.  I shred the cabbage in my mandolin, as I like the look of the ribbons of cabbage.  I did use my food processor when I had one (It died at I think age about 15!) but used a larger blade. Coleslaw that is made commercially, and was done by one of our committee members on Saturday, is shredded so finely that it just looks mushy to me.  Flavour was very good, I'm just talking optics.  So, for you experts here small or larger pieces of cabbage?  Personally, I think mine looks best, and I always have a lot of parsley in it, for colour!
Have a great day everyone!

P.S on edit. I have been trying, particularly after seeing all the wonderful food I see here, to eat what they say "Eat the rainbow". Or have lots of natural colour on my plate. Also, I bought a small book called "Rocking the plate" which is just making food look appetizing.

The coleslaw that I made yesterday was cut with a knife and I only used a quarter of a head of cabbage because I expected only two of us would be eating it and didn't know if my son would like it or not. I made it quickly and didn't chop it too finely or try to make it uniform in size
. I have tried it with a food processor and found it too fine.  I think the best results I have had is with the coarse side of a box grater.  I have an inexpensive Japanese mandolin but haven't tried it with cabbage.

PS Charlie liked it a lot and wants me to make it every time I make slaw from now on.

While the flavour of the slaw on Saturday was good I thought it didn't look appetizing. But, no one complained, and a lot of it was gone. I also sometimes add red pepper. But, always a lot of parsley! I'm glad to read that I'm not alone in liking the cabbage pieces a little bigger!

I was craving Scotch Eggs so that is what I made.

I just finished my dinner of rainbow trout done in the oven, and a dish I've posted about here several times, lentils with veggies in them, like a salad.  Sending two pictures................. one of the trout in just as it came out of the oven, and then, half the trout and my lentils.









Thanks again! Looking at that picture, that piece of trout looks like it is shoved into the lentils like a shovel ready to pick up! I assure you, I had a fork and a knife there! LOL.

Still no cooking from me...
The 'girls' grabbed me to go shopping.. and lunch..
So, that it was. I drove, we hit one outdoor mall, searching 4 stores.
Then it was time for lunch.

We hit a pizza place! Yup, pizza again.. man, I could live on pizza. We went to "The Brown Jug"; originally a bar, but moved and converted into a bar/very casual restaurant. I was shocked to see the original wooden booths! So tiny! A piece of shoddy nostalgia.. But such good food! The bar area still smells like an old time bar!

We ordered an antipasto salad, which was huge! and so good. The pizza was a combo of 1/2 regular cheese and 1/2 margarita. One friend had never tried margarita pizza, so I gave her a piece of my slice.
It was just the 3 of us. Pat and myself had a glass of wine, with Donna having a draft beer.

All in all it was a good day. We gave the leftover pizza and salad to Pat to take home for her husband.

Today, I do not know what I am having: last day for the minestrone, before it gets tossed; so I think that will be it.

Tomorrow is a trip to the Elizabeth Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. We will bring snacks for the ride home. It is a group excursion. Thursday is a 'Disco" Party in here. Donna is all out, she ordered a disco outfit. Pat bought some love beads, that I can share with her!! I think this afternoon, I will do more shopping for snacks, and perhaps the Dollar Store for more beads, a la disco!