Service industry in America

So I've been in the service industry, mostly hostessing and waiting tables, for about, mmmm, 4-5 years. I refuse to work in corporate-owned restaurants after my first job (disaster!) so now I only work in family owned restaurants. And let me tell you, without seeing the absolute worst treatment of servers (which occurs in corporate restaurants, unsurprisingly), I have some pretty horrific stories.

We'll just disregard what happened this weekend at work.

What I want to talk about is the treatment of service industry folks in the US. These people work long hours dealing directly with other people, do not get health insurance, and are rarely paid over minimum wage. I am obviously biased because I work in the industry, as do almost all of my friends and room mates, but just take a moment to think about all the work that these people do. Think of it in a Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club-esque way... these people wash your car, take care of children, prepare and serve your food, help you find things in the store, ... and guard you while you sleep! (I couldn't help it...)

The typical attitude that managers... and sadly, the ever present asshole customers (of course not all of them are...), hold is that the customer is ALWAYS right. Now, this is good business practice, but to a point. When your employees are barely being paid a living wage and have to deal with all of this anxiety, well, does this seem like a good way for people to live?

I'm starting to think that this is why people "go postal" and come to work "and then stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers." (sorry, I felt this reference really proved my point).

I just think we need to change the way we treat the service industry employees, I mean, they're the largest body of workers in the country, right? The problem is that Capitalism needs some party to externalize its costs to... and that goes to the service industry people. So that everyone can get cheap goods, the service people are treated horribly and hardly make any money.

So I am writing this post after talking to my favorite cousin about life in America. It seems like we have to go through a lot of crap to get to the all important "American Dream". This high anxiety, time-poor lifestyle we all endure seems to blind us from what is important. We want money, power, things... but at what cost? I, for one, am sick of selling lamb chops and beef kabobs. I am going to change this as soon as I can... and work in a job where people actually give their employees a voice.

Speaking of giving employees a voice, right now I am eating at "Hard Times Cafe", a restaurant that treats its employees right with healthcare and vacation time. It's an all vegetarian/vegan cafe, and I am enjoying one of my *favorite* sandwiches: the Tempeh Reuben. All you non vegetarians may scoff at tempeh (my man being one of them), but all you other veggies know what I'm talking about.
I ate half the sandwich before I realized I was going to take a picture of it. That's what Tempeh does to me.

*For anyone who doesn't know, tempeh is a fermented soybean cake. It's a little like tofu, with a much nuttier taste and a strange texture, which is kind of like softened soybeans. For those of us who can understand textures... its amazing.

So tip your servers right, only complain to managers when you really mean it, and take a moment to look at situations from the service industry employee's perspective: they take a lot of crap, and do the jobs that no one else wants to do. A lot of them are in this country illegally trying to make a living to support their families. They have the same dreams and ambitions as you at a deep level, and they're human beings. Shouldn't we all be treated with equal consideration and respect?

Why Ethics?

So obviously I am a philosophy student, I'm getting a minor in ethics. I think that ethics are really important to think about. Having an ethical framework helps you make decisions about moral things every day.

Every day?

Yep. Every single day. I think that just about everything we do has an impact on other people. If you sat in a closet all day, maybe you wouldn't need to think about ethical behavior, because you aren't in contact with others. Everything we do, buy a coffee, go to work, buy and read the newspaper, and especially, EAT, has far reaching implications that effect other people, animals, and the environment.

That's why cooking with ethical implications in mind is important. Eating is another thing we do EVERY DAY. So, as Michael Pollan would say, that's three votes a day with your fork. You could choose to conform to the status quo of the typical American: processed food, meat, added sugar, added fat, and chemical enhancers and sweeteners.

Or, if you don't like the fact that we dump all kinds of fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides into our fields and food (some which have the potential to cause cancer and disrupt ecosystems), or that both farmers and field laborers hardly make enough of a living to feed their families, or that our nation's waistlines are growing considerably (Mrs. Obama said 1 in 3 kids are obese or overweight) and the rates of diet related disease are skyrocketing, or that farm animals are treated as commodities instead of sentient beings....

