Day two: Where my day is full of ups and downs
Posted on | September 28, 2009
So as I sit here, writing this blog, I am picking pebbles out of my palms and eating a heaping serving of, well, for lack of a better name, Korean mush out of a plastic grocery store bag.
Why am I eating out of a plastic grocery store bag? What on earth is Korean mush? Any why, oh why, am I picking pebbles out of my palms?
Trust me. It will all make sense.
Little Monster: “I hate my teacher!”
~ Mother Monster: “Well, then just eat your salad, dear.”
As usual my husband drove me to school. Now, with class starting at 7:30, this means he has to get up early, drive me to school, drive home, finish getting ready for work, then go to work.
He is a very nice man.
However, nice as he is, he will not drive me to school the next few mornings. Why? He’s going on a business trip.
So this morning was the extra nice good bye because I won’t see him for three days. Three long days.
I hate when he goes away. I miss him dreadfully and I sleep horribly.
And I tend to live on cereal.
What do you give to a sick lemon?
~ Lemon aid!
Got in the kitchen and spent the next two hours doing nothing but prep work for our school restaurant.
I was on the salad station. Which meant I made a very nice orange salad vinaigrette, supremed at least 20 oranges, and sliced at least 30 kumquats.
Which also meant I didn’t learn anything. Making this the second wasted kitchen day in a row.
As if that was not bad enough, because we did not cook, we had nothing to eat.
And I was hungry.
How do you make a milk shake?
~ Give it a good scare!
Into the classroom. Where we spent three hours, straight, talking about restaurant costing. For three hours. Three long hours. Three long, hungry hours.
I will not torment you with the mind-numbing details. Instead, I will simply ask that if anyone knows what a contribution margin is, let me in on the secret. When I asked Chef Pigtail, she said it was simply a name, much like “tree” was the name for a, you guessed it, “tree.” So I have no idea what it is and why anyone wants it and what earthy use it is.
All help appreciated.
“What’s the worst thing about being an octopus?”
~ Washing your hands before dinner!
So, from a I’m-here-to-learn-how-to-cook point of view, this day was pretty much a wash. However, despite the persistent drizzle that was too weak to be called a rain but was too wet to be called pleasant, there was a delight on the horizon – I found a farmer’s market just two blocks away from where I catch the public transit to go home.
Food. Farmer food. Must walk faster.
It was a very nice market. But I was so hungry, the only thing I bought was a roll (a fantastic roll, mind you) which I munched as I wandered the market.
Then I left to catch public transit home. Which I missed. So I started to walk. And passed a Thai take out place I love. Hmmm. Maybe I could eat something other than cereal while the husband was away, yes? But, hey, look! There is that Korean take out place I always meant to try. So I ordered food from the Korean place. And missed my ride. Again.
So I stood there. Korean take out in one hand. Knife kit in the other. Backpack with half my most precious belongings on my back. Trying to decide if I should wait or just walk home already.
I decided to walk.
Why don’t they serve chocolate in prison?
~ Because it makes you break out!
Here’s something you don’t know about me: When I am walking in familiar territory I become the absent-minded professor. If I am planning on writing something when I get home, then I tend to write it in my head as I walk. If I have a funny story I want to tell my husband, I’ll write it in my head so I get just the perfect right angle. If I am teaching a class, I’ll think about ways to improve the lectures and assignments. And so on.
And I am so lost in my thoughts that even in a stark naked Brad Pitt, with an entire chocolate cake in one hand and a divorce decree from Angelina Joile in the other could not distract me (erm, are Brad Pitt and Angelina Joile married?).
Which is why it is of no surprise that I slipped on the rain-slick pavement in my clunky chef’s clogs (made for the kitchen, not for a damp stroll home), and landed, palms down, on the pavement, slamming my bag with my Korean lunch onto the ground in front of me with such force that food spilled out of it’s container, turning into a big pile of Korean mush in the bag that held the container.
And, which is why, ten minutes later, I was sitting at my desk picking pebbles out of my palms and eating Korean mush out of a plastic grocery store bag.
See. I told you it would all make sense.
Comments
5 Responses to “Day two: Where my day is full of ups and downs”
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September 28th, 2009 @ 8:13 am
I’ve found that a lot of great Korean food tends to get mushed up anyway (like bi bim bap), but that sucks to fall and spill it out.
I found a wikipedia page on contribution margins. The text isn’t very readable, lots of formulas and such, but the examples make some sense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contribution_margin
September 28th, 2009 @ 8:37 am
When you talk about margin, in retail terms, it is the profit or loss on a given item. So I am pretty sure they are talking about the total coat plus or minus the profit equally the contribution margin. It’s an accounting thing.
If I must, and you know I must, the equation looks something like this:
CM (contribution margin) = R (revenue) – VC (variable costs) or
CM = R-VC
And the reason you use variable cost is because, as you well know, restaurant costs are not fixed, ever.
And that’s our little lesson in profitability for the day.
September 28th, 2009 @ 8:41 am
Try this from chef to chef
http://foodservice.chef2chef.net/restaurant-management/chapters/tip01.shtml
September 28th, 2009 @ 11:27 am
I don’t know how I got so lucky, but if you read my comments you will see that this blog has attracted the most incredibly sweet, intelligent, generous, supportive, kind, thoughtful, delightful people.
I don’t advertise or anything (who has time?!) which means you found me all on your own initiative. And I am so grateful you did.
Thanks. And cheers!
September 29th, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
It just goes to show there are a lot of people who want to hear what you have to say and learn what you have to teach!