Friday, December 09, 2005

Friday Frozen Dinner: Back Care with Rachael Ray

Many years ago I waited tables at a popular chain restaurant. I learned a lot during my 2 year tenure: I could memorize the orders of a 6-top, handle being triple and even quadruple sat by the ditzy hostesses, and fend off the advances of our slimy line cooks.

One of the most important things I learned was to never go anywhere empty handed. Something always needed to be done, whether you were opening the restaurant, handling a rush or doing sidework. And, why take multiple trips if you could do it in one? To this day, when I'm cleaning house I'll carry big piles of stuff in order to save time. It's not uncommon on cleaning day to see me running around with 2 pairs of shoes, 4 magazines, a hair clip, 2 water glasses, 3 bills, and a houseplant (don't ask) just because I don't want to backtrack through the house.

Rachael Ray must've waited tables at some point, because she's a big believer in the "one trip" philosophy. She gathers up great piles of cookware and ingredients and makes her way from the refrigerator or pantry to her cooking space. Like everything else she does, she has little names for what she does: if it's just a few spices it's an "easy carry" but if it's 40 lbs. of miscellany, it's a "tricky carry". Those tricky carries look like a strong man event sometimes, and I'm worried she's going to throw her back out. I may carry a lot of crap around the house, but you'll never see me struggling with something so heavy my knees start to give.

Rachael, I know that it's part of your schtick, but with everything else that's going on, you don't need to be doing a pack mule imitation.

Easy carries:




Tricky carries:








Call the chiropractor carries:


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