Eggs Benny, Running Please.

I mentioned the humor of language barriers in my recent post. Sadly, there are times when the language barrier is not the cause of incorrect vocabulary usage. Sometimes, we don't need to add the letter 's' to a word to make it plural. Like bacons. It is also unfortunate, that as a result of thisincorrect pluralizing of words, we have humorously begun to intentionally add the letter 's' to words because it sounds funny. If you were a fly on the wall in my kitchen, you would probably hear the phrase, "Mmmmm, bacons!" at least once a day.

The story behind my cartoon for yesterday has to do with the wrong verb tense being used. A ticket came in for a Benedict, special prep: Running. I immediately commented on said ticket and Sarah Bell quickly came over to draw a running egg on the ticket. I added (quite cleverly) arm and wrist sweatbands. I have attempted to re-draw it here for yesterday's skipped/postponed/delayed/procrastinated cartoon. Are you happy now Deb? :)

I know it probably sounds like all we do is play all day. Sarah Bell has 5 sons, and she has mentioned some of our antics a time or two. They have also asked her if she does any actual work at work. She assures them that we do.

Our answer is that we work hard and we take brief moments to be silly and hilarious. Inspired by Liz Lemon, the character played by Tina Fey on 30 Rock, I started a "30 second dance party" tradition. Some days, we really need to just dance. I admit, our taste in dance music is not refined. But then again, it's dance music. Sometimes it's top 40 pop, sometimes it's R&B, sometimes it's oldies.

I apologize for the over-use of jazz hands, drawing people dancing is much more difficult than I had imagined, even bad ones.

@$$-Burgers? Inappropriate? Definitely.

Disclaimer: Please know I mean no disrespect to those suffering from Aspberger's Syndrome.

Sometimes I think we could have a reality show filmed in our kitchen.

Oh, kitchen humor. There are days when we are hilarious, at least we think so.

A few days ago, J asked me how many berries we would need for the big party on Saturday. Since I really did not have any idea, I looked around, made the shape of a bowl with my arms, then picked up the corners of my apron, as if it was full of something and said, "This much." J rolled his eyes and walked out of the kitchen. However, I died laughing. I think I'm hilarious.

Later that afternoon, I asked J about a quantity of another item that we would need. J quickly picked up the corners of his apron and said, "This much." This time, I couldn't stop laughing for a while. I would stop and then start again.

The next morning at work, there was a prep list on the board, very top was "Berries: Sarah's Apron Full"

See, the humor in our kitchen is much like Arrested Development. It's layered. Someone else won't get the joke unless you explain it. Sometimes someone will walk into the kitchen and I will be laughing. The immediate plea is, "I wanna laugh." It's a simple request for a story to be re-told.

I love telling stories.

White Powder - on the side

A few days ago, a good friend of mine, Sarah Bell, mentioned that she painted a self-portrait amidst the chaos of her home. Having five sons under the age of 10, it is understandable why she might need a few fleeting moments to herself now and then.

The idea stuck with me and a few days later, during a hectic week at work, it occurred to me that perhaps I should quickly draw a really bad cartoon of how I felt at the moment. I had just printed a small part of the prep list for the kitchen that week and was feeling largely overwhelmed.

I am completely aware of the lack of drawing skillz being presented here, yet there was a certain level of enjoyment that I experienced, both in drawing badly and showing my artwork to my co-workers.

Here is Day one, which was August 10, 2011:

Among my friends, there has been a bright revival of Arrested Development quoting. So the use of the catchphrase, "Come on!" was used intentionally. I don't always intend to draw myself in negative situations, but sometimes it's the frustrating moments that get me all worked up, that end up having the most material for humor. Especially when I can see the ridiculous in myself and laugh about it later.

All in all, the week of enormous prep, went smoothly, with only one night where I had to stay especially late. That was Thursday, August 11, 2011 and I drew this cartoon:

I knew that no matter what, I had to complete my work before I could leave Thursday. Friday was my day off, and I knew that I would not have time to finish anything Saturday, which was the day of the big party that we were prepping for, in addition to KRLD's Restaurant Week.

The stress was mounting as the morning progressed, and I realized more and more, that I would be unable to complete my work and leave at a decent time, taking a few moments again to draw a really bad cartoon, did much to cheer me up and relieve a bit of the tension.

One of the server's came back to the kitchen and asked me if I was "feeling on edge today". I replied, "Look at this cartoon and answer your own question." She laughed (nervously), and then quickly left the kitchen.

For those of you who don't know Bradford Hodgkins, he was my Sous Chef when I first worked at The Second Floor. Fantastic guy, amazing manager and hilarious to boot! He found this 3 foot pipe and marked "BBC" on one end. I asked him what that meant and his reply was, "B*tch be cool." Pulp Fiction reference? I like to think so. We also have a chain whip and other articles of torture around that may be used in moments of extreme necessity. (Disclaimer: I promise. Line cooks are NEVER tortured or abused. At least not where the security cameras are filming.)

Friday was my day off, so I spent my morning at Oddfellows, my favorite new place to eat and drink world-class coffee. Someone told me today that their espresso machine alone, cost $24,000.00, being one of only a handful of such machines in the entire U.S. That's some serious espresso people. After eating the best Miga's of my existence (seriously, I had to close my eyes and hold on to the table a few times - When Harry Met Sally style).

After I finished my breakfast, I spent a couple hours typing recipes for work. We changed the menu a few weeks ago and sitting there I started thinking of hobbits and second breakfast's and elevenses, which got me thinking about drawing this:

It was a lovely morning and the time spent working on my day off was greatly improved by my environment. Hardly felt like work really. I resisted the urge to partake in Elevenses, but it was tempting.

This catches us up to yesterday, the day of the big party. Bat Mitzvah for 90 people. I got to work a few minutes early hoping to get a good leg-up on the day. This was not to be. Within the first fifteen minutes of arriving, I managed to spill an entire bain marie (kitchenese for large cylindrical metal container), 2-3 Gallons of beaten eggs. We easily go through this amount of beaten eggs everyday, used for omelettes, scrambled eggs and fritattas.

All in all, the day went swimmingly. By the time 11am rolled around, things were neat and in order, and the luncheon went more smoothly than I had imagined possible. I even left work by 3:30, along with a large sack of contraband (read 'leftovers')!

I am off today, since it's Sunday, but I just drew this from something that happened a few days ago:

Often, there are several layers of languages lost in translation when the people who take orders are bilingual and the guests staying in rooms are also bilingual, with English not necessarily being their strongest language. The tickets we receive in the kitchen are often, quite humorous.

This person had specifically requested, "White powder on the side" for their pancakes and waffles.

I think this is quite enough for my first official really bad cartoon post. Hopefully, much more to come!