Book Club: Service Included, By Phoebe Damrosch

It's worth repeating: I love food. So obviously, the majority of my reading lately has been about food and the restaurant industry.

Also, I currently work in a restaurant as a bartender. So I love accounts of the industry. The ins and outs of serving guests. The little facts that only people in this business truly know and understand. No matter if you serve in fine dining or at the corner diner, there are common truths about the food business.

"Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter" by Phoebe Damrosch is a re-telling of her life and experiences while working a Per Se in New York City. My personal serving experiences in restaurants is nowhere near the level of this author. Her descriptions of her job make me salivate with jealous at the level of food quality and sweat with anxiety at the thought of the caliber of service required for such clientele. I day-dream of working for a restaurant like hers where I truly respect the food and chefs. This statement is not meant to bash the establishment which currently employees me. I work for a super corporate chain restaurant ---and, for what it is, the food is above par. But, needless to say, there is no caviar, truffles, or bone marrow. My knowledge of such things in limited to drooling over shows in the Food Network and Travel Channel. In short, my job has not provided the food education that I crave.

Damrosch's telling of the attention to detail in the service at Per Se is overwhelming. It makes me realize how easy I have it at my restaurant .... and yet also to understand the type of service I wish that every guest could receive (even at my casual dining chain restaurant). Eating out at a restaurant is an all around experience of the food, atmosphere, and service -- which should be (positively) memorable and deeply enjoyable whether it's bone marrow or diner pancakes.

Despite the obvious differences between Damrosch's life in "Service Included" and my current life at Nameless- corporate-chain, there are also amazing similarities. The odd pace of life, the comments from friends and family about your job not being "real," the restaurant romance, the eccentric customers, the camaraderie with coworkers, etc.

I could go on forever about how many ways this book touched me but I won't for fear of revealing too much about my employer and for boring non-restaurant-industry folks. Whether or not you work in a restaurant, this book still tells a lovely and fun story. But if you DO work in a restaurant, you will definitely find a kindred spirit in Damrosch.

Cheers

Jumping Back into It

So once upon a time, long long ago this crazy girl was a serious athlete. Yes my friends, I was a competitive swimmer. I did the insanely early morning swim practices. I practiced for hours and hours a day. I lifted weights, did push-ups, crunches, lunges, pilates etc etc etc. I found the smell of chlorine comforting. I hung goggles from my car mirror and had an insanely large collection of swim suits in my closet.

Looking back on it. I can honestly say, I was INSANE. Most swimmers are pretty looney though. You have to be to put yourself through all of that.

My insanity was focused though. There was a time when I truly wanted to swim in college. I didn't even care about what I would major in, I just wanted to swim. As luck (or fate) would have it, this was not my future. I went through knee surgery my senior year of high school and had a forced (but much needed) break from swimming. This is when I finally made normal friends in high school because I actually had time to just "hang out." The friends I made are still amongst my closest to this day (thank you, knee surgery).

I went to college and joined the casual club swimming team. Most of us were formally nut-so training swimmers who didn't really know what else to do and were comforted by vaguely continuing our swim routines. Needless to say, we partied a lot.

When I graduated and no longer had "free" access to a swimming pool, I put a pause on swimming. Then I moved out of the country and probably got into a backyard pool ONCE in over two years.

Lately I've been have swimming dreams, so I started researching indoor pools close to my apartment. But frankly, I'm terrified. Terrified to start the insanity again. Wondering if I'm even capable anymore.

So I'll blog about it. And I hope some of you reading can keep me on track (in other words, I need cheerleaders).

Step one: buy a training suit and a sweet new pair of swedish goggles. Oh and a cap since I have too much hair.

It's Raining Cans

A couple of weeks ago I heard a whimsical story on news radio and I can't get it out of my head.

So, a recycle truck driving on the highway had some sort of trouble (the details were a little sketchy here) with keeping their precious cargo inside the truck. As a result, a TON of aluminum cans flew out over the highway. Of course they were then smashed by the angry commuters speeding along the road.