These are the reasons I eat conscientiously. I eat mostly plants, which are mostly organic, and I do the best I can to buy local products, even though on a waitress' salary, it's kind of tough. When we get meat for my man, I insist on no hormone, preferably organic and local.

So keep your values in mind when you eat. If everyone did it, the world would be a different place.

Potato Curry, Raita, and Naan: An Indian Feast.

It has been ridiculously snowy this week, and I thought that it was prime time for some heat in the kitchen. And while, in retrospect, it would have been a smarter idea to turn the oven on, we made some pretty awesome potato curry. This recipe was from Practical Cooking: Vegetarian, my favorite cook book because of all the different interesting recipes it contains. From Thai Noodles to Veggie Wellington, these recipes are seriously amazing. I'll make sure try new ones, but I'll definitely give credit where it's due! So potato curry came from this cook book, the Raita recipe came from All Recipes, and we bought some Naan at the store.

The Raita is really creamy and kind of cleanses the palate between bites of the thick, spicy potato curry. If you don't like too much spice, just leave out some of the pepper.

Potato Curry and Raita with Naan

Like all the best dishes, start out with some potatoes.
Three to be exact.
Two Onions
For some reason, the cats LOVE smashing my groceries.
Three giant cloves of garlic, crushed
Four tomatoes...
1 cup Cauliflower florets
2 tablespoons cilantro
... and also 3/4 cup peas. I used canned.
Cut the Onion into quarters.
Crush the garlic
Cut the potatoes into equal pieces. Next time I make this, I will definitely cut these into smaller pieces. Like half the size of these. It took forever to cook... and I even nuked them in the microwave first!

Peel the tomatoes. I thought this step was ridiculous... but the result was great and apparently I'm pretty good at peeling tomatoes. I'm still toying with the idea of using stewed tomatoes next time.
Next, cut the tomatoes into quarters.

Now heat some vegetable oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan or skillet. I used my trusty, not-so-rusty-anymore cast iron skillet.
Add the potatoes, onions, and crushed garlic, and fry, stirring frequently, over low heat for a couple minutes.
Add 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. ginger
Chilies... the recipe recommends 1 fresh chili but I used 3 dried ones.
But I really like spice.
The first on the left is garam masala, next is coriander, then cumin. The little container is ginger, then turmeric, and finally, a giant container of chillies.
Mmmmmmhhh...
Now fry for about a minute at low heat, stirring constantly.
Next add the cauliflower florets, tomatoes, peas, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, and 1 and 1/4 cups stock (I just used water).
Cook this on a low heat for 30-40 minutes or until potatoes are cooked all the way through and but still tender.

This is gonna take a loooong time. Now it's time to make the Raita.

I kind of changed the recipe from allrecipes.com to suit my liking.

start out with 2 cucumbers, and seed and chop them.

Don't worry. I was being very careful and I moved my hand right after the picture.
Next, seed and dice one tomato.
My peeler is pretty awesome.
Now add about 2 cloves of garlic, minced.

And add 2 cups of unsweetened yogurt and 1 tsp. cumin
Add salt and pepper to taste. Done with that!

This is taking forever.
Seriously, next time I will make smaller pieces.
It's so close to being done... I also made rice to go along with this meal, as you can see...
It's done!
It smelled so good!!!
Now I heated up the naan over the stove in a skillet so it was nice and pliable.

And serve the curry with cilantro as a garnish (or pretty much all over it) with some Raita and rice on the side with naan! I wish we had more.
I love how the cauliflower turned into this light yellowy color.

Enjoy!

Potato, Artichoke, and Cauliflower Four Cheese Casserole

I reckon the three best vegetables to eat with cheese are, hands down, potatoes, artichokes, and cauliflower. So all three in a casserole with four cheeses, so I reasoned yesterday, is a pretty ingenious idea.

I was totally right.

I saw a similar recipe in my favorite cook book, "Vegetarian Practical Cooking" last night, so I made this casserole for dinner. It has Gruyère, Gorgongonzola, Parmesan, and sharp Cheddar cheese both in the sauce and on top.

