Poem: "Surviving Hell's Kitchen"
Thanks to new prompter 
liliane, you get a second freebie! This also fills the "Breathing Exercises" square in my 5-2-15 card for the Wellness Toolbox Bingo fest.
"Surviving Hell's Kitchen"
You know that you're lucky
to have this job, to have
any job really, after the way
you crashed and burned on
Hell's Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay
screaming in your face about
undercooked scallops and how
"Bloody hell, what is wrong with you?
Searing scallops is basic chef stuff!"
It turns out that surviving Hell's Kitchen,
the television show, is a lot easier than
surviving Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan.
The kitchen is overheated and
your white shirt is soaked with sweat,
sticking to your skin as you work
feverishly to keep the scallops
from sticking to the pan.
You can feel everything you've gained
threatening to crumble away
under your very feet.
Marcel the maître d'
is screaming at you that if
anything goes wrong with this meal
then heads will roll,
and God, you read the news,
he might mean literally because
after all this is Hell's Kitchen.
So you focus hard on what you're doing,
exhale all the way to empty your lungs,
then breathe in deep from your belly.
You block out the furious maître d',
the smells of sweat and hot oil,
the shaking of your hands,
the probably-a-mobster
out in the dining room.
The tools are steady in your hands
as you breathe, and cook, and breathe.
You plate up a perfect set of scallops,
fuck you very much Gordon Ramsay,
and send it out to the table.
You wait.
You listen.
There are no gunshots,
no screams, no sound of
anyone's head being hacked off.
You have survived another night
cooking in Hell's Kitchen.
Tomorrow you get to do it again.
* * *
Notes:
The original prompt was for Hell's Kitchen, the television show. However, there is also a Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan which in the Marvelverse is home to the superhero Daredevil. Since we are currently watching the new Daredevil series on television, the two concepts stuck together in my mind.
Scallops are delicious seafood, but notoriously easy to ruin. Learn how to handle them right, just in case you ever have to cook for a supervillain.
Marcel the maître d' is played by Alexander Blaise in the episode "World on Fire."
Wilson Fisk the Kingpin played by Vincent D'Onofrio is marvelously portrayed in this series as an insecure bully. He's terribly shy with girls, and embarrassment makes him lose his shit and kill people. So don't wreck his scallops.
The maître d' is normally in charge of the "front" part of the restaurant serving the public. In "World on Fire," Marcel obviously cleared out every dispensable human being from the building to reduce the chance of setting off Wilson Fisk. That means Marcel has to keep an eye on the back part too, making sure everything is perfect.
Calming techniques often focus on breathing. There are exercises especially for panic attacks, and for general calm.
liliane, you get a second freebie! This also fills the "Breathing Exercises" square in my 5-2-15 card for the Wellness Toolbox Bingo fest.
"Surviving Hell's Kitchen"
You know that you're lucky
to have this job, to have
any job really, after the way
you crashed and burned on
Hell's Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay
screaming in your face about
undercooked scallops and how
"Bloody hell, what is wrong with you?
Searing scallops is basic chef stuff!"
It turns out that surviving Hell's Kitchen,
the television show, is a lot easier than
surviving Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan.
The kitchen is overheated and
your white shirt is soaked with sweat,
sticking to your skin as you work
feverishly to keep the scallops
from sticking to the pan.
You can feel everything you've gained
threatening to crumble away
under your very feet.
Marcel the maître d'
is screaming at you that if
anything goes wrong with this meal
then heads will roll,
and God, you read the news,
he might mean literally because
after all this is Hell's Kitchen.
So you focus hard on what you're doing,
exhale all the way to empty your lungs,
then breathe in deep from your belly.
You block out the furious maître d',
the smells of sweat and hot oil,
the shaking of your hands,
the probably-a-mobster
out in the dining room.
The tools are steady in your hands
as you breathe, and cook, and breathe.
You plate up a perfect set of scallops,
fuck you very much Gordon Ramsay,
and send it out to the table.
You wait.
You listen.
There are no gunshots,
no screams, no sound of
anyone's head being hacked off.
You have survived another night
cooking in Hell's Kitchen.
Tomorrow you get to do it again.
* * *
Notes:
The original prompt was for Hell's Kitchen, the television show. However, there is also a Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan which in the Marvelverse is home to the superhero Daredevil. Since we are currently watching the new Daredevil series on television, the two concepts stuck together in my mind.
Scallops are delicious seafood, but notoriously easy to ruin. Learn how to handle them right, just in case you ever have to cook for a supervillain.
Marcel the maître d' is played by Alexander Blaise in the episode "World on Fire."
Wilson Fisk the Kingpin played by Vincent D'Onofrio is marvelously portrayed in this series as an insecure bully. He's terribly shy with girls, and embarrassment makes him lose his shit and kill people. So don't wreck his scallops.
The maître d' is normally in charge of the "front" part of the restaurant serving the public. In "World on Fire," Marcel obviously cleared out every dispensable human being from the building to reduce the chance of setting off Wilson Fisk. That means Marcel has to keep an eye on the back part too, making sure everything is perfect.
Calming techniques often focus on breathing. There are exercises especially for panic attacks, and for general calm.