"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 11 Dec 2013 14:07:03 -0800 (PST), A Moose in Love
> > wrote:
>
>> Yesterday, I saw a fairly famous Canadian 'chef' on the tube. He was
>> making french toast. He put a real spin on the dish. The maple syrup
>> sauce looked outstanding et. Wonderful stuff. He owns a few 'higher
>> end' restaurants. But to watch him, he looked so incompetent. He had no
>> speed. He wasted movements.
>> I mean he wasn't incompetent, but he lacked the speed to work in a
>> restaurant kitchen.
>
> So, is he a television chef or a restaurant chef? Remember that not
> everyone watching TV has worked in a kitchen like you have and he's
> slowing down for the sake of the viewers - they are his customers
> during the show and he has a certain amount of time he needs to fill
> up. He could be wasting motions for two reasons - it's not his
> kitchen, so it's not laid out the way he cooks and maybe he's not
> comfortable being in front of a camera because he has to supply a
> narrative while he's cooking.

Oh yes, the old cooking in a different kitchen! This is what I went through
when my MIL first became ill. The kitchen in that house was terribly small.
Most of the little counter there was, was taken up by a coffee pot, basket
o'baked goods and a dish rack. There was no dishwasher. The kitchen table
was actually a glass topped patio table (came with the house) that was kept
covered with a plastic tablecloth. So it wasn't an ideal surface for all
kitchen tasks but could be used for some.

One day I decided to make ravioli. Lots of ravioli, because extended family
was coming over plus I always made extra of whatever it was for the freezer.
Got the dough all ready to roll out and... Where was the rolling pin? MIL
told me where *she* kept it. The problem? She could no longer cook. She
had assorted relatives using the kitchen as well as caregivers and they
would put things back in a different spot each time.

I looked and looked and reached a level of panic as dinner time grew near.
I do know how to use other things as a rolling pin, but could find nothing
suitable in the kitchen. No bottle or even a glass that would work. In
fact they had only one glass that was made of glass. Very thin glass. It
was etched and held perhaps 4 oz. The other drinking glasses were textured
plastic and tapered. So no good for rolling stuff. And going out to buy
another wasn't an option with the closest store being K Mart (and not a lot
else in the area) and my knowing that the chances of them having any rolling
pin were slim, much less a good one. Plus I had no vehicle at that moment.

Eventually I found the blasted thing. Part of my problem was at that point
in time I had never seen a pin such as she had. But I have since seen them
on TV. They are the skinny, wooden kind with no handles. The kind Italian
chefs often use. My mom had a big wooden one and I have an even bigger
marble one. Ours have handles. Although for some reason my mom's only had
one handle and she never bothered to get a new one. I think I even gifted
her with one at some point because the missing handle bugged me. But she
must have gotten rid of the one I gave her because I never saw it after she
opened the package.

Things got worse after MIL moved to the new house. By then people seemed to
feel free to steal from her. Seemed each time I visited, I had to go buy a
sharp knife, tape, seasonings, bag clips, plastic bags, foil and the like.
And they couldn't have been merely being used up because we were there every
three weeks at least. Someone was taking these things home. I even saw
people do this. Would say, "She doesn't need this!" And then take it! She
never stopped them so as I could see. Or maybe at some point she tried and
realized it was futile because they would just do it anyway. Or maybe,
being the kind soul that she is, she felt that they must need it more than
she did and just let them take it.

I even tried to stop them. Would say, "I bought that and *I* need it."
They would then reply, "Oh, but you're leaving tomorrow.", shrug and still
try to take it. Then I would persist, "Yes, but chances are, I will need it
next time I come back and I don't want to have to buy another." Then they
would put it back in front of me. But it would still be gone when I came
back. Sometimes I think they waited till I went into the bathroom or to the
store or something and just took it.

In retrospect, I should have just made up a kit of things to pack with me
each time I went. Like I did when I had to cook at my mom's house, knowing
that her seasonings (if she had them) were not fresh or the knives were
often not sharp enough to suit me. I guess I got this idea from watching
some of the cooking shows where chefs traveled with such things. Didn't
cross my mind to do so before.