This is why I'm quitting my job.
Every month or so, my job has a potluck for one thing or another (birthdays, retirements, etc.) I thought it would be fun to have an Iron Chef Potluck in which people would bring dishes showcasing the "secret ingredient." I chose ginger, thinking it was interesting and different.
I spent half the night making a tart with vanilla bean mascarpone filling and fresh peaches in a homemade gingersnap crust.
Guess who was the only one to bring something?
Out of more than 100 people, I brought the only dish.
Anyone else having a crappy day?
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25 Comments:
i'm also having a crappy day, but in a totally different way.
i hope you didn't share with a single person-it sounds amazing!
gastronomeg at 5:44PM on 08/28/09
That's crazy! I hope you refused to share, and that you enjoy your tart tonight with a nice dessert wine!
suthungirl at 5:46PM on 08/28/09
Sounds delicious.
But definitely not worth quitting a job over.
CJ McD at 6:20PM on 08/28/09
Next time don't bring anything or better yet, bring a bag of chips and tell them to have at it.
tusti at 6:55PM on 08/28/09
That sound really good you got the recipe? Yeah that does suck that no one brought anything, at that point I would have not said anything and took it home for myself.
pjracz10 at 6:56PM on 08/28/09
Why not bide your time until the next pot luck? You could make something that looks truly amazing on the surface. Underneath, you could arrange a diabolical cacophony of conflicting flavors and textures. No one ever said pot luck has to be good luck.
beth1 at 7:21PM on 08/28/09
That's terrible! Even if they felt intimidated by the theme of ginger, they could have brought SOMETHING.
HeartofGlass at 7:36PM on 08/28/09
so what happened? i can't wait to hear how the crowd of 100 people responded to only 1 dish.
pooch at 8:36PM on 08/28/09
I am chuckling at this post with the most nurturing chuckle that I can have. Please don't be down on yourself. Not everyone will be as creative as you-you need to find those that are and be damned those who don't even want to try. Step back and realize how talented you are. I like the bag of chips idea. It doesn't fulfill your cooking creativity, but you won't have gone out of your way and have someone step on that. I am older and not one of my friends likes to cook the way I do, but I take what I get with them in terms of what they serve and I also take their compliments on my dishes when I host or take dishes to their homes. Roll with it and know that you have support at this site.
I would love for you to be my workmate!!
janaatwg at 8:44PM on 08/28/09
This afternoon, I got doused liberally with gasoline from a faulty gas pump. My favorite shoes are now dead, and I still stink like gas, 4 hours and 3 showers later. My day was crappy (although, I think it may have been karmic balance for just missing getting smushed by a tanker truck earlier this week, so I'm not complaining too loudly...) But, can I pleeeeeease have some of the amazing sounding tart you made? It might make *my* day better. (sorry your coworkers suck, it sounds like a really fun plan to me.)
AliceBlue at 9:20PM on 08/28/09
Wow, I was waiting for you to add that people brought ginger ale as their item. I guess we foodies need to remember that not everybody shares our passion...though we can't imagine why.
juliebugsmama at 10:31PM on 08/28/09
That sounds amazing. I agree with @janaatwg that you are creative and not everyone understands or appreciates that. It can be very frustrating! Please don't quit your job! Now you've learned that they are undeserving of your culinary talents. If I were you, I wouldn't want to tarnish my name by bringing in something inferior, although it would be tempting to bring in a frozen Sara Lee cake and imply that you had to dumb things down for the crowd. Ya know, considering...
Quick story: It's like the time I spent hours concocting the perfect homemade fruitcake for a company holiday party - macerated dried cherries, apricots, and raisins (no dyed green citron) overnight in dark rum, grated cinnamon and nutmeg by hand, roasted walnuts and basted it with brandy as it baked. - only for someone to make a nasty comment about fruitcakes AND encourage others not to eat it! As if I'd just picked it up from Duane Reade.
yayfood at 10:59PM on 08/28/09
At least you weren't at my potluck today. The ones who didn't bring pasta salad (and almost everyone brought pasta salad) brought single servings of stuff from Whole Foods. I'm never baking brownies for that crowd again. >_
I hope you ate the tart yourself. Share the recipe?
