Skip to main content

MyPlate...Not The Government's Version

I'd really like to be able to post today about some amazing food thing I've done or learned recently.

But alas, I won't be able to today.

In typical vaudeville-esque fashion, I am trying to keep the spinning plates aloft in the air.

Plate #1 - The Educational Plate: I finish the last of my two six-week classes TODAY.  I will be giving a presentation on the business I have developed.  This project has consumed quite a bit of time and energy, as the instructor wants specifics regarding what kind of equipment we need, food inventory, floor plan, employee job descriptions, and the like.  I also sat for a comprehensive Culinary Exam on Tuesday...which required a little studying and preparing for as well.

Plate #1.a (or #2) - The Internship Plate: After today, Plate #1 will no longer be part of the act, but it will be replaced by #1.a or #2...Getting Ready for Internship.  I leave in less than a month for the shores of Lake Huron.  I will be gone for six months.  Important questions include:  What books should I bring?  How many tubes of toothpaste?  Who's bringing the plasma-screen TV: me or the roomie?  How am I going to adjust to sharing a living space with someone that is not my husband?  These are the things I lose sleep over.

Plate #3 - The New Job Plate: My winery job ended in early March, and I started another restaurant job the week after that.  While I greatly value my time at the winery, I am learning about line cooking at the new place...which I'm sure I'll need in Michigan.  I'm also discovering that nobody cares if I'm a la-di-da Culinary Student...they just want to know if I can work and if I can work fast.  It's been humbling to say the least.

Plate #4 - The Parenting Plate: I have a very intelligent 14-year-old living in my house who, all of a sudden, has been beset by a bout of un-ambition and laziness, especially when it comes to grades.  In fact, he has recently been quoted as saying, "Work is stupid.  I want to have fun."  And while I'm sure he didn't mean it quite as strongly as that, and just chose his words very poorly, the sentiment behind the words is the disturbing thing.  We can't quite ascertain if this is really how he is feeling or if this is some teenage-angst-dilemma we are dealing with.  Teenagers are aliens, people.  I believe this is the why we have found no other life-forms out there in the universe...they're here, living amongst us in the forms of teenagers.

Plate #5 - The Self-Educated Plate: I am trying to read.  Read for fun, read for education, just READ!  I'm current at work on this piece of fictionalized biography (correct word for genre unknown at the time of typing) Under The Wide and Starry Sky...the narrative that tells the story of the romance between Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, etc.) and American Fanny Osbourne.  But I'm also scouring this cookbook, Beef and Other Bovine Matters...and now, I just really want to try carpaccio sometime!

Plate #6 - The Philosophical Plate: Still trying to answer those big life questions: What am I supposed to be doing?  What's my passion?  Where do I want to go with this life?  What next?  These answers need to come to me before I come back home in October.

And that's it, readers.  No gems of kitchen wisdom or hilarity today.  Just real life attempting to smack me in my face.  Repeatedly.

But, like Max Ehrmann says, the universe is unfolding.  Things are happening.  It is good.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Garden Party, Pt. 2

6:30 is too early for a Sunday, ne c'est pas?  Alas, that is the time I arose this morning, and while my body wanted to fall back asleep, my mind was already off and running.  So, up I got. Something tells me I'm going to regret this later...like when I'm trying to watch the new Avengers movie tonight. Last Sunday was my last day off, and that was only at my request.  There are no more days off in the foreseeable future, between the part-time bar job and the near-40 hour demands of the restaurant.  It's a hard-knock life, I reckon, but that's how it goes when you're in search of The Dream.  So we savor the tranquil moments while we can.  Like yesterday, for example.  By some stroke of excellent luck, it was just me and the youngest son in the house for a few hours.  I took him out for lunch, and then I made him do yardwork with me.  I showed him how to mow the yard, and he discovered it's not terribly fun nor easy.  Ah, yes. Tranq...
Post a Comment
Read more

Go Placidly

My food truck business started back up this past weekend, and from here until November, the weeks will be packed.  Sandwich-slinging Thursday-Saturday and bartending work Monday-Wednesday.  And Sunday, I guess, is the day to sleep in and hide in my house. Hiding out is the one thing I feel like doing a lot of these days.  My food truck's ReOpening wasn't the only thing happening in my hometown this weekend past.  A 13-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed on Saturday and then yesterday, the police department busted one of the biggest meth labs in a long time. Both are tragic...one is a sad loss, one that will devastate a loving family for the rest of their lives.  One is tragic only because of the profound stupidity/ignorance/addiction of a few people who happen to be living in a town mostly filled with good-hearted, hard-working people. And if it's not drama at the local level, then there's the constant bombardment of news that seems to be vividly...
5 comments
Read more

Groceries This Week and The Three-Week Challenge!

Now, this is what I'd like my pie charts to look like every week: Somehow, I just can't get around buying condiments!  That's been a slice in my chart the last several weeks...this week, it was jelly for my kids' lunchtime PB & Js. The snacks slice is a bit bigger than I'd like, but I took advantage of the 2/$4 deal on graham crackers (got some frozen homemade cream cheese frosting I need to use up - hence, improviso s'mores!).  Also, Ritz crackers to substitute in for the "Lunchables" my daughter wanted to buy for her soccer games on Saturday. But, fresh produce at nearly a quarter of spending?  Yes, that's awesome.  My cart was laden with watermelon, apples, oranges, and muskmelon.  YUM!  The significantly smaller 'Meat' slice is due to a small purchase of lunchmeat for weekly wraps and sandwiches. I am pleased with the variety of spending, as well as the low receipt total this week. Spending This Week: $60.86  -  Total Expe...
Post a Comment
Read more