White Slavery

What ... Slavery ... in the 21st century? YES!! Let's talk about a 14 hour shift with two 5 minute breaks that I just completed ??? ... most commercial kitchens operate outside of all labour laws ... outside of ethical laws ... outside of all laws that pertain to civilized society.

When you patronize your local eatery do you know that behind the scenes there are probably slaves in the kitchen? People who are in physical and mental pain that HAVE to be there. People that are being abused ... people that are making minimum wage and putting up with verbal tirades from narcissistic chefs, cooks and managers ... people who are behind the scenes scrubbing pots ... chopping onions ... and basically doing whatever their bosses tell them to do and do it fast!

51 Dogs

I'm sitting in my room waiting for rain or a thunderstorm and decided that I will describe what the 51 Dogs means in the title of my blog. During the winter of 2007 I learned how to dogsled with 51 beautiful siberian huskies. At the time I was Chef/Owner of a restaurant called "The Spot" @ the Arlington Hotel. One night I decided that someday I would write a memoir of my journey called "51 Dogs and a Kitchen" ... hence the title of the blog.

After Bites

I was sitting around the campfire last night with some people and a teenager mentioned that she didn't bring her After Bite lotion .... Huh ... Apparently you apply this after you have been biten. Just like this generation and the last few they think that there is a solution for everything. Avoid pain at all costs. What's wrong with letting the little buggers bite you a few times and having your amazing body build up immunity so that you don't even notice further bites.

Isn't the pain experience part of living ... part of learning ... part of being human? People will stay in abusive relationships, work at mind numbing jobs, keep their children prisoners because the big bad world might hurt them ... all to keep pain away.