Food Relevance from a Drunken Cook

Head Line – “Brutally uncomfortable”

Waskesiu, I tell you guys, anything can happen in Waskesiu. I love that place so much even though I don’t really have much to show for my five seasons there. Except maybe all the friendships, knowledge in regards to work and the hilarious stories.
         My first year, I was a young and eager but completely green when it came to cooking. I didn’t really know a whole lot except how to be a hard working grunt. I think because of my brother I got a dish/prep job at one of the bars and was pumped. I was learning how to drink a lot and loved a harsh dooby once in a wile so naturally Waskesiu was a fit. I began work immediately upon my arrival and the chefs as well as a few of the cooks were super cool dudes. I still talk to a couple of them when I can and respect them quite a bit for the foundation they gave me that summer.
         Anyways, the two main cooks and I got along and being the only guys I knew we started hanging out together regularly. We watched South Park quite a bit and if we weren’t working we were completely baked. One day was so unbelievable; it was so funny and scary at the same time. I could have easily made the same mistake the other guy did. There were jalapeño poppers on the menu but it was before the generic popper product was messily distributed and we had to core and stuff them our selves. First time for me and nobody thought to tell me or the other guy to put on rubber gloves as we manually scraped the insides out of the fresh jalapeños…
         About half way through I noticed that my forehead was warm and then my lip and eventually my hands. After I noticed that the warmth evolved quickly into a full out burning. I was completely confused and very uncomfortable as I trudged on trying to get the job finished. I could tell the other guy was experiencing the same type of feelings as was I only a few minutes before we felt it he had went and relieved himself in the bathroom. Shitty!
         When chef came in he had a good laugh and allowed the other guy to go home cause his, you know, was red and burning from the oils in the peppers. I was still uncomfortable but was still able to laugh at the poor cook as he left the kitchen to go sit in a cold bathtub and wait for time to fix his swollen problem. That was an awesome moment that had me chuckling and everybody teasing for the rest of the summer. I also learned a valuable lesson that day, when dealing with spicy product, try very heard to not touch your face or any other body part for that matter, at least until you can thoroughly clean your self up. Trust me on this one.
         Garo, I’ll give you a solid 10 points for a tough go.