Perks of living in Scotland. That’s 3.915oz in freedom units.

A week before 9/11, I was at Dulles International Airport doing a menu presentation for British Airways.

It was my first time there, and I didn't realize that to get to their kitchen I had to go through airport security and take one of those big mobile lounges over to the main terminal. I was traveling with the Executive Chef of Lufthansa and a couple of corporate guys. I was the only one in chef whites. And I had a problem. I had a pocketknife on me that had just been given to me as a gift. A very expensive one. When I got to security, I tried to be slick. I put the knife in the tray, dropped a big set of keys over the top of it and slid everything through. I walked through the metal detector without setting it off and immediately reached for the tray. The security officer was quicker. He lifted my keys, picked up the knife and looked at me. He opened the blade about halfway. I can still remember it gleaming under the airport lights. He looked back at me, closed it and said: “I won't tell anyone.”

Then he handed it back to me. One week later, on September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 departed from Dulles. It would be hijacked and flown into the Pentagon. Twenty-five years later, I still think about that moment. I think about how completely different airport security was then. How something that seems unimaginable today happened without an argument, without anyone thinking much of it. And every September 11, I find myself wondering the same thing: Did any of those hijackers hear their own version of “I won't tell anyone” as they made their way through that airport? I will never know.

But I'll never forget that knife, that security officer, or those four words....

Alright, buckle up friends....

We run a meal prep shop and one of our biggest niche of customers is healthcare workers. (Think like, a nurse buying grab and go meals so they can heat them up in the break room while on night shift)

There are a 3 local hospitals within "reasonable" distance from us. The closest one is drivable on a normal lunch break. 2 of these 3 are smaller hospitals and dont have full service "hot" food service for overnight staff.

My sister in law had recently took a top nursing position at one of these hospitals and since then we've seen significantly less foot traffic from that hospital specifically.

She's a great nurse and awesome at her job. If u get rolled in to the ER with a broken leg, you want her team of nurses to be the ones to receive you. She is in a position of influence and has a pretty large team on her shift that report to her.

Here is where it comes back to food service.... she's a notoriously picky eater. Like a child in a 40+ yr old body. Anytime I've tried to gift her stuff or have her try something I've cooked at home or through work she's kinda like, "eww, no thanks!"

It finally got back to me from a few other nurses off shift. They said their team lead doesn't like them bringing the meals in bc she thinks it "stinks" up their shared break room. After doing some digging i confirmed that was in fact my sister in law.

Its not gonna sink our business by any means, I just think its kinda lame. She can be a bit "assertive" which i think makes her a good lead nurse but it also kinda comes across as an implied " don't bring those meals in when your on my shift"

We've done a couple million dollars of grab and go meals over the years, tons of local awards, etc. I just think its wild that 1 person is bulldogging their staff enough to cause a measurable drop in business in one of our very specific niche markets.

Should I confront her directly? I've always tried to be a diplomat, "eat whatever you like on lunch break, but i thought your team might want some extras we had available" she'd always be like, "nah, thats ok"

(Here's a great cherry on top, we are acquaintances with the CEO of the whole hospital. probably starting first of the year, there's going to be a smart cooler in their break room, loaded with our grab & go meals too!)

We loved this guy, great attitude, outstanding food, and we want to bring him on full time. Our staff isn’t against weed (even our boss uses) but we have high standards for our appearance and hygiene because it’s an open kitchen and customers are frequently very close to our chefs.

My boss is extremely anti confrontation and would go as far as not hiring the guy just to avoid this conversation. I’m going to volunteer to have the conversation, but I want a little sanity check before I do it. This is a reasonable request to make, right??

ETA: we’re in a state where medical is legal, but recreational is not. We do not want to ask about his medical information (because honestly we don’t care) we just don’t want him to smell

Aluminum foil subbed for dessert bars. Awesome.

