Chef in MID-LIFE CRISIS!

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Howdy Everyone!

I'm chubbyalaskagriz and am pleased to find my way into your neighborhood. Your place comes highly recommended and I look forward to making my way, earning my stripes, sharing, learning, contributing and otherwise taking part.

Took my first kitchen position at age 14- and after over 25 years, just left the field to take a kinder/gentler job in a completely unrelated field with more normal hours so I could try having a personal life for the first time ever. Not sure if this professional departure is forever or not, we shall see.

My experience ranges from restaurants & country clubs, to resorts, a crusie-ship company & remote site work camps for Alaska's oil, commercial fishing and mining industires.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Welcome CAG!!!

You sound like you will be a wonderful addition to our forum and the morre the merrier!

Good luck on your new adventures in making a living, but never forget your ROOTS......turnips, beets, carrots Just kiddin'.

I love stories, and your adventures in cooking sound like you'd have many!!!

Please share

Cathy

[chubbyalaskagriz]

It appears you work in insurance? Funny- the new "kinder/gentler" job I just took is at the humungous corproate headquarters of State Farm Insurance here in Bloomington, Illinois. Gonna be SO weird. Cheffing has been my only bread-and-butter in this life- never done anything else. I expect it will feel a tad bit odd to work only 35-40 hours, M-F, wear pressed dockers & oxfords, instead of whites, baggy trousers & clogs...

Commercial kitchens are wonderfully warm, close "family" places for the most part. Many in my family work at SF and they tell me to expect an entirly different environment- so I am really crossing my fingers! BUT... I am excited and hopeful about the change! I expect to miss kitchens, but I was ready for something new, so...

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Dear CAG,

OH nooooo you work for one of our BIG Ole' competetors LOL!!!

I love State Farm it is a great Comp. and I am sure if you are at the Corp. office you'll be very busy, and have lots of new stuff to learn, once you get the handle on it you will not be disappointed and I am sure you'll be just fine. Totally different than what you are used to though!

I love my job, but it did take some adjusting to being stuck at a desk for hours on end I love it when we are busy and have lots of customers, but when it is slow time DRAGS...........so I play on my computer when my work is all caught up, thank Goodness I work in an Agency that is very cozy, comfortable, and the apmosphere is relaxed. The owner and lead agent is close to my age (51, me not him), and we laugh and enjoy life when we are not swamped. Our slow time is July, so we close for the entire week of 4th of July for an enitre office closed vacation, this yr. we get a whole 10 days off since the 4th is on a Fri. Yeee-Hawww!!! I can not wait. KOA here we come, along with my cane pole and a good iron skillet!!!

So do you garden, I know you must at least have herbs? What is your favorite type food to prepare, and I really am getting more & more interested in accompanying sauces and am wondering have you any to share? Like you know romaulaude's, gastriques, etc....?

Anyway better get going & once again welcome!

Cheers, Cathy (P.S. my real initals are CAS!)

[jglass]

Hello CAG.
Welcome to the forum.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Thanks for your nice note, Cathy and your newsy sharings! Your job sounds comfortable- something I hope I too find at SF. Kitchens were such a cozy & easy place to be- and I cared a great deal for nearly everyone I ever worked alongside of. If I can find that at my new career, then the newness of it all will pose no fear or cause for reluctance on my part- 'cause as I said, I had been ready for change for some time.

Kitchen demands are pretty high. Chefs typically work a minimum of 60 hours per week- I worked 80++. I did however have one huge advantage. The last few kitchens I led were at remote site fly-in work camps in very remote regions of Alaska. Since one could not drive to work- we flew in- or in some cases boated-in, and we had to then remain on-site for a long period, working many days on end with no day off. I worked a 28-days-on/14-days-off rotation schedule- working 16 hour days for a whole month straight. The GREAT part of this was the frequent RandR's. I got 8-9 two-week periods per year off- and LOVED that. I was SO lucky. Chefs at other places (as you likely well know from sharing w/ others here) work those crazy 16 hour days w/ MAYBE a day off per week w/ only 1-2 weeks off per year. Cooking/kitchens were my blood- my passion. But, time to find something to substitute for that!

In addition to simply being burned out, I had two other reasons for leaving Alaska and returning home to Illinois, and departing kitchens. 1.) I was lucky enough to work alongside of my life-mate at my Alaskan job. That was wonderful- my mate was wonderful and we enjoyed 11 fantastic years together- but that relationship ended this past Spring, so continuing to work alongside of that person got tricky. Also, my parents are getting older and my Mom suffered a medical mishap in March so I took a leave of absence to come home and relieve my younger sister of all the duties she was performing as far as caring for Mom. Spending nearly 3 months assisting her and seeing her daily helped me decide that it was time to be home near family again.

