Light Bulb! aka Realizing the Obvious

Ugh I'm so stupid sometimes. I've been looking for something to write about (not just on this blog but as a topic to focus on in order to improve my writing) and also for an area of interest to explore in terms of career potential. I've been super distressed about not being able to figure something out.

Ding! Hello, Kelly. You work in a restaurant, you're dating a culinary manager, you love grocery shopping, the highlight of your days off is cooking, you watch food related TV shows, you search the internet for recipes for fun, and you (semi-recently) read a book about food and history that left you giddy.

Write about food, silly girl.

Now I just need to tell myself that all it takes is passion. Because I'm far from the expert on food. I'm definitely a cook-in-training who ends up eating some botched recipes (ideas for cooking always sound better in my head....). And I'm definitely not rich enough to eat at super fancy restaurants all the time to do research on foods. I've thought about culinary school, but decided it wasn't for me (as much as I enjoy the restaurant business, I don't want to cook all day for streams of anonymous customers. I want to cook for ME damnit!).

On top of it all, I dislike the word foodie. First of all, no one seems to have the same definition of the word. Secondly, it just sounds obnoxious.

I like food. I like smelling food. I like eating food. I like cooking food. I like the feeling of peace I get when chopping vegetables for soup. I like the way flour feels when you stick your hand completely into a fresh bag. I like watching Anthony Bourdain travel around the world eating and talking about nonsense. I like Top Chef as well as Worst Cooks in America. I like to read about food on blogs. I like to read about food in books (the book that made me giddy is this one). I like to look at pictures of food. Z and I go out to restaurants on our days off together - not because we're a boring couple, but because we LOVE food (oh and we cook together on occasion as well). I like the fact that Hamburger Stroganoff brings me back to my childhood, the thought of French Onion Soup brings me immediately to a tiny condo dining room with deep red walls belonging to one of the best cooks I know, the smell of corn tortillas takes me to Guatemala, and the taste of an empanada transports me back to Chile (provided awesomely in the DC area by Julia's Empanadas).

All this leads to the question: How am I not supremely fat?

Just kidding. The real question is: How can I learn more about food (other than experimenting in my closet-sized apartment kitchen) and discover my food destiny?

Oh great, something else to stress about now!

Are Pies The New Cupcakes?

Cupcakes have been the "it" dessert for a while now. Cupcakeries have sprung up everywhere, producing little cakes with picture-perfect frosting swirls and charging outrageous amounts for these bite-sized desserts. There is even a reality show about a cupcake shop in my own backyard.

So the question now is: what is the next big thing in fashionable desserts?

Answer: Pies.

Or so I heard a while back from a completely forgotten source. Or maybe I just dreamed it. Perhaps it is actually my own theory afterall!

So in an attempt to not miss the wave, I'm going to give pie making a try.... this could be disasterous....or hilarious.... or maybe, delicious?

Sick Day

My head is pounding, I can barely swallow, my whole body hurts. And yes, I'm whiny.

Conclusion: being sick sucks.

And I have to work.

Boo.

My Vicious Cycle or How I've Frozen Myself into Inaction

I've been researching a lot lately. I'm discovering a large range of things I want to try out - new hobbies, old hobbies, career options. And I'm excited about them all.

However, I can't start any of them.

Why? Because my apartment is messy. My messy apartment is a mental roadblock to everything else I want to do. It's also my excuse for NOT starting some of these things (because sometimes new things are a little nerve-wracking. And so my fear has created this thing to prevent me from doing something new). But I don't like cleaning, so I put it off by doing more research about things I want to do once I've cleaned my apartment. Oh. My. God. I'm psycho.

I've trapped myself in a self-made vicious cycle. I have frozen myself into inaction.

Wasn't one of my resolutions for this month to clean-up and maintain? Oh yes it was. But I hadn't done much of that until my fit of anger last night. Apparently angry energy makes me a cleaning machine (this is not a good sign, methinks!).

Within 45 minutes my apartment looked MUCH better. So hopefully I can use this cleaning-fit as an example of how easy it is to just DO IT.

Why am I SO Angry?

I'm angry.

Again.

But I don't know why.

It's my day off and I SHOULD be relaxing. Well I guess I did relax earlier. I woke up late (well that's normal... haha - oh yeah oops, what about my sleep patterns improving again.....), I drank coffee and read, I went shopping for kitchen toys (my new favorite things to buy), and then went grocery shopping (which is, oddly enough, my favorite type of shopping).

And then I got angry when I came home. I felt like I had wasted my day. I never see my friends anymore. All I do is work, come home, hang out with Z, and grocery shop. God, it sounds like I'm having a midlife crisis and I'm not even 30 yet!!!

Even though I have quite the social job - being a bartendress means constantly conversing with guests and whatnot - I still feel disconnected with people. I love (most) of my guests though. They are hilarious and talk about interesting things (or they talk about boring things which ends up being hilarious because it's SO awkward). But talking to my customers at my bar while I'm working does NOT equal a social life.

I'm bad at making time for people, I admit it. I usually blame my weird restaurant-job schedule but that is just a wimpy excuse. I could definitely do better about making plans with people.

And then I wouldn't be so ANGRY! And I would have other things to talk to Z about. Since usually I just bitch about work ---which usually just leads to an unnecessary argument about nothing.

