The duties we have done together are endless. For instance, we cut and slice two hundred pounds of baby red potatoes, roasted potatoes, and fifty pounds of tomatoes, ice berg lettuce, and cucumbers for a house salad. My knife and I have learned different techniques and respect for each other along this journey.
The first time I held my knife, I was sixteen years old. I worked for the St. Louis Blues at the Checker Dome, where I worked as a prep cook and prepared nachos and pizzas. Before my knife and I started our journey, we didn’t know where we would end up. The road has been very hard and long. I have learned the correct way to use and respect my knife. The first time it demanded respect was when it sliced through the tip of my left hand baby finger. The second time was the same hand but the index finger. That felt like a man falling and catching a tight rope before hitting the trampoline.
My knife and I worked the Professional Golfers Association at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. Each day consisted of dicing, chopping, and mincing tomatoes, red, green, and yellow peppers. I used the tip of my knife to separate the peppers. The edge of my knife gracefully cut through the red tomatoes. The yellow peppers were extremely hard to smash with the handle of my knife. I caressed my knife firmly in my right hand and chopped through the sides of the pepper. The five pounds of salami were staring at my knife begging it to chop through its surface skin. My knife also enjoyed chiseling potatoes for the potato salad.
We are still on a journey. We enjoyed the PGA Tour in the Bellerive Country Club kitchen, and we look forward to many more tours of slicing, dicing, cutting, mincing and chopping with the finest of cuisines.
Photo: Dinner Series
Good work. I enjoyed reading this!
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