Skythe at 11:34PM on 08/28/09
That is such a cute idea, and I bet your tart was DELICIOUS! If I were one of the invited potluck people, though, I would be pretty incredulous/intimidated by such a challenging/creative theme. Perhaps there were also people, like me, who don't really like ginger to begin with. That said, I would have at least brought something even if it didn't match the theme. Don't worry, it will be ok!
runnereater at 11:35PM on 08/28/09
Yeah, the potlucks at my job consist of people mostly bringing in weird, half-assed attempts, then shunning anyone who doesn't want to participate. For the "healthy dishes" potluck today, I ate my short-grained brown rice risotto with summer vegetables in a serving for one, at my desk.
savecara at 12:05AM on 08/29/09
People do not cook with ginger often, shockers. For 100 normal people chose a more pedestrian ingredient.
JerzeeTomato at 1:41AM on 08/29/09
I agree with @Jerzee. Next time make it cream of mushroom soup from a can and french fried onions in the can! 100 green been casseroles ought to be very amusing! Probably the funniest part of it will be everyone thinking they were the only genius who would think of such a "gourmet" dish!
Pavlov at 8:04AM on 08/29/09
That sounds delicious. Recipe please?
joyyy at 11:41AM on 08/29/09
Sorry your potluck was a disappointment. Your tart sounded delicious.
We used to do "cook-offs" where I worked. Those who wanted to participate, had to sign up. If you signed up, you made a commitment to bringing your dish. One day, we had 10 different variations of Mac and Cheese. Another time, we had 7 different kinds of your "favorite" soups. We had a great time tasting each others' variations AND those who did not "play" missed out on a good and fun time.
julie527 at 11:57AM on 08/29/09
I am so sorry the rest of the people where you work are scrubs. It was nice of you to suggest the Iron Chef pot luck and even nicer to prepare such an involved dish. Take it as a lesson that the people where you work are not interested in such things - and instead, focus your attention on getting together with like minded people. Don't waste your talent and desire to cook on people who obviously aren't worth fretting over.
therealchiffonade at 1:41PM on 08/29/09
Not to blame the OP, but when you suggested this...did you get a response from coworkers saying they would participate? It sounds like the potlucks at your company are usually for some kind of celebration and not just to cook for cooking's sake. As in, it seems like so and so would feel like they should bring something to celebrate someone's retirement, but that they don't feel obligated to cook and bring something in for fun.
So if you want to try something similar, maybe ask for commitments or try to do it during the next time there is going to be a potluck for someone and maybe have that person choose the ingredient or something.
I really wouldn't quit over this.
wunami at 2:31PM on 08/29/09
Seems like an odd reason to quit... I wouldn't be too happy about having to do a pot luck around a theme/specific ingredient since there are only a handful of dishes I make that I would consider pot luck type food. Plus, could you imaging 30 dishes all including ginger? It could be delicious, but you'd end up being very regular.
Were other people at work excited about the theme idea? Was there a sign up sheet? At my old job we had a sign up sheet divided by type of food (salad, pie, cookies, vegetarian, beverage, etc) so we didn't end up with 7 bowls of bean dip and some carrot sticks.
gingercookiewithlime at 4:39PM on 08/29/09
Kelly-came back to see if you might share your recipe. As a life lesson-we had the news of 3 deaths of friends-two young parents and their daughter-so sad. Seems trite to say that life is short, but...this is something to learn from and celebrate when we try your recipe and tell you that you are brilliant!
Waiting patiently.
janaatwg at 9:03PM on 08/29/09
Aw, thanks for all the sweet comments. You made me feel A LOT better!
As for a recipe, I really don't have one. I just whizzed some gingersnaps in the food processor, added some melted butter and pressed it into a tart pan, going halfway up the sides of the pan. Then I baked it at 350 F for 5 minutes, just to help solidify it.
Once it was cool, in my Kitchenaid I put 8 oz mascarpone cheese and 4 oz of cream cheese. I mixed until smooth, then added about 1/2 c powdered sugar and mixed that in. Then added in 3/4 c heavy cream and a splash of vanilla, along with the seeds of a vanilla bean. Mixed until light and fluffy (will take a few mins for the cream to mix with the cheese.)
Poured into the cooled crust, smoothed the top, then added fresh sliced peaches in a rosette pattern. Heated 2 tablespoons of peach jam in the micro just until warm, then used a pastry brush to gently brush over the peaches for a light glaze.
Et Voila! A delicious tart that only needed the oven to be on for 5 minutes. Perfect for summer.
cupcakekelly at 1:42AM on 08/31/09
Oops, forgot to mention....
I gave out a few slices to a select few at work. I brought the rest home for dessert :)
Maybe next time I'll make a sign-up sheet, just so I know what I'm in for.
cupcakekelly at 1:44AM on 08/31/09