But wait, it gets better.

This day happened to be VERY windy. So windy, in fact, that I had to drive with my windows up (I suffer from chronic windows-down-at-all-times-despite-the-weather). So, as soon as the cans were squashed flat by the cars, they were then picked up by the wind and tossed around the road like some crazy tin can rain storm.


I thought it sounded magical. Although I'm sure not all that safe for drivers. The End.

How Food Made Me Appreciate World History

So I have a degree in Anthropology. But I generally find history rather boring and confusing. Too many dates and names to remember and sort through. I realize history is important when talking about Anthropology and culture since we must look to the past to understand why we are what we are today. This doesn't change the fact that I always wanted to fall asleep in history classes.

Well, I finally found a way to make history interesting and engaging for me. FOOD. (Let's face it, my entire life revolves around food. I day dream about it, I love grocery shopping and new restaurants, I work IN a restaurant, I love new recipes and cooking... ).

I have Linda Civitello to thank for my new love of history. She is the author of the book "Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People." It's the history of the world but based around FOOD (totally genius, I tell ya). The book explains how food influenced important historical events, how different foods migrated across oceans, how and why cuisine changed over the years .... awesomely delicious to read.

I had to pause numerous times when reading this book and run to the grocery store to cook up something amazing. Reading about food is dangerous (kind of like watching the Food Network or Travel Channel).

I now understand why I love potatoes so much. I also learned why the US is such a coffee addicted culture -- so I don't have to feel bad about my java addiction, it's really not my fault. And I have a renewed sense of wonder about how diverse the US is and how that diversity if reflected in our cuisine and restaurants. I love being able to choose from American burgers and fries, Vietnamese Pho, Japanese Sushi, El Salvadoran pupusas, Chilean OR Argentine empanadas, Spanish tapas, Italian pastas, Indian curry, Irish corned beef and cabbage, etc etc etc. (It's no wonder Americans are obese! Too many things to eat! (and yet most people here just go to McDonald's and never explore the fabulous options available. Sad face.))

Damnit, now I'm hungry. Time for lunch.

In conclusion: Read this book.

Says ME

"I think his work ethic is sexy."

VIVA CHILE

Definitely waking up early tomorrow for the Chile versus Honduras World Cup game.

(And yes, I am more excited about the Chile game than I was about the USA game... deal with it)

CHi CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!

That is all.

Bartender Tales: whoa there racism

Working as a bartender allows me to observe the strange behaviors of people and as an anthropologist I find this fascinating and amusing. I have the usually drunk people insanity stories, but sometimes behavior truly shocks me.

First some background. The restaurant where I work is located in a highly diverse neighborhood. The neighborhood is largely hispanic, but also includes plenty of other minority groups. If you're into ethnic food, it's like heaven. There are El Salvadoran, Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, etc etc restaurants all over the place. I love diversity and so I naturally thrive on the mixture of cultures that surround me.

About a week ago, a middle-aged white man came to my bar and order a beer. As I brought his oh-so-delicious Miller Lite draft to him (seriously? you want to drink water beer?), he made a comment: "So you're American, right?"

(In my head: um... what? we ARE in the US!)

Kelly: um, yeah I'm from here.

Guy: I haven't seen an American in a while!

(In my head: WHAT?!?! Do you think we're in France or something? Surprise! there are Americans everywhere IN THE USA)

Kelly: um...ok?

Guy: Well, you know because you ARE a minority around here....

(WHAT THE F-BOMB!!!! Sooooo because I'm white that means I'm American ... and since the majority of people in this neighborhood are not white that must mean they AREN'T American?!?! Holy shit ! On top of that... if I'm a random white girl working in a place full of minorities why would you even think that I would agree with or appreciate your statement?!)

Kelly: ..... *and walks away before I punch him in the face*

Immediately following this I told my Latino manager the story. He was furious and about to kick the guy out of the restaurant. Fortunately the guy was gone and there was no angry scene.

But seriously? How are people soooo stupid and insensitive?