An article of note and my personal stand on each...

There is an article out today called 25 Things Chefs Never Tell You.... I enjoyed this very much and thought you might be interested where I stood on these items.  Maybe not but it will be fun to share them.  :)  So, quick... go read the article and then take a gander at mine if you are so inclined.

Chefs are pickier than you think.
This is true true true.... I hate liver and onions (together) and will not touch Tofu, oysters, gizzards, anything having to do with entrails, tongue or other organ meat.  YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!  LOL  I am also picky about how things are cooked... this is why I choose not to eat out much.  I like my own cooking better in most cases.  That is just how I roll.  

Still, chefs hate picky eaters.
THIS DRIVES ME INSANE!!!!  If I go to the trouble to make it I want someone to like it!  LOL  It also hurts my feelings if someone does not like something I put a lot of effort into.  

When eating out in other restaurants, chefs say they avoid pasta and chicken.
I love that someone said they want to eat something they cannot make for themselves!  SO TRUE!!!  I sit in a restaurant with Dan telling him how much it REALLY costs to make something and then refuse to order things that are WAY overpriced.  I am SO THIS WAY!!!

Chefs have expensive taste.
I fall in line with this one, too....  I always want expensive ingredients and quality food.  I only shop at certain places and will pour over the produce and meat sections until I find the best one in the store.  I will try to buy things on sale but some things are just worth it to me to pay a little more.  I cannot help myself when it comes to wanting great taste despite the crazy price.  Blue Bell ice cream is this kind of thing for me... there is NO OTHER ice cream on the market that is THAT GOOD!!!  I will splurge for it and that drives my husband CRAZY!!!  LOL

...and yet they like fast food.
No... not so much.  I have pretty much given up every fast food with the exception of ONE SINGLE THING.... When I am in New Mexico I MUST HAVE a Green Chili Burger from Blake's Lottaburger... MUST.HAVE.THE.BURGER!!!

Critics trump movie stars in the VIP pecking order.
I would have to say I would probably be this way...  someone judging my food is more important than someone out to be the center of attention every time.  LOL

Roaches are more common than you think.
You know, and I am being totally honest... I have not seen a that many roaches either in school or at work.  We run a pretty tight clean ship in both.  My boss and I are are cleanies at work and don't ever leave a messy kitchen.... EVER!  

Only 13% of chefs have seen a cook do unsavory things to a customer’s food.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE DO THIS... EVER!!!

Your bread basket might be recycled.
No, not where I have worked but it might go home to my kiddos.  LOL  Not the eaten off of pieces but if they are not touched we are not picky!  

Chefs work hard for low pay.
YOU KNOW IT!!!  No one I know is making six figures or even high 5 figure incomes in this industry.  Only the top chefs make any livable wage and most others barely make ends meet.  That is the nature of the industry.... it is mostly hard grunt work and not much head work so it does not pay.  The thing that keeps me in it is that I love serving people.... it is the hospitality gift in me and I am not just about the job but about the ministry and service aspect so it works for me.  Plus it makes me TOTALLY HAPPY to feed people things they love.  TOTALLY!!!

“Vegetarian” is open to interpretation.
NOT WHERE I WORK IT ISN'T!!!  We pride ourselves on keeping things pure... vegetarian means vegetarian, vegan means vegan and gluten free means gluten free.... that is how we roll!

Paying for a last-minute reservation probably won’t work.
First come first serve baby!!!  

Menu “specials” are often experimental dishes.
or trying to get rid of ingredients that have been around almost too long... not where I am but at some places I have eaten.  The instructors at school say this is true all over. 

The appropriate tip is 20%... 

I pretty much tip 20% on everything... my husband, bless him, thinks 15% is plenty and we will invariably have this conversation every time we go out... These people are already making nothing so I think we should tip better than 15% every time.  

...unless the service is really poor.
I agree...

That rule about not ordering fish on Sunday might be worth following.
True... don't do it!  LOL

Chefs hate working on New Year’s Eve more than any other holiday.
I honestly don't like working any holidays but with catering we have that out.  We just don't take jobs on holidays so we can be with our families.  My boss is the mom of three children and I am the mom of four so we TOTALLY agree on this one.  

They secretly want to be Alton or Giada.
I don't want to be them but I sure would love to apprentice with Alton Brown and if I weren't married I might flirt with him, too.  LOL  Giada... nope... no thanks.  

Chefs cook when they’re sick.
because if you don't go to work you lose your job... someone can replace you in an instant so most people suck it up and go to work... me included.  

The five-second rule actually applies.
I DO NOT PICK FOOD UP OFF THE FLOOR AND COOK IT AT WORK.  I will wash it if it is washable at home but NEVER AT WORK!!!!  EVER EVER EVER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Your waiter is trying to influence your order.
Yep.... ;)

Restaurants mark up wine by a lot more than you might expect.
Drinks in general are the biggest money makers in any food business.  The mark-up is HUGE on drinks.  I ALWAYS ORDER WATER... ALWAYS!!!  

