Olympic Highs and Lows

Not only do the Athlete's have High's and Lows during their competitions as they win or loose, the kitchen staff have the same, however when we hit the low's, who better to laugh at, then ourselves.

Olympic Bill

Barbados here we come

Can you believe that Laura's Mom has invited the kitchen staff to her house for a 2011 Olympic Culinary Reunion in Barbados? Don't think your getting on that invite list unless you've actually slugged it out in our Kitchen, Thanks Mom

Olympic Bill

Another Olympic Culinary Milestone

We finally hit the 200,000 meal mark and it feels like a cake walk now that we've mastered the routines. So today we only fed 6000 meals, in a couple of weeks I'll be home cooking for my family of 4 trying not to dump 4 lbs of spices into the turkey chili. It took some people a long time to get used to adding large bottles of spices to the some of the casseroles and stews. I would tell them to put in oregano and they would sprinkle a bit on top, I'd dump the whole bottle and go looking for a second one only to see a bewildered look on their face. We may take 6000 meals for granted now, but there were quite a few learning curves to get there. I just hope they can adapt back to the small #'s more quickly once they're home with there own families.

Olympic Bill

Paralympics Opening Ceremony

Here we go again, these past few days the kitchen has been ramping up as we get ready for the opening ceremonies tomorrow. Team Canada arrived yesterday and had there athletic welcoming ceremony to the village so were all pretty excited to support our athletes once again. Although were not feeding as many athletes for the paralympics the menu's are still the same with just as much preparation to set up all the food stations. On top if this we prepare almost 800 grab and go breakfast bags for the workforce as they head up to their sites for the day, but lately they haven't been going so fast so we're finding other uses for the items that will expire before they're used. Anyone got any good recipes for a load of milk?

Olympic Bill

No Hot Tub!

Little Mikey may be right about the living accommodations where he is relegated to the Atco Trailers with bathrooms for 2 and a 3 min walk to work and no alcohol. We on the other hand have to suffer in a $600,000.00 condo with a million dollar view from every room and livingroom with leather furniture fit for Athletes from around the world. So we don't have hot tubs, we do have beer!!

In any case this blog isn't about living accommodations and who has what, it's about the Olympics and the food we serve. Today we are at our peak feeding for athletes and our workforce and tomorrow we have to prepare almost 800 box lunches for the athletes as they head to Vancouver on Friday for the opening ceremonies. Last night we made over 1000  meatball subs for our workforce lunch special and fresh ratatouille for 1600. Try this recipe at home

8 cases of large Eggplants
4 cases of Green zuchinni
4 cases of yellow zuchinni
2 x 50 lb bags of sliced onions
6 cases of diced tomatoes,
add seasoning herb, a bit of Love and next thing you know you have ratatouille for 1600. You know our diners are happy, remember Food is morale, Cheers

Olympic Bill

200,000 Meal Mark

In preparation for the Paralympics & in combination with the Olympics we've now surpassed the 200,000 meal mark in 6 weeks. Without a doubt an amazing accomplishment.

I also wanted to add to Bill's post about the workforce move. What he conveniently left out was, while in the process of setting up the Senior Chef's & Management in the fancy condo's while the rest of were put in the Atco trailer's, we actually ended up with the better deal. We're 2 to a room & sharing one bathroom & a 2 minute walk to work, while they got stuck with 6 people sharing one bathroom & the condo's are at the far reaches of the village with an approx 20 minute walk to work. We've all had a good laugh over that one.

Cheers, Olympic Mike

Army Visitors

Apparently we are surrounded by the Canadian Armed Forces as part of our protection team and a few of my old Food Service compatriots came into the village for a tour.  I think amazement was an understatement and not just because they saw me in chef whites actually cooking, but to see the magnitude of food services we are providing in our facility. Major Derri, Sgt Lipp and MCpl Lagdon experienced an opportunity of a lifetime to see inside the Olympic Athletes village where most people only get to read about it. As military cooks we feed great food to our diners, I remember 20 years ago when we started to introduce pasta bars and pizza stations along with their meals served on the steamline. Here, we provide food services to 9 food stations plus 2 workforce dining rooms for over 12,000 meals a day in a kitchen no bigger than Windsor Park galley in Halifax (typical 500 man messhall).  I think the highlight of their visit was to meet and Chat with Michael Smith and see him cooking as well. In this kitchen I know the military would be proud of us because all Chef's lead from the front (first in, last out ring a bell?)

Olympic Bill