While I was a student at Michigan State I worked at a casual fine dining restaurant called All Seasons Bistro. It was a wonderful place to work and I was crazy lucky that I was hired on as a hostess one September and then by December they had be waiting tables and tending bar. After a few months in I was feeling confident about knowing different drinks and comfortable with what was on our menu. Since I had never been much of a cook prior to working their it was a little harder for me than some of the other people to catch on to different spices and unique combinations of occasionally obscure recipes. I was the youngest one and although the serving, talking and pouring came relatively easily the understanding of the cooking processes themselves were still slowly revealing themselves to me every day. I should have been blogging at that point in my life because I am certain you would have been amazed at how clueless I was without even knowing it. As I was bringing out this young married couple's dinners feeling on top of the world being one of the few people I knew who wasn't stuck working an $8/hr job I layed down the woman's dish first and then her husbands. As I was holding my pepper shaker ready to ask if they would care for some freshly cracked I saw the look of horror on this woman's face. I looked down at her entree and everything looked exactly as it should. "Did she ask for dressing on the side? Does she have an allergy I should have known about? What?" I inquired if something was the matter when pandora came bursting out of her box. This woman was apparently pregnant (how, I was supposed to know she was 5 months pregnant while sitting in a booth in a dark restaurant, I have no idea) and due to this fact she was unable to eat soft cheeses which "everyone in their right mind" should know and how she couldn't believe that I would openly serve her something that could affect a child's life. As if I had ordered her dish for her which clearly stated it came with bleu cheese?? Clearly this was something every 20 year old un-married, never-been-pregnant, without even so much as a sibling who has a child, should know. That was something I learned that day, along with, how to never act in public and how not to speak to strangers.
Although that lady was out of her mind and should never have yelled at me publicly and talked to me like I was a complete idiot, she did teach me that pregnant women are not supposed to eat soft cheeses. My pregnant cousin also recently informed me that you are not supposed to eat any sort of deli-meat because they have nitrates in them (other than Boarshead). I am beginning to realize my diet consists of 90% of things you're not supposed to have when you are pregnant (Turkey sandwiches, diet coke, coffee, soft cheeses, sushi, wine, etc.). Wonder if that's telling me something? Good thing I (hopefully) have the good part of a decade to change that!
- Lizzie