(Chicken Hekka)
(Puerto Rican Ganduri Rice)
(Korean Jap Chae)
I had a little post session with the gang after our luncheon with the seniors. I reminded them of why we do this. Number one, Nicole Hodges got it spot on when she said, "it's to give back to the community," number two, Nicole Hodges once again got it spot on, "to take care of our elders." It's great for the seniors, some over ninety years old, to be with the younger ones, and vice versa------I reminded the kids of not only their own parents, but that one day they, too, will get that old. For us senior managers, we are teaching them how and why we do things to pass it down for future generations. When growing up, it's usually mom and dad who make the plans, so that the kids can enjoy and learn, hoping that one day when they get their own kids, they will pass it down.
Number three, we have a lot of new faces in our kitchen, a lot from out of state, and Miya, our chef de cuisine, picked local ethnic foods as the theme, so as to have them prepare and taste what everything was that was prepared today. We explained what the term "local food" was, and there was a difference between Hawaiian food, and food from Hawaii, like local food. We discussed cooks who are from Asia, the east, who come to us knowing the flavors and dishes from their homeland, like James from Burma and Hong from Korea-----and trying to develop those ideas into a western presentation-------and of someone who is from the US, the west, incorporating what they learn here and in Hawaii, with the local ingredients and flavors, of which have a distinct Asian influence being that a high percentage of our local population is indeed Asian. East-West, West-East, without confusion, doing it naturally versus having it contrived----featuring locally grown product, supporting the local businesses.
The crew worked the night before, got up early the next morning to prepare the lunch, and most worked again that night. It's a lot of effort, and in the end, if one can look at why we do it, there is much to absorb and learn, to take away from it, -------maximizing the idea that we want to give back to the community and show how we take care of our own elders in our community, for one day at lunch at the King St. restaurant.
(This is pinacbet, made by Kawika, a filipino vegetable dish, he added roast pork to it, ono.)
(Preparing the Seniors' Lunch - Miya, Hong, James, Jason)
(Strawberry Guri Guri Drink - Mark, Kathy, Kerry, Natalie, RJ)
(Seniors perform for us)
--------after lunch, they usually perform things that they teach the seniors at the center. A lot of it serves many purposes, like eye to hand coordination exercises, keeping them limber and strong, and to simply letting them have fun as a senior. This is my favorite part. We ended today with a lot of the staff doing the Gangnam style dance, pretty hilarious.