I don't know why this song came into my head... oh wait, yes I do:

In big gilt letters on the front of Tawanka Commons' brise-soleil is inscribed "It's A Great Day To Be An Eagle." People on campus occasionally exchange these words in greeting, with varying degrees of sarcasm, as I did when the second supe walked in today. (I have no idea what ( Read more... )

No, not the current state of the Jewish calendar, but the first ten-day stretch of the fall quarter. Starting today we 1) stock and prep my new kitchen for opening, 2) prepare to take over concessions for the athletic department, starting with the first home game, this Saturday, against arch-rival Montana, first game on the new red turf, expecting ( Read more... )

Back to work today after 13 days off, will be probably flipping burgers for the outdoor meal for about 500. First of seven days in a row... again.

Yesterday my left calf started hurting, which may have happened because of the big callus on the outside of my foot (I tend to favor it, which throws the rest of my body's alignment off). It feels strangely immobile. I worked from noon until 5:30, then after everything on my list was done, I came home to rest my leg. Gotta pace myself to make it ( Read more... )

What IS it about making a roux and refrigerating it that drives some people crazy? They don't know what it's for, or they DO know but can't stand it for some reason. They throw it out. This has happened more than once (three times, actually, at three different places, and the roux was neither old nor contaminated in any of them ( Read more... )

I served pork chops for dinner. Not just any pork chops, mind you -- these were the mangled, overweight chunks of pork loin that were processed and screwed up in direct contravention of the recipe and my instructions on my day off two weeks ago. I was so mad when I got that meal served that I threw the excess in the freezer for tonight. So I cut ' ( Read more... )

Today was the first day that R worked in my kitchen in the last couple of years. He's a friendly, if odd, sort of fellow. He was a bartender for years, then got a state kitchen job. He lives in the motel right next to the train tracks. He and my girl R, the two most accident-prone cooks on the campus, both now work for me ( Read more... )

Spring break should be a slow time on campus, no ( Read more... )

About 500 kids staged a walkout on Eastern's campus today to protest the $11 million already cut from the university's budget and the $3 million more about to go and the 72% rise in tuition over the last 5 years. The kids told the legislature that they "are not the rainy day fund ( Read more... )

Making some really nice food can make my whole day. So much of what we serve is, while safe and wholesome, such monotonous pre-processed dreck, and the kids and staffers get into SUCH food ruts -- ordering the VERY same chicken quesadilla EVERY day, or eating burgers, burgers, and burgers or pizza, pizza, and pizza ( Read more... )