01.05.07

Kitchen Ink

Posted in The Story, Greatest Hits, Other Fun at 12:54 pm by Chef Matt

Things are picking up again at the restaurant. We are not slammed yet, but the phone calls are coming in, and reservations are being made. Looks like you all took me up on my advice, and are ready to eat well once again! Thank you - I need to pay the bills.

I was planning on doing a story about how I had to buy a microwave for the restaurant. I overheard Jay and Amy talking one day about how they were going to go out and buy a new one, and they were kind of upset about how it would cost like $70 or $80. (Every penny is precious in a kitchen.) I offered up the suggestion that they should try craigslist - which I am sure you all know about, but for some reason they had never heard of. Anyway, as usually happens when one opens their big mouth, I was tasked with getting the microwave and was given a budget of $50.

Quick and easy - no drama, no story.

Well, I was expecting the whole thing to end up as a great fiasco, but the first guy I contacted was really nice, only wanted $25 for it, and he even DELIVERED the microwave to the restraurant last night. Half budget, with delivery, no problems.

Man, where’s the good drama when you need it? Didn’t this guy know my blog was suffering?

(In all seriousness, Pat, if you are out there, thanks for the microwave and for dropping it off. It works great and that was really cool of you!)

But I do have a story anyway! Jay was sitting outside in the alley having a cigarette as I walked up yesterday, and he went over with me what we had to do to set up for dinner. I went inside, and got to work, Jay went off to run some errands I assumed. I was busy marinating a venison loin and making a raspberry/rosemary sauce for it, so I didn’t notice the time passing.

When he came back after about an hour, someone pointed out the large bandage he had on his forearm that I had not noticed earlier. He told everyone how he had burned himself earlier in the day. I was thinking of my own forearm burn, and I truly felt for him. Though I was wondering how I missed such a huge bandage earlier…

Yes, I’m sure you all know where this is going, but that’s because you read the title of my post already… cheaters.

A fresh tattoo in just 25 minutes - amazing.

To cut to the chase, he got a tattoo on his forearm during the break. It was really amazing that he did this so fast, and I was shocked that it just came out of nowhere. I mean I have heard of making a “Taco Bell run” during a break, but a “tattoo run”? The photo here is not his tattoo, because I didn’t have a camera on me, but it is somewhat similar (though Jay’s is cooler).

But this got me to thinking. I have always wanted a tattoo of some kind, but I have the problem of being very quixotic, so one would think I would have several tattoos of all sorts of things that strike my fancy at any given moment. However, I also have the benefit of having people in my life who keep me from being stupid all the time. It is why I am still alive and have not taken up a career as a hyena wrestler.

So I have no tattoos. But when I read this article in the New York Times about chef tattoos, I knew I had to get one. The tattoo of “Duckfat” was a particular favorite of mine. And I think it is pretty set that I enjoy being a chef, so to get a tattoo related to that is not completely crazy.

Looks like this pig got tattooed, so why shouldn’t I get one too?… (Click to enlarge).

The question now I guess is what to get? No, I am not doing one on the inside of my lip like the last photo in the article, but something pork-related seems to make some sense given my love of all things that are made from pig meat. Maybe a chart of the cuts of pork - like this image here?

Then comes where to put it. I don’t even have a clue where to begin there…

If you have any ideas, I am all open to suggestions. Can’t promise I will go through on them, but now that I know how fast it can be, maybe I have something to do during lunch tomorrow…

Matt

Upadte 6/26/07: I did get the tattoo finally. You can read about my chef’s tattoo and my adventures in the chair here.

Stumble it!

Permalink