please feed the cooks

(lord knows, we're not doing so hot a job of it ourselves)

Last week at the FPFM I bought brussels sprouts, parsnips and lil potatoes so that I'd have food in the house should I be out of work early enough to cook some night this week...

then yesterday brought another 12 hour day (11.5, to be precise) and I was starved when I got home. Nothing to cook my lovely vegetables with, and who wants to eat a real meal at that time of night?

Backing up, that morning at the restaurant the line cooks just didn't make a family meal. When I asked them why they said, oh we didn't get to it, tomorrow. Which left my sous chef and I *starving*. I had one of the guys make me a chicken sandwich and we split it, then got garde manger to get us a fava puree with flatbread. That fava puree is delicious and addicting. We ate in under ten minutes, then back to work.

I should have gotten out of work at 5. But it's December, holiday insanity, so this didn't happen. Too busy making cakes and cookies for regular productions so my chef and sous chef could bust out party service and focus on the upcoming parties. Evening staff meal was some sort of stew, so I grabbed a few mashed potatoes and went back to work, eating forkfuls between measurements.

Lots of prep and then a little help when my coworker got slammed with tickets, and then I was out. And home. And hungry. With nothing in the house. Nothing fast, nothing convenient. Not even bread. An apple,maybe, and some slowly ripening persimmons. Eggs, but who wants plain eggs. It took a while but I realized I had tortillas. And cheese. So I made myself one of my favorite quick snacks, hit upon when I lived in Oakland and was damn tired of being poor and eating more traditional quesadillas.

The zaatar quesadilla! It's delicious. It's stuffed with zaatar. And cheese. And made toasty. OH how I love it. But I was talking to my buddy as I was making this and he thinks it's absolutely disgusting.

Is it gross? Or just plain weird? What do you eat when there's nothing in the house and your stomach is gnawing on itself? This morning I had oatmeal, the last of the box. And I spun my black pepper ice cream base that had been kicking around the fridge for the better part of a week. Paid my bills, realized someone stole my credit card to buy pizza and merchandise (it's cool, the card company realized it wasn't me), registered for some CCSF classes in the spring, did some work for my mother and I'm about to go to the post office to mail my lil brother's birthday present (he's 17 today), do some online xmas shopping, take my bike to be fixed because i got a flat the other day while riding to work at 5 am, and get to work before 2 because we have 4 parties today. oh, and, get some lunch before work because i am living on fava beans and flatbread and the daily tastes of the dessert station mise.