There are certain moments in our lives, perfect moments, I told you so moments, gotcha moments, "there it is" moments. Moments when the comedy is just so right. Those rare OH YES! moments. Wait for it...
Jim Smoody is my friend, my mentor, the man that took a frustrated dishwasher, and made him a cook. I had been in that dead end position for awhile at the Holiday Inn in Cookeville, when Jim took over as executive chef. We hit it off immediately. Both transplanted yankees from Wisconsin, both old hippies,and die hard Beatle fans, we were soon close friends.
I had been cooking at home, and a huge Jeff Smith fan, but only cooked proffessionally very rarely. I have always had self confidence issues, and that big busy kitchen scared me to deasth. Jim started me out one day anyway, he taught me how to make a rue. Wait for it...
It didn't take long, and before I knew it ,I had been moved from the dish machine to doing prep for buffets, and doing bar orders, appetizers, nachos, deepfried finger foods. I learned Jim's recipies for spagetti sauce, and chili, and began doing all the prep cooking for Holiday Inn. Every week I made five gallons of spag. sauce, five gallons of chili, individual lasangas, and all the salad dressings & sauces like tartar, cocktail..etc. As my confidence grew I began to add my own flair to the spagetti sauce, and made the chili my owm. Employees started lining up with bowls, and the sale of nachos went way up. I was on my way. Wait for it...
I took over doing the daily lunch buffet,the friday nite seafood prep, and some of the civics groups. I'll never forget the day Jim handed me a stack of menus, and said. "Here, your noon Rotary now, I got things to do." And walked away. I was working without a net, and scared to death. But at the same time it was exhilarating. Except for menu orders off the line, everybody that ate there that day was going to be eating my food! I was the Flatulent gormet. I was happy. Then we got a new food & beverage director, two dishwashers quit, and I was back at the dish machine. When he introduced himself he told me his name, and said "And it's my way or the highway." We did not hit it off so well. Wait for it...
The drive chain on the dish machine began breaking. Being totally at sea when it comes to mechanical things, I called Jim. He would come, and fix it, and away I'd go. After the third or forth time Jim got tired of being interuptted, and said. "Look Kolbe here's how you fix this." And there it was. It was as if I had been waiting for this moment all my life. It was so perfect. So right. I Looked my boss, my friend, right in the eye, and with a completely straight face I said...
"DAMN IT JIM! I'M A DISHWASHER NOT AN ENGINEER."