There’s a reason so many restaurants serve molten chocolate cake.
It is popular... one of those trendy things to be sure but it is also really delicious if made right!  LOL  YUM!!!

A shared quote...

A while back Jenny shared this great quote with me...

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

I have been wanting to write about this so I did not respond and I am sorry it has been so long.

Anyway, this quote is something that I have been contemplating in my life for years without even knowing it. For many women we spend the majority of our adult lives trying to eat right or lose weight or both. We beat ourselves up over bad food choices and resolve to starve or exercise ourselves to death to look like those horid emaciated women in those magazines. When I was in college (the first time) 20 years ago I realized I could no longer eat like I was 13 so food became the enemy. I counted calories and dieted and lost and gained. It was such an awful vicious cycle. There was one point in my life that I survived on about 800 calories a day and taught myself to ignore my stomach growling and the signals that I was starving. It took a very wonderful fiance/husband to pull me out of that.

It took me many years to realize that food was not the enemy but dieting was. We were not designed to ignore food or skip eating. We need to be refueled and nourished. I have read in other countries that meals are made for family and they are lingered over together. In America we are so guilty of rushing through our meals if we stop to eat them at all. When we do eat I am not sure we are even tasting it before it is "down the hatch". Our mentality about food could use some revamping.

I recently read a book called the Sonoma Diet. I do not usually read diet books but my MIL said this one was very different and she was right. It is a magnificent book on eating healthy great tasting food and sitting and savoring and lingering over a meal. The book encourages one to savor your food - really taste it. To stop and slow down and enjoy each bite is important. It is good for us to slow down. The world is rushing forward too fast and we need to take time to jump off and rest. Slowing down to eat is one of the ways we take time out. There would not be as much heart disease and stress disorders if people would just take time to slow down a bit. God designed us to work but He also designed us to sit and eat and sleep. Work is not all there is to life.

There are other reasons that food is important and I believe that people lose these things when they do not take the time to prepare, eat and share great food. Our family has some very important ties to mealtimes. Besides the fact that I am in culinary school to become a caterer we take time to cook together in our home. We prepare every meal and very rarely go out to eat. We have family meals and do take time to linger over that last bite together while we talk about the day. Some of my most valuable memories of family members that are no longer with us are based around food. There is a rich heritage in many families centered around food. For me, much of the joy of food is in the process of preparing it. I believe that is a lost art in America today. People are too busy to enjoy the process of anything much less make a home cooked meal. I know cooking is not for everyone (or at least they think it is not) but there is some catharsis in it for me that just calms me.

In contemplating diets and weight I don't think the food is the problem. I think using food as a drug is the problem. I did it for years. I have an addictive personality and I know that. Being aware of that has helped me to make better decisions. When I stopped medicating myself with food I no longer continued to gain weight. It is about moderation. It is about eating what your body needs - and sometimes it needs chocolate. ;) Many illnesses could be halted by simply eating the good for you stuff and the not so good for you stuff in moderation. I learned I did not need a whole box of ice cream but merely a few bites to satisfy that craving. So, stop when you are satisfied. Learn to recognize when you are full or almost full. Don't stuff yourselves. These are things I live by and I enjoy eating so much more now.

Food is not the enemy - it is a tool. It is a tool for nutrition, health, family fellowship, and in my case many church fellowships, slowing down to rest, building memories and family traditions that build relationships and something that we are meant to enjoy. Finding joy in a bite of cheesecake is not a sin. Eating the whole cheesecake is. LOL So...

"Stop whatever it is you are doing and devote your attention to eating." You will be surprised how much better you will feel if you do. :)

November is NATIONAL BREAD MONTH

November is National Bread Month

I am a bread baker! That is my specialty!!!
Oh, I want to cater, too, but bread baking and baking in general is my PASSION.
So, for the month of November I will be posting on bread and
whole grains and baking and all kinds of goodies.
So, get ready for the wonderful world of BREAD!!!

Here is an article from our local paper about the monthly celebration.
The Marcia Dowdy mentioned is a mentor of mine.
She was instrumental in teaching me to bake for my family.
She is an amazing woman!!!

You can also check out my sidebar to the right.
Scroll down to the section on Breadbaking 101 to get started.

Thanks for reading!!!

A Year of Cooking...an article by Kym Wright

I really tried to find a link to this so that I could just send you there to read it. I was unable to do so but the full credit to this article is included so you know who wrote it and where to go to find more info. Hope you enjoy this...

A Year of Cooking

written by Kym Wright

As homeschooling moms, we sometimes have lofty dreams of teaching our children to cook. We buy Amish cookbooks, how-to-make candy recipes, fix-in-15-minutes cookbooks, and everything in between. Every purchase is a dream of teaching our children this wonderful skill, but still, sometimes, the best we can do is pass on the great tradition of making wonderful PB&J’s. Is there hope for us? I believe there is. What began as a reaction to my fantasies gone by the wayside, has now become a lifesaving device.

First, we make or buy an apron for each child. No frills and lace for the boys, but do let every student choose their own fabric or apron – something which appeals to them and expresses something about their personality. They’ll live with these choices for years to come, so give a little guidance. Then hang a peg or hook for the aprons to hand on when not in use, so they aren’t lost around the house, when the cooking is complete for the day.

Year of Cooking

At the beginning of each year, not school year, but by the calendar, I make a list of things I’d like the children to learn to cook – but, I focus on a theme. The thought of individualized lessons for each child is wonderful, but with eight children, I make it easy and teach all our children who are capable to cook the same thing.

Meats

One year we focus on meats. So, I choose twelve favorite recipes and we don our aprons. This ranges from cooking on the grill (thanks to my husband for teaching this skill), to popping a roast into the crockpot. We learn how to buy the meat – compare the prices and quality – trim off the fat, then put it in the pot. From my herb chart, we discuss which flavors combine best with which types of meat. We also learn how to test for doneness, check internal temperature, and safe temperatures for cooking. Then, we add some sauces to the mix: barbecue, catsup, honey mustard, Bernaise sauce, hollandaise sauce, Chinese sauces, and others.

Desserts

Another year we learn about desserts. That is the year everyone gains a few extra pounds, but thoroughly enjoy the route we take to get there. Sweeteners are covered – honey, juice concentrate, willow tree bark, stevia, and the sugars: brown, white and powdered. We purchase cookie cookbooks, death-by-chocolate recipe guides, things to do with pudding, and how to make pie primers. Every month we try a new recipe, and sometimes we spend the entire month tweaking it to get it just right! Everyone volunteers to do away with the failures.

Special Occasion

Then we spend a year on special occasion dishes – what we cook for holidays. Beginning with the New Year, we learn how to cook black-eyed peas, ham and cornbread. For Valentine’s Day, we cook steaks and potatoes (a tradition in our family, since it was my husband’s and my dinner on our first outing - Valentine’s Day, 1975). Then we make chocolate-covered cheesecake with cherries for dessert. St. Patrick’s Day begs for some Irish food: Classic Irish Soda Bread, Irish Stew, potatoes, and green gelatin for dessert. And, of course, we always wear green.

For Mother’s Day, we eat whatever the children want to fix, since mom is off duty for the whole day. Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day finds us making barbecue chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, and red-white-and-blue desserts. A parfait from white chocolate pudding, with strawberries and blueberries, or a white cake with icing to match our flag.

As a fall festival, though we restrict our October 31st celebration to kind and good costumes, with a party at our church, we do make the traditional pumpkin pie and cookies. Sometimes we make pumpkin soup with real whipping cream.

For Thanksgiving, we learn how to choose and roast a turkey, make stuffing and stuff celery with cream cheese. Cranberry relish made fresh delights the grandparents. Sweet potato and pecan pies abound. Christmas brings cookies, gingerbread houses, chocolate candies, and fruitcake. Turkey, ham, potatoes and more.

Bread

Then there is the year of bread, a staple of the human diet for centuries. We learn about the basics of wheat, its history, and types. We discuss flours, their origins, the types and uses, self-rising versus plain, grinding the grain versus store-bought, and various nutritional aspects. We usually watch a video or two – focusing on bread-making and nutrition. A bread machine purchase opens a whole new world of bread-baking – with minimal effort and mess, we have bread in a couple of hours. We compare a bread machine to a microwave oven – they both take less time than conventional methods, but turn out a great edible product, nonetheless. Children from mid-elementary age can learn to make bread, with minimal help from an adult.

We browse through bread cookbooks, and recipes for all the various types of breads we like or want to try and list them in order of preference. Then we purchase the specific ingredients we don’t have on hand, and buy some butter and jams to help us enjoy the product of our learning.

Other ideas we have planned are learning to make sandwiches. A year of making different types of layers: meat, cheese, veggie, and sauces. Another year we’ll focus veggie dishes, a topic to make any mother proud.

While this might not be the most concise approach to learning how to cook, it is, for us, the most practical, because it gets done. One year of hands-on is better than all the dreams in the world. And, we’re having fun in the process. Can learning get any better than that?

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Kym & her husband, Mark, have eight children and have homeschooled since the mid-80s. She writes the Learn and Do Unit Studies which you can see at: www.Learn-and-Do.com She sends out weekly e-Couragement for moms in her Weekly Wakeup with Kym Wright. For more information, and to sign up, visit: http://alwrightpublishing.com/weekly_wakeup.htm

Published in The Mother’s Heart magazine, a premium online publication for mothers with hearts in their homes. Visit www.The-Mothers-Heart.com for more information.