And it was amazing.

Serve this over rice and with a salad. I made brown rice and a pear, Gorgonzola, and pecan salad.

Potato, Artichoke, and Cauliflower Four Cheese Casserole
Start boiling some salted water in a medium or large pot. Get out some baby red potatoes.
Chop them up into uniform pieces so they'll cook fast and evenly. Plop potatoes into boiling water. But don't forget about them.

While those puppies are cooking, cut up about 2 cups of cauliflower. I tried to make mine uniformly sized...
Next chop up 1/2 a red onion. I tried a new technique this time, I chopped the onion in half and cut off the end. Then cut it in one direction, rotate 90 degrees, and cut it again.
Next, smash three cloves of garlic and mince.
And finally, open up a can of quartered artichokes. My casserole had one can of artichokes, minus one.
But don't cut yourself on the can. I usually manage to at least once. But this time, I didn't at all!


Boil potatoes until tender but still firm. This usually takes about 15 minutes. I usually test if they're done by poking them with a knife.

Drain these guys when they're done and set them aside, or do as I did and dump them in your 9 inch casserole dish.

Next, steam the cauliflower. Cook until tender, this took about 10 minutes.
Dump these in your casserole dish on top of your baby red potatoes.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in your good ol' rusty trusty cast iron skillet.
And start cookin' your onions and garlic. Mmmmmmm... Sautee until almost done.
Now here's the hard part. Add 4 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup) of flour to the butter. Cook the roux (butter/flour mix) for about a minute. I had my boyfriend help on this part. It's really hard to stir and pour the flour at the same time. It should start to look like this:
After you let it cook for a minute, turn down the heat a little and start adding the milk, a cup at a time, and bring milk to a boil. Right after it starts boiling, dump in the artichokes.
Reduce heat and simmer until mixture gets a little thicker, maybe about 7 minutes, stirring regularly.

Here are all the cheeses I used:
Add in half of the cheese, or about 1/2 cup of Gruyère, Gorgonzola, and sharp cheddar, and 1/4 cup parmesan. The sauce will start to look like this. This is definitely done.

Now the roux is finished. I use variations of this recipe for mac 'n cheese and other cheesy veggie casseroles...
Dump this sauce over potatoes and cauliflower.
Then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top with 1 tablespoon thyme.
Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

And now it's time to clean up my mess...
And take out the veggie scraps to the compost pile!
And finally, its done!!
Mine turned out a little brown, just perfect for my liking!

Garnish with a couple sprigs of thyme and serve on rice!

Potato, Artichoke, and Cauliflower Four Cheese Casserole

2 1/2 cups cubed baby red potatoes
2 cups cubed cauliflower
1/2 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz. can quartered artichokes
4 tbl. butter
4 tbl. flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup each Gruyère, Gorgonzola, and sharp Cheddar
1/2 cup Parmesan
1 tablespoon thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil baby red potatoes until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Steam cauliflower, about 10 minutes. Dump potatoes into 9 inch casserole dish, and layer cauliflower on top. Melt butter in pan, and sautee garlic and onion until almost cooked through. Next, slowly add in 4 tablespoons of flour to make a roux. Cook for a minute, then turn down the heat and add the milk slowly, mixing to dissolve butter and flour. Add artichokes, and bring milk to a boil, stirring regularly. Reduce heat and simmer until it starts to thicken, about 7 minutes or so. Add half the cheeses and stir to melt into sauce. Pour sauce over potatoes and cauliflower, and sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese and 1 tablespoon chopped thyme. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Garnish with sprigs of thyme

First Post!

So I'm doing THIS instead of doing homework today.... Much more fun!!

Since I don't have any specific topic or recipe to share today, I'll use this time to shamelessly promote my Do It Green! U of M club and share some pictures of food and kitties. This week at Do It Green, we talked about campaigns for teaching dorm residents about what they can do to reduce their environmental impact. My expertise is in sustainable food, but the dorms already have a great sustainable food program through UDS (university dining services). Check out their program here
http://www1.umn.edu/dining/awareness.html

So we are going to focus on other topics, such as recycling, transportation, and water and energy conservation. I'll post pictures of these parts of the campaign later.

