Eww (long)

I love to cook. I love to eat. I love to eat while I'm cooking. My dream house has a ginormous kitchen that is well appointed and comfortable, complete with a cozy sitting area for watching TV (Foot Network, of course!), or reading a book, or just relaxing with a nice adult libation.

It's only been about a year that I discovered Food Network. Before it didn't even register on my radar. I'd surf channels and breeze right by it. Now, I'm hooked. I wanna cook like them all, all rolled into one! I love Rachel, Tyler, Jamie, Giada, and Sunny; Pat and Gina make me smile. But honestly, far and away, Miss Paula wins. Whether it's her infectious laughter, fantastic recipes (the woman has a bigger sweet tooth than me), or her totally adorable son Bobby, I'm not sure, but it doens't matter. I love all things Paula.

Anyway, I decided to subscribe to Food Network's magazine. It's filled with fabulous recipes, behind the scenes peeks at various shows, and a wealth of other information that keeps me turning pages and saving every issue (it sucks being a packrat!!).

This month's issue had an article that caught my eye: "25 Things Chefs Never Tell You." (Food Network Magazine, Aug/Sept 2009, pp 44-45.) I wondered what juicy tidbits I was missing. In an effort to not blatantly plagiarize the entire article, I will distill it down to my favorite (and most shocking) factoids. Bear in mind, I just finished working in a public health training program... many of these tidbits made me want to NEVER eat out again:

**When eating in other restaurants, chefs say they avoid pasta and chicken. These dishes are often the most overpirced (and least interesting) on the menu....."I want something I can't make myself."
**Chefs have expensive taste...and yet they like fast food. Favorite chain? Wendy's.
**...13% of chefs [surveyed] have seen a cook do unsavory things to a customer's food. The most unbelievable tale: "Someone once ran a steak through a dishwasher after the diner sent it back twice..."
**Roaches are more common than you think.
**Your bread basket might be recycled. Three chefs admitted that uneaten bread from one basket goes right into another one.
**Menu "specials" are often expweriemental dishes. Contrary to populoar belief--that specials are justa chef's way of using up old ingredients--most chefs said they se specials to thry out new ideas or serve seasonal ingredients.
**The appropriate tip is 20%.... unless the service is poor. An amazing 90% of chefs said it's fair to penalize bad waiters with a smaller tip.
**The five second rule actually applies. A quarter of the chefs surveyed said they'd pick up food that dropped on the cloor and cook it.
**Chefs cook when they're sick. It's a long standing tradition in the restaurant industry: Cooks report to duty unnless they're practically hospitalized. Half of those...surveyed said they come to work sick, and they stay there through injuries, too.

With all this information, I am definitely going to better my cooking skills, and eat out less!