I should figure out what activities prevent me from angry episodes like this one.... hmm.... ideas?

Snow Lesson: Corporate America Sucks, But People in general are cool

It snowed last night in the DC area. And everyone freaked out like usual.

Go ahead and make fun of us, all you wintry Midwesterners. We freak because we don't get snow that often and we don't know how to deal with it. That's my excuse.

On top of our usual disorganization when it comes to handling snow, the snow came fast and heavy during rush hour. It was snowing buckets by 4pm. Yes, buckets.

I worked yesterday and at 4pm when the snow started, my manager reassured me that I would be able to get home later that night "no problem." He left within the hour before the accumulation got to be significant, driving his extremely large SUV/truck thing (I know nothing about cars.... but I do know that his car can definitely take on the snow).

My car is not an SUV or a truck and doesn't have 4 wheel drive. In fact, it's basically a sports car. So it's low to the ground and light as a feather. Oh and it's over 10 years old.

We didn't get the OK from the higher ups to close up the restaurant until almost 8pm. I finished cleaning the bar and waiting for a few guests to finish up and leave.

The road directly in front of the restaurant was decently plowed.

Hmmm, I can totally make it home. I thought. Just sloooow driving, Kelly.

WRONG ! As soon as I pulled out onto the main road - aka a road that hadn't been plowed by a private contractor - it was a nightmare!

Slow and steady. I repeated, even when the car next to me fish-tailed dangerously close as we stopped at a red light.

I was inching my way down the road when I suddenly saw a back up of cars. As I got closer I see that there IS A FLAMING CAR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.

While the sight of flames coming out of the snow is rather impressive, I decided it was time to turn around. In attempting to make a u-turn, I got stuck in a pile of snow. Of course. Just my luck.

Eventually a truck pulls up and two men jump out and run around my car. As they start to push I hear them yelling, Go go go! This was rescue #1.

A little ways down the road. I get stuck again. This time a guy walking down the street comes over with some advice (aka stop spinning your tires, crazy lady). And then he pushed me out. Rescue #2.

As I tried turning into the parking garage by my work (yup, headed back to square 1), guess what?!? I got STUCK, AGAIN! Another truck pulls up and offers to tow me into the parking garage. That's right, he hooked up some rope and pulled me across the intersection. As he unhooked the line, I asked him if this is what he always does when it snows - ya know, rescue people. He said, "Yes. It gives me an excuse to play with my big truck." You are a superhero, my friend. Rescue #3.

I got back to my restaurant as my (other) manager was leaving.

Whatcha gonna do, Kelly? He asks.

I don't know. I can't get home.

That sucks! See ya! Oh yes, my company truly cares about their employees.

Luckily the Chinese restaurant next door was still open. So I sat with the other stranded people, wondering if I was going to end up sleeping on the floor next to the bar (There ARE worse things, right?).

But then I called Z. and as soon as he heard the sound of defeat in my voice, he found a solution (you know men and their need to fix things). His 'rents live close to my job and they also have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, hurrah! 20 minutes later my ride shows up. Rescue #4.

So the two things I learned from this snowy experience:

1. Corporate America Sucks. I work for a corporate restaurant. And like any corporation, they care about one thing: MONEY. Keeping the restaurant open just in case the snow isn't that bad seems like a good money-making decision. However, it also put my life at risk and left me in a tough situation. What if I hadn't been so lucky? I could be in my car in a snow pile along the side of the road. Or sleeping on the floor of a Chinese restaurant. Or trying to walk through deep snow in my restaurant work shoes to get to my (not within reasonable walking distance) mom's house. Sometimes profit is NOT worth it.

2. But People in General are cool. Thank you to all my superheroes! Gracias to the latinos with the truck who quickly pushed me out of the snow. Thanks to the random dude walking through a snow storm who basically told me to stop driving like a dumbass and pushed me out of yet another snow trap. And the crazy truck guy who towed me to safety (I'm sure he had a grand ol' time rescuing others just like me). And to Z's 'rents! Who not only rescued me from the Chinese restaurant, they also fed me, gave me a glass of wine, a bed to sleep in and a ride back to my car in the morning!


Oh and guess what? It's supposed to snow more tomorrow....

Eat Pray Love: The Book vs The Movie

I finally broke down and rented "Eat Pray Love." I had read the book a few months back and really enjoyed it, but I was nervous that the movie would ruin the story that I had loved.

It didn't ruin it. BUT it was only a shadow of everything the book was for me. When dealing with a person's journey to self-discovery, it is supremely difficult to show all the reflection and self-realization accomplished along the way. And that is the whole beauty of the story!

The highlights: Julia Roberts was surprisingly good playing the role of Elizabeth Gilbert. The scenery of each country visited was gorgeous and inspiring. The basic essence of the story remained intact

The problems: Too many noticeable changes for "the sake of the movie." Trying to subtly show the changes happening within the character (I really felt like they needed a narration to help clarify the self-reflection). Too much emphasis on the love story at the end --- the story is about the WHOLE journey, not just to find a hunky Brazilian man in Bali.


So the way I feel about the book/movie comparison remains the same..... the book wins.

More about TKP (the kelly project) in the next post.