7 servings.

I was in the office, as you do, and shuffling around numbers. "Huh? What does '1 bucket of soup, broken and discarded'," even mean? Upon further investigation, it would mean that one of the service buckets, inside which soup is stored, was dropped by accident (everyone was OK; the service buckets are plastic), and the bucket broke, meaning that the soup and the bucket had to be thrown out.

Now we're getting somewhere. Right, but what do those cost? Boss Man shrugged. I silently cursed as I stalked off to the office to get to the bottom of this. I calculated the rough liquid capacity of the soup mug (12 oz~ish), and the rough size of the bucket (3 quarts?), and went about converting the one to the other and dividing across, and looking at the final score.

Then I cursed aloud, balled up the paper, and flung it across the room at the wall. 8 servings per bucket? That made no sense. So I started up again. Maybe the buckets are 2 quarts. Yeah, that's it, it's 2. Then I checked my math, and the cost of the soup. If that indeed was how much soup I'm getting for that soup recipe, we're not charging nearly enough. This makes no sense! I balled up a second sheet of paper, and stewed for a minute.

Wait a minute.

Excitedly, I ran out into the plating area, grabbed a soup mug, grabbed an empty service bucket (it needed washing out anyway), and filled it with water. Then, counting down, I started to empty the bucket, one mug at a time.

7.

Sometimes, it takes an intelligent person a frustratingly long time to find the same answer that you could have figured out in 10 seconds. I cross-checked the math with the pricing, and the little lightbulbs went off in my head. Yes. Everything fit neatly, and easily. Also, now I had a quick way to assess whether or not I'll need more of a particular thing. If I've only got 1 1/2 buckets of soup left, I'd better get into the kitchen and whip up another one. If it's lunch rush and I've only got 1 1/2 buckets of soup left, then I'd better crank the stove, crank the oven, and /run/.

Why is this so exciting to me? Because now I /know/. A little thrill of triumph crossed my face as I completed the maths problem the easy way, made my notations, and moved to the next set of hurdles to jump, with its own set of numbers to rescue from the clutches of "I don't know."

All in a day's work.

Mashed Potatoes

Cliff's been in a bit of a funk the past few months (years?), and while he still would come up with fiendishly clever dishes, it was interspersed with days where he'd be too sapped to do much except stare off into space and predict doom. I could tell he was out of his funk, because he proposed that we make a dinner special that could quite easily qualify as a feast, as pictured above. What is it?

It's a meatloaf, with lots of shiitake mushroom gravy, oven roasted garden peas, and creamy mashed potatoes. Also? It's 100% gluten free. We adore our gluten free folk, and try our hardest to make specials free of the wicked 5: wheat, spelt, barley, rye, or oats.

The peas were too easy to think about. Once shelled, they're tossed in a bit of oil, salt, and garlic powder, and then roasted in the oven at 350 F for about 25 minutes. The meatloaf and the gravy are both our own creations (Cliff makes meatloaf, I make gravy) and are a fairly tightly guarded secret. Also, they involve a ton of ingredients, which I don't fancy having to type out right now.

But the mashed potatoes? Those I will share with you freely. Warning: they're rich as all get-out, and you'll find yourself going into the fridge after everyone has gone to bed to sneak a few more spoonfuls. Trust me, I've watched it happen!

If you use Idaho Russet Burbank potatoes, you'll want to peel them. If you use a thin-skinned waxy potato, like red bliss or yukon gold, you can keep the skin on.

5 lbs potatoes, whole
6 cups coconut milk (that's about 3 cans of the stuff)
1 1/2 TB salt
1/2 tsp black pepper (fresh ground is best)
Water, for boiling

Boil the potatoes in gently bubbling water. You don't want them to get waterlogged, so make sure the heat on the stove is medium to medium low. You can use high heat to bring the water to a boil, but as soon as you see bubbles rapidly breaking the surface, ease on back the heat, and let them gently cook.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain them well. Dump the potatoes into the pot again. Gently mash them up with a potato masher, wooden spoon, whatever. Pour in the coconut milk, salt, and pepper. Stir it around until it's completely mixed in. You see, because you're working with hot potatoes, you don't have to bother to heat up the coconut.

And that's it.

It shocked me how simple it was. I made sure to get every last drop out of the pot, because this is precious stuff we're talking about here. You can eat them right there when you're done stirring in the coconut milk and salt and pepper.

Variations include but are not limited to, adding roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, sweet corn, green peas, or anythign else you can think of.

Grain

Summer Quinoa with Spring Peas and Lemon
(gf, ns, sf)

Carrot Risotto (gf, ns, sf)

Hummus (gf, ns, sf)

Creamy Tahini

Protein:

Asian Pepper-steak Tacos

Vegetable

Roasted Curried Cauliflower and Carrot

Raw Brazilian Salad (gf, ns, sf, raw): A lively mix of celeriac, green peppers, apples, mango carrots, tomatoes, lemon juice, cilantro, scallions, ginger, spices, flax seeds, ground almonds, and extra virgin olive oil.

Beans &Rice (gf, ns, sf)

Mexican Black Beans w/yucca & cumin

Next Bean: English Navy Beans w/Potato

(All bean specials have no: garlic, onions, pepper, and are sf, ns, gf)

Soups

Chilled Cucumber-Dill (gf, ns, sf): coconut milk forms the base for this creamy soup.

Moroccan Tagine: French Lentils, Great Northern beans, organic soy protein chunks, roma tomatoes, onions, celery, parsley, cinnamon, lemon & orange juice, coriander, turmeric, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper. Spicy (but not hot spicy), and fragrant and filling.

Daily Specials

Grain

Steamed Carrot & Saffron Risotto (gf, ns, sf)

Hummus (gf, ns, sf)

Lemon Tahini

Next: Almond Cumin (try with apple or cucumber)

Protein:

Baked Tofu in pan-seared Tomato Dill Cream Sauce, with Brown Rice & Broccoli: $14.75

Vegetable

Roasted Fennel & Roma Tomatoes w Eggplant Croutons. The veg's vegetables all roasted separately in extra virgin olive oil. Sliced fennel: fennel seed, salt, pepper, garlic; halved romas: thyme, oregano, salt, pepper; cubed eggplant w nutritional yeast, cornmeal, onion powder, salt, pepper.

Beans &Rice (gf, ns, sf)

Mexican Black Beans w/yucca & cumin

(All bean specials have no: garlic, onions, pepper, and are sf, ns, gf)

Soups

Chilled Avocado Mango (gf, ns, sf)

Chilled Lebanese Cucumber Tahini (gf, ns, sf)

Moroccan Tagine: French Lentils, Great Northern beans, organic soy protein chunks, roma tomatoes, onions, celery, parsley, cinnamon, lemon & orange juice, coriander, turmeric, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper. Spicy (but not hot spicy), and fragrant and filling.