I love gardening and always kept flowers/plants at my condo here (which I've had for years- returned here on most of my RandR's from work) and my sister helped me take care of them. One of the exciting aspects of returning home is that I will now have time for gardening. I have planted a few pots of items on my small patio like flowers, peas, tomatos and herbs. Next year I hope to expand a wee bit, though my space is limited so anything huge is out! I snip bits of dill, parsley, mint, tarragon, basil and thyme regularly for meals and love finally being able to do that! We really take the little things for granted, sometimes. What do you grow, Cathy?

In addition to gardening, the second thing I'm excited about is fianlly being able to stay-put in one place long enough to parent to a pet! I have a pair of 4 year old miniature schnauzers named Lilly & Iris but I don't dare take asume full gardianship of them now because although I call them "mine" my sister's family kept them during my long absences and it would break her kids' hearts for me to bring them home to my place forever. So, I will be seeking another pet of my very own soon, I'm sure. Probably another miniature schnauzer- I love them as they are compact without being tiny and foo-foo, plus they have great personalities and they don't shed. Do you have any pets, Cathy?

Sauces? Hmmm... that's a good one. This time of year I enjoy a lot of chilled foods, so I make a lot of flavored mayonnaises and butters. I eat a green herb mayo on sandwiches and use it for fish, veggie dip, etc. I simply blend Hellman's Mayo in the food processor with a whole lemon (rind and all) and handfulls of parsley, spring onion tops, basil, watercress, and a smidgen of garlic and dijon mustard (any green herb in any amount will do nicely). You end up with a lovely and fragrant speadable GREEN mayo that is wonderful on everything.

Flavored butters? I soften butter and either stir-in, or blend-in w/ the food processor any number of ingredients from herbs, lemon and parmesan cheese to cabernet, citrus and honey... and then I shape into long logs, wrap and chill/freeze. Then when I grill out I slice off a few coins of cabernet butter or blue cheese/walnut butter to place on a hot medium-rare ribeye, some lemon-herb butter or sundried tomato/chive butter for grilled chicken, and dried apricot/tarragon butter for fresh salmon and halibut. Yummy!

Then in winter I enjoy most other sauces- bechamel, alfredo, espagnole, marinara, hollandaise, bearnaise, choron, veloutes, etc. And of course I'm a big fan of simple pan-gravies too.

What types of cooking do you enjoy, Cathy? Are you a sweets person? I love to bake and sugar/chocolate are among my favs! smiles- Kevin

[KYHeirloomer]

'Bout time you hauled your ass over here, boy!

Folks, Chubby is yet another great resource I coaxed over from that other site.

But don't let him pretend to modesty. He's an incrediably experienced chef, and, based particularly on his last job (cooking for crews in remote work camps all over Alaska) can tell some wonderful stories.

But don't get him started unless you've got lots of time. Once you start listening to his tales it's impossible to stop. Among other things, he's a great story teller, and a much better writer than he suspects.

Only thing wrong with him is that he's a better cook then me. But we'll forgive him that.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Howdy jglass- and thanks 4 the welcome! I have another acquaintance from the Bluegrass State who I met many months back at another forum. KYHeirloomer. I see he's a great/fun contributor here too! Won't take long at all for me to feel at home here, I'm sure! I see you're an Exec. Chef- what type of job do you have, jgalss?

[KYHeirloomer]

Kev, a word about this platform.

The "titles" you see under peoples names are not job descriptions, like you find at ChefTalk. Instead they are arbitrarily assigned by the program based on the total number of posts you've made.

One of several strange ways this site works. But you'll get used to it soon enough.

[chubbyalaskagriz]

Darnit, KYH- don't start fibbin' about your own cooking skills. We all know you can stand right alongside the best of'em at the grill or at the stove! (I have made your incredibly-yummy shrimp & grits 3-4 times, now!) You were among the finest folks I met over at "that other place" and I am thrilled to have you among the folks here to continue sharing with. I'm hoping others from "back there" trickle-in gradually too... though I certainly hope others stay back! I've tried to be selective with just who I leave a trail of breadcrumbs for. Hopefully only the fun ones will follow! Thanks also for the gracious comments about my gift for gab and the weird neediness I possess for bending ears and rambling non-stop about EVERYTHING! It's gonna be fun to share here, and hear others' tales too! We all know you got plenty of your own to tell! Okay- so I "talk" a lot... but I also listen well, too!