Lately, I've been trying to eat according to Michael Pollan's suggestions (Author of Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food), which includes following his food rules: Eat food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants. I've been successful thus far, and I thought I'd share some photos and recipes of things I've made.

First, here's a recipe from Do It Green! Minnesota, who partnered with Chef Heather Hartman from Spoonriver, which is a sustainable and mostly vegetarian restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. Do It Green partnered with local chefs last year to develop recipes to help average people lower their carbon "food-print". Pretty clever, huh?

Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Bisque with Cider Syrup

Butternut Apple Bisque with Cider Syrup
and Puffed Wild Rice Chef Heather Hartman, SpoonRiver
serves 8
4 c. apple cider, divided

2 c. wild rice
6 c. water

2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2 in. cubes
3 c. water or stock
2½ c. thinly sliced leeks
4 Tbl. butter
²⁄³ tsp. salt
1 c. whole milk
3 apples, peeled and diced

Bring 2½ cups cider to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook until reduced to ½ cup (about 20 minutes). Cool, place in small jar, cover and chill.

In a large sauce pan, bring 6 cups water to a boil. Add 2 cups wild rice, reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Boil wild rice for 50-60 minutes or until rice puffs open. Set aside.

In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the 1½ c. cider, squash, water or stock, and apples. Cook covered for 20 minutes or until squash is soft. Stir in the milk and the salt. Cool slightly and blend in a blender until smooth. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Pour back into large sauce pan and bring back to a simmer. Add wild rice. Drizzle 1 Tbl. of cider syrup on top. Serve hot.

This soup has an absolutely gorgeous color... This is before we stirred in the rice. I'd suggest halving this recipe, just because you end up with A LOT of soup.
















Also, with all of the squash seeds we removed, we made roasted seeds!

Allright, I have time to show off one more recipe I've made lately...

Bread machine calzones with artichokes, red peppers, and sun dried tomato alfredo.

So I have a tendency to cheat sometimes, and here is an example. I used the bread machine to make my dough, and I used a jar of sauce instead of making my own (oops!)

Calzone recipe is from Allrecipes, the rest is my own.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Fillin' (for two calzones)
Artichokes (canned is fine), about 1 cup
Red Onion, diced, about 1/2 cup
One red pepper, diced
one clove of garlic, minced
LOTS of feta cheese, crumbled
olive oil
... and feel free to add any other ingredients, mushrooms, olives, parmesan cheese, asparagus... whatever you have on hand!

Sautee red onion and garlic, and add rest of veggies. Sautee until cooked to a little before done. Remember, they'll get a little more cooking in the oven.

Directions

1. To Make Dough: Place water, yeast, sugar, flour, and salt in the pan of the bread machine, in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle. After cycle is completed, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Split dough in half and shape into two rectangles using a rolling pin. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet, and spoon sun dried tomato alfredo sauce lengthwise down the center of the dough, followed by sauteed veggies and feta cheese. Make diagonal cuts 1 1/2 inches apart down each long side of the dough rectangle, cutting to within 1/2 inch of the filling (Don't get too close or the sauce will spill out!) . Criss-cross cut strips of dough over the filling and seal edges with water. Brush top of calzone with melted butter.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

Gorgeous, huh?
Mine was the one on the right... Derrick made the other one.

I win.

Here are a few other pics of things I've made, and I plan to make again!
Cauliflower, potato, and cherry tomato casserole with a smoked cheddar cheese sauce


Home Made English Muffins
A Happy Man!

Eggplant Parmesan for me and Chicken Parmesan for Derrick!

Vegetable Dumpling Soup (Potato, celery, carrots, onion)
And Last, but of course not least, here's my kitty posing next to a packet of catnip seeds. She looks just like the cat on the package! I'm such a nerd.
Until next time,
Peace!
AleeCat