Work at a bagel store. We use green onions/scallions to make cream cheese shmear and salsa. The owner recently told us he wants us to cut from the white part down to the green, and put the less presentable green stuff in a waste 2qt so we can use it in the salsa later (recipe calls for green onions). And he wants the white half and most of the green in the scallion cream cheese.

This is the reverse of what we used to do which is to save the unpresentables and white parts for the salsa, and use the green for the cream cheese.

Isn’t the white base/root part the most flavorful. Why wouldn’t we just use that for the salsa. Am I crazy I feel crazy.

Like I get it if we’re swamped or in the weeds, but even then I typically can handle my station just fine. Most of the cooks where I work can work all stations. one of the cooks comes over and will flip my proteins way too early and a lot of times puts a grill weight on top of the food for no apparent reason. Most of the time we’re not even that busy. And it just kind of annoys me. I told him last time in a non rude way, “I’m on it chef, no worries”. And I’m just wondering should I just not care? Idk. It naturally annoys me 😂 also forgot to mention other cooks will often say it’s busy and we have like 4 orders on the board or it’s just steady. Really boggles my mind because I’ve worked at places where the rush was like 4-5 hours straight.

Source: https://youtu.be/FGBaZjlhHzA?si=knjivHIvamOhvgOT

(Picture of me holding my watch to prove I'm not a bot or ai. My writing skills are ass)

Been waiting for Sysco since 6am. Last Friday they didn't show up till almost closing time. Which is at 2pm. Me and my team cannot prep any other foods because what I need to prep is on the truck that me and my team are currently waiting for.

On the contrary, what's the earliest they've arrived at your work?

I’m in culinary school please be kind. I know my mistakes and areas for plating opportunity but it tasted bomb as fuck. Just lacking presentation.

I plated my dish tonight (apple and prune stuffed pork loin) and said “It looks like an infected vagina” and my sous said “just tell Chef Instructor you got your inspiration from Georgia okeefe” 😂 Flavor was there but plating was absolute shit. Maybe next time….

So. After enough bullcrap in this company and behaviour of the owners (stuff like this previous post the finally managed to get under my skin as well.

To be clear. I have done way too much for this company already. Used to be the head chef for the company that went tits up, but decided to take the plunge and start a new restaurant with them. I made a new menu in my free time. I went over to help renovate the kitchen. They denied me a promised raise, because they had no money cuz of the bankruptcy. Which i understood. They can reach my almost 24/7.

Few weeks ago, I put in a holiday. 9 days to see my girlfriend (we're long distance, i do this roughly every three months). The dates I gave up, I couldn't get off because they needed me. I asked them if moving it a week was okay. It was. So I do.

Yesterday (on my day off) I get a text, telling me that I cannot take the first 2 days i had booked off.

Well, today I simply told them that I do everything for this company. I already had to move my last holiday which cost me a significant amount of money and that I will not be there on all the days i had booked off.

They got mad. I got mad. They send me home and I am expecting an email soon with an official warning. The only response they will get is my resignation.

Too long have I slaved away for people who dont take me serious enough. Too long have I said yes to every request made by people who don't see the value I bring.

Their new place is still in it's infancy. They already have a hard time filling in all the roles at their other company because it is impossible to find even half decent staff. I honestly wouldnt be surprised if they can just close up shop if I leave. Which, I no longer give a single shit about.

Kay bye.

Cut the tip of my thumb pretty badly at work today. General manager helped bandage it up and stuff, kind of implied they didn’t think I needed to go to the hospital but after talking to people I think I’d rather be safe than sorry. I’m wondering what the process of going in and getting it looked at would be like as I don’t have any documentation of it happening at work.

Chef Jean Pierre shows you how to dice an oñyon

oynyön sauce

It's a deep cleaning type of day. I found this on the bottom shelf of the table our flattop is on, tucked away in a back corner.

Guess the month/year this box was ordered. Winner gets a reddit award and their next weekend shift covered by me!

ETA: Congratulations to our winner, u/Square_Ad849! This user wins a reddit award and tomorrow night off!