Thanks

First of all, thanks to my dad, who when I let the cat out of the bag as to what I was up to, texted back with three words...girl with knives.

See, I hadn't told anyone what I was doing, except my husband and mom, but I was so excited that it may come to be that I couldn't control myself.

Let me start at the beginning...I love to cook, I mean REALLY love to cook.  I have no training in the kitchen, other than being turned on to good food by Cooks Illustrated.  I realized that by following tried and true recipes, I couldn't go wrong.  Well, I think a cooking monster has been created.

I've gone to not handling raw meat about 10 years ago, to today...I'll touch anything food related, and with abandon.

Anyway, my husband bought a new sausage stuffer and just HAD to use it two weekends ago, so off we went to our local butcher for some back fat, 5 pounds of it.  As we left, I said to him "I think I want to work there for free a couple of hours a week".  Well, when I decide I want to do something, you'd better hold me back because I'm like a steam roller!

After discussing it, and getting more excited by the days, I took myself down there, ordered my Easter ham and put my big girl pants on and asked if they would let me intern/work for free a few hours a week.  Turns out, no, I can't, due to liability, BUT they may have a possibility of a part time position.  Holy shit!  Was this too good to be true?  Maybe, but we chatted for 15 minutes or so, he told me to send him a resume to placate his CPA and he'd be in touch.

Now, I'm going to be 40 years old this year, and I've never written a resume, ever.  Never had to!  This scared me the most, what do I put on there to make me look qualified to cut meat?  Thank goodness for templates, I found one and got to work.  Okay, that's done, now who the hell can I ask to be a reference?  Well, that turned out to be easy, the three people I asked were absolutely thrilled.

I wrote up my cover letter, trying to make myself look as qualified as possible, and with shaking
hands, sent it off to never never land via email.

I spent the next 15 hours, hitting send/receive on my email relentlessly. I'm a little bit manic, actually. Well, lo and behold, he writes back "Can you come in Thursday at 3pm for a couple of hours for a hands on interview?" 

Can I???? Is the pope Catholic?  (I'm not religious, that's just a quote I love:))

I woke up at three o'clock that night and started the countdown....12 hours from now, I'll be in a butcher shop...four o'clock, still awake....11 hours.  Noon....3 hours.  Can you see I was excited?  Crazy, maybe too.

Well, it was more than I expected, and different too.  They actually let me touch meat!  And use a knife!  And use the cash register!  And talk to customers!  I truly thought I'd be washing dishes, which I did, mopping floors, didn't, and doing a lot of watching, no time for that.

I came home with my heart racing and 2 beautiful ribeye steaks for my effort, which were delicious!  I couldn't stop talking once I got in the door, my husband is jealous, and a new part of my life may have begun.  I don't know that I have a job, yet.  But I'm sure I will.  And I think I'll love it.  And I never in a million years would have imagined my life would take this turn, but here we go...

Day 5

So I'm sitting in the bathtub after my fifth day at work, where upon arriving I've been told that my job next week is to come in with my own recipe for a sausage and we'll make 12 pounds to see if its good or how to tweak it.  Unbelievable!  Now I'm going through every cookbook I have relating to meat or sausage in the hopes I can be inspired to come up with an entirely original recipe.  That would be a first.  I'm the girl who has to follow a recipe for everything, hopefully that will soon change. 

 

Today was another entry into firsts.  I ran the meat grinder all morning, it's so huge it's unbelievable!  The meat pusher is the size of my lower leg.  See the terrible photo I took?  Must get better at that...

 

 

I ground about a hundred pounds of primal cuts of sirloin for extra lean ground beef and chuck for ground beef and then it was on to the sausage.  Breakfast sausage, which by the way is delicious, pepperoni, and last but definitely not least was the highly loved, but annoying bangers.  They contain breadcrumbs which become like cement in the mixer making it a bitch to clean that baby when I'm done.  They're absolutely delicious, though.

Now...on to decide what sausage to make.  Stay tuned!

 

Easter ham

 So, even though I don't officially start until after our vacation, I had to get our Easter ham from my new place of employment.  We have 13 people coming and this beauty weighs in at 19.49 pounds.  More than enough for a pound per person.  Have I mentioned that my family loves to eat?  Ummm, yes, we do.

 

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope you enjoy today spent with the ones you love...

I don't know why I love it, but I do

Since I received the phone call yesterday that I have a job, I've been in an otherworldly mindset.  I can't believe this is happening to me.  I can't believe my luck.  I just can't believe it in general.

I had an interaction today with an old acquaintance.  I've known her family for 15 plus years.  I told her my good news and she said "I look at all of your pictures online of your cooking, canning and gardening and I can't believe it..."what makes you do what you do"? 

That question is what leads me to this post.  I have no idea why I put myself out there to a butcher shop of all places to ask for a job.  I truly don't.  I just know I love it, but what is "it"?  Is it knowledge above and beyond what I already know?  Maybe...  Is it camaraderie amongst people again?  Probably...  What else is it?  I still don't know.

I'm amazed by the outpouring of people close to me and not close that have displayed incredulousness at my desire to be working in a butcher shop.  I'm flabbergasted that they even ask the question, but then again, it makes me question myself.  Why am I really doing this?  I'm SO EXCITED that I can hardly contain myself, but I also wonder what I've gotten myself into.  Is part of it that I'm infiltrating a man's world?  Women haven't been my friends for the most part, men are easier to get along with, is that it?  They're certainly easier....but I think I'm straying from the base of this particular post.  That is...why am I doing this?  I never thought in a million years I'd be here...for goodness sake, 10 years ago, I wouldn't touch a raw quicken.  Now the only question in my mind is whether I'll eat blood sausage without a blindfold on. 

The News

Well, as of 40 minutes ago....I have a job!  I've been waiting anxiously ALL week, and he just called while I was having coffee with my daughter.  I'll start as soon as we come home from our trip to Mexico, working Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I can't wait for this new chapter in my life to begin.  I know I'm going to learn so much, it may not be easy at first, but I'll give it everything I have.

I'm looking forward to learning new techniques, looking forward to working with customers, and looking forward to having coworkers again.  It's been a while since I had someone to talk to during the day.