Restaurant Supply

"I can spend hours in a grocery store.

I get so excited when I see food, I go crazy."

Cameron Diaz

In honor of my birthday my friend (Brother/Father) Georges took me on an adventure to a restaurant supply store. There was an Arabic method to his madness. He takes me to a place I can by a rib roast for half the cost, then I, in turn, invite him to share my birthday dinner with him. Plus he's been a little depressed and he says I make him smile. I like hearing this because this man always make me feel good. He is the brother I never had.

I've been to big warehouse food stores before like Price Club or Costco, but never to a place that serves only restaurants. Restaurants and people like Georges and I who borrow someone else's membership card. The only other time I've been to a place that is so cold they provide down-filled jackets was last fall when I went see to Gary Wichanskie's carved ice show. With the exception of the slippery ice on the floor which provided several opportunities for falling on one's keester, and all the food of course, as opposed to ice slides, carved Nativities and giant icicles, this refrigerated food market was remarkably similar. Okay, the only resemblance was the size of the room(s) and the below freezing temperatures. But in a way it was the same kind of adventure! Being with a fun person, being cold, and seeing something I've never seen before.

Truly, I've never seen so much food in one place before in such large quantities. It was quite amazing. Indeed, the prices were drastically lower than the grocery store, but when you have to buy a slab of meat that might not fit into a home oven, you still come out of the store with your pockets turned inside out.

[Photo L: Guacamole anyone? A whole box of avocados, the good kind from California and it only cost $35.oo as opposed to $1.50 a piece which is so outrageous I never buy the buttery green pieces of gold.]

I found myself having the same kind of reaction to restaurant supplies, i.e. pans, spices, spatulas, aprons, mixing bowls and whisks, that I have every September at the beginning of the school year. I can get lost in an office/school supply store and gorge my senses on pens and paper faster than you can say "Recess!" I'm not kidding, I found myself lusting over a guava colored chef shirt. Where do these strange desires come from?

If you are a vegan you don't want to know about the piece of meat I bought. I almost didn't get it because neither Georges or I could figure how we would cut through the bones to make family sized portions. I had forgotten that I have my very own food inspector/ meat carver at home who would know exactly what to do. Like the pro he once was, Sweetie put on an apron and grabbed the biggest knife in the rack. He carved that sucker into 2 roasts and 5 steaks - each one fit for a king. [Photo L: Thank God I didn't see one beef knuckle. I did, however, see pieces of meat I wish I hadn't.]


I don't know if I'll go back to this frozen den of restaurant delights any time soon, but I do know this. Even if I have to cook it, I'm going to have a delicioso birthday dinner. [Photo L: Have you ever seen so many carrots in one place?]


Getting hungry just thinking about it,
Merry ME