Day 14: Where's The Beef?

So today we started on beef. Chef C took us through all the parts of the cow and explained what came from where and what to use the cuts for. Then we were turned loose to do all the prep for three separate menus and two marinades.

This part is a challenge. Getting straight what you need to do with a partner, and finding all those ingredients, processing them in the correct way and organising them according to recipe always takes longer than we anticipate. It makes my partner a bit grumpy when he's out of control, so today was a challenge all around.

Eventually, we made an AMAZING stir-fry over rice which is not pictured cause I was just too darned hungry, and a flank steak with poivrade sauce, which is pictured below, ALSO delicious! These two dishes put my partner in a much better mood!

Check out those carrot batons! Perfect!

On a totally un-food-related note, something happened yesterday that has had me thinking for two days now.

I was on the morning bus with a classmate, it was one of the extra long busses. The bus rolled up to our stop, but the back doors failed to open. It's a big stop so about 8 people yelled "Back door!!!", LOUDLY, but the bus driver didn't hear us and we had to get off at the next stop and walk back.

It's a small thing, but I can't stop wondering, why didn't the message get relayed by the passengers down the bus? This is the third time I've seen this happen. The passengers at the back door are yelling, and the passengers in the middle sit in stony-faced silence. Yes, some of them are plugged into their iPods, but most aren't.

I asked my classmate why others didn't relay the message and she replied, "People just don't want to help out or get involved. You could get mugged on the street and people would walk around you".

On the other end of the spectrum, I don't think this would ever happen in Istanbul. Every (particularly male) passenger on the bus would make it his personal business to make sure the bus stopped! The whole bus would get involved! They would tell the driver to make sure he was checking the back door, or get it repaired! It's his job you know!

It took a long time to get used to this kind of "helping", which I mistook for "meddling", but in time, I came to appreciate it. I forged better friendships and bonds with people because I knew if I really needed them, they'd be there.

It's this sense of community I feel is lacking in Canada, it's everyone for themselves, don't drag me into your business, I don't want to get involved. "Community" is a word that's bandied about a lot in Vancouver, but to me it seems it's just talk.