Dear diary,
the truth is working at my dad's was a very valuable lesson that i will never forget is that i had to do this in order to have a good relationship with my parents, espcially with my dad.
dad and i never really got along. it was all becos of the past, becos my dad has a bad temper. Always treated my mom with disrespect and they fight alot and my dad yells alot with massive temper. It was crazy at times .... so......taking over the restaurant was a choice i had to make. i could of went back to singapore to work as a t.v. director or chose to work beside my dad in the kitchen and learn how to cook (which i know nothing about). it was a hard choice, i mean i could of work in Singapore and enjoy the easy life... but in the end i chose the kitchen instead hoping to have a better relationship with my dad since i don't want to regret it one day not having peace with him.
working with him was kind of fuck up as like in hells kitchen but worse. its not that im all good and perfect either, and i do have that bad temper too... kind of crazy at times. so working together with knifes and butcher knifes is kind of fucked up, even though we never got to the point of using... it was still fuck up becos we almost use our fists... he wanted to challegnge to a fight, but i always decline becos i told him, i will beat him easily and that would not be fair...
the reason being... everytime when i see something not right... i want to do something about it and stand up for it to make it right.... like my dad using tofu or any ingredient that was going bad with fucking stinks, i would say something... because he wanted to save money, which IS not the way to go in a restaurant. And when i bring this up with my dad, he fucking goes nuts and gets all pisss off and he would just say shit like "yeah, you think you know everything" meaning i went to college etc. but fuck, i just don't want our customers to get sick and not to get sue and its just not right and people won't come back to our restaurant again... so everytime we fight is always about the food and how it was serve and how it was cook etc. thats why we always fight, becos that happens all the time! Bad stinking food being serve to someone PAYING for our food and service. SIGH! i mean he did have a lot of customers in 10 years ago.
my dad's a very good cook, expect that he was so out of it. I only came to realize that when i had to manage the restaurat all by myself. he was so out of it meaning he was tried... since working nonstop for almost 25 years or so in the same kitchen doing the same thing everyday and not going on any vacations, he was totally burned out! really fucking burned out!!! i would too, if i was in his position. But still, he didn't have the right to serve stinking lousy food to our customers who's paying their hard earn money for rotten crappy food! it was unhealthy and not fresh... and he did drove his customers away.
So being me, trying my best to do the best... i got so depress working with him becos he just wouldn't listen to reason and make changes. it was hard, i almost wanted to quit! but i just keep going, kept praying to God and always getting the prayers answered. so to prepare myself to take over the joint... i had to learn how to cook from the internet. how to wok, how much salt to add, how to not slack with the ingredients... i think it took me about two years to really truely understand what i was doing right and wrong. since my dad didn't really want to give all his "secret' recipes, and not really teaching the exact way to cook... i had to sweet talk by asking about his past...i.e. making conversations... and dig the recipe out of him when he's in a good mood. but as we work closely together and got to understand each other more and more, his heart soften and my dad became nicer and NICER... it was a fucking big relief.
so after a year and a half working and trainging with dad, he finally trust me and let me handle the whole kitchen on my own. i was nervous at first, becos i really don't want to fuck it up. and plus i have to deal with the prep cook, cooks, and dish washer that listen to my dad more than me... but then again the business was mediocre when i took over... so all i had to do was fellow the recipe and make some adjustments and to keep thing nice and fresh, and that should be able to bring back some old customers. and it did!
during this time, my dad finally went on his first vacation back to Taiwan, he stay there for 3 months... he was so skinny from over worked and not relaxing before his trip....and after his trip to Taiwan, he came back quite fat with a beer belly of some sort. And he smile with a real smile, and that was a fucking joy to see. because he always had a grouchy face and for the first time, he ask me how i was and shit like a father should do. it was fucking unusual for me, since he doesn't care for my birthday, christmas, etc. nothing. so it was a big change!!~!
again... after working in the kitchen for 4 years i only realize that my dad was a really hard working person, expect that he was so burned out with life from work and he lost himself. he work so we can go to college, he work so he can provide food on the table etc. you know the whole deal with being a dad, a parent...And taking over the restaurtant only made me understand why he was such a grouchy man from being lock in the kitchen over grease and heat everyday and to deal with the kitchen helpers is not a easy job... so i forgive and i'm glad that i went through this whole learning experience... if i just left and work in Singapore, we would never have that peace.. now i will never regret it!
the truth is working at my dad's was a very valuable lesson that i will never forget is that i had to do this in order to have a good relationship with my parents, espcially with my dad.
dad and i never really got along. it was all becos of the past, becos my dad has a bad temper. Always treated my mom with disrespect and they fight alot and my dad yells alot with massive temper. It was crazy at times .... so......taking over the restaurant was a choice i had to make. i could of went back to singapore to work as a t.v. director or chose to work beside my dad in the kitchen and learn how to cook (which i know nothing about). it was a hard choice, i mean i could of work in Singapore and enjoy the easy life... but in the end i chose the kitchen instead hoping to have a better relationship with my dad since i don't want to regret it one day not having peace with him.
working with him was kind of fuck up as like in hells kitchen but worse. its not that im all good and perfect either, and i do have that bad temper too... kind of crazy at times. so working together with knifes and butcher knifes is kind of fucked up, even though we never got to the point of using... it was still fuck up becos we almost use our fists... he wanted to challegnge to a fight, but i always decline becos i told him, i will beat him easily and that would not be fair...
the reason being... everytime when i see something not right... i want to do something about it and stand up for it to make it right.... like my dad using tofu or any ingredient that was going bad with fucking stinks, i would say something... because he wanted to save money, which IS not the way to go in a restaurant. And when i bring this up with my dad, he fucking goes nuts and gets all pisss off and he would just say shit like "yeah, you think you know everything" meaning i went to college etc. but fuck, i just don't want our customers to get sick and not to get sue and its just not right and people won't come back to our restaurant again... so everytime we fight is always about the food and how it was serve and how it was cook etc. thats why we always fight, becos that happens all the time! Bad stinking food being serve to someone PAYING for our food and service. SIGH! i mean he did have a lot of customers in 10 years ago.
my dad's a very good cook, expect that he was so out of it. I only came to realize that when i had to manage the restaurat all by myself. he was so out of it meaning he was tried... since working nonstop for almost 25 years or so in the same kitchen doing the same thing everyday and not going on any vacations, he was totally burned out! really fucking burned out!!! i would too, if i was in his position. But still, he didn't have the right to serve stinking lousy food to our customers who's paying their hard earn money for rotten crappy food! it was unhealthy and not fresh... and he did drove his customers away.
So being me, trying my best to do the best... i got so depress working with him becos he just wouldn't listen to reason and make changes. it was hard, i almost wanted to quit! but i just keep going, kept praying to God and always getting the prayers answered. so to prepare myself to take over the joint... i had to learn how to cook from the internet. how to wok, how much salt to add, how to not slack with the ingredients... i think it took me about two years to really truely understand what i was doing right and wrong. since my dad didn't really want to give all his "secret' recipes, and not really teaching the exact way to cook... i had to sweet talk by asking about his past...i.e. making conversations... and dig the recipe out of him when he's in a good mood. but as we work closely together and got to understand each other more and more, his heart soften and my dad became nicer and NICER... it was a fucking big relief.
so after a year and a half working and trainging with dad, he finally trust me and let me handle the whole kitchen on my own. i was nervous at first, becos i really don't want to fuck it up. and plus i have to deal with the prep cook, cooks, and dish washer that listen to my dad more than me... but then again the business was mediocre when i took over... so all i had to do was fellow the recipe and make some adjustments and to keep thing nice and fresh, and that should be able to bring back some old customers. and it did!
during this time, my dad finally went on his first vacation back to Taiwan, he stay there for 3 months... he was so skinny from over worked and not relaxing before his trip....and after his trip to Taiwan, he came back quite fat with a beer belly of some sort. And he smile with a real smile, and that was a fucking joy to see. because he always had a grouchy face and for the first time, he ask me how i was and shit like a father should do. it was fucking unusual for me, since he doesn't care for my birthday, christmas, etc. nothing. so it was a big change!!~!
again... after working in the kitchen for 4 years i only realize that my dad was a really hard working person, expect that he was so burned out with life from work and he lost himself. he work so we can go to college, he work so he can provide food on the table etc. you know the whole deal with being a dad, a parent...And taking over the restaurtant only made me understand