Been a long time...

Haven't blogged in a while. Here goes.

Bowling:

State Bowling Tournament (6/14-15) -- very disappointing:
* Team Event: 195-171-189 -- 555 (Really could not get lined up, found something late thanks to my friend Clyde but did not carry. There was some great energy with bringing two teams.

* Doubles (even worse): 191-130-175 -- 495 (I honestly can't remember that last time that I did not hit 500 on house conditions). Too many splits and very dumb with lane condition and ball selection. Probably some of the dumbest bowling I have done in a long time. I feel really bad because my bowling partner was lights out, hitting 700. My apologies Clyde.

* Singles: 179-256-215 -- 650
In the first game, I started out with 4 strikes, then got 4 opens (three splits and a chop).
Second game was good. XXXX9/XXXX7/X
Third Game was eh: X 9/9- S81 81 X X X X X X X
Very hard to get 22 strikes and bowl only a 650. I turned a potential 725 series (huge cash) into a 650 series (minimal cash)

Hopefully I can use this in the future. I learn more from bowling bad -- and I got a PhD in one weekend.

I practiced on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday....
* My accuracy and repeatability are both improving.
* I am using my straight ball on all spares. Getting more confident in that approach.

Looking forward to my first PBA tournament on the Fourth of July weekend. I look forward to my first tournament as a professional.

Kettlebells/Training:
Kept the workouts pretty basic this week.
Presses, Get Up, Swings and Snatches.

I have really put on some weight -- looking to cut from 199 to 185 (again).

Getting my ISSA certification on July 12th (finally)

Hell's Kitchen:
Bobby's elimination -- Corey said it best, he is just looking to play it safe.
Jen's elimination -- To selfish to be a leader

For the last three:
* Christina has impressed me with the last two challenges and her services.
* Petrozza is a solid chef, but I have no idea how is does it because he "works dirty."
* Corey has had it rough, but I like her credibility and sense of team.

The last challenge was interesting. "Create a meal for 80 people in one hour or less." Sounds simple enough. One thing that you have to manage in kitchen (or any project) for that matter are the constraints on scope, schedule, and resources. It this case it was TIME. What I feel that Christina did, and the others did not, was create a dish whose cooking time did not increase linearly with the number to be made. In other words, her dishes were SCALABLE. This is very important in a restaurant. Think of it this way....Can you make a better hamburger than McDonald's? The obvious answer in yes. Can you make 1000 hamburgers better than McDonald's, almost definitely not. Can you make 1000 hamburgers that cost (including labor and fixed cost) less than $1.00/each - definitely not (and it scares me to eat such a thing).
Christine's dish was more scalable than others, and that is why she won. If it was me, I would have made lasagna or something similar and would have kicked everybody's ass.

The part about the pan's handle being hot was a little over the top. You always assume a pan is hot if you get it from someone else. That is why the chefs always handle the pans with towels. Metal conducts heat. If the pan is hot enough to cook something, good chance the handle is hot enough to burn. While burning Chef Ramsay makes for good story, it is his own forking fault. As they used to say in professional wrestling school -- you are responsible for your own safety.

Tune in next week, even though you know that Christina can't get eliminated because them damn near intimated that she would be (stupid FOX creative people) . The episode where each chef runs the pass is always a good one.

Food:
I was in Seattle on Friday. Not really looking to eat anything, but I did hit upon an excellent spice store. The people working there were all professional cooks (and they had the burn marks to prove it). The name is World Spice Merchants -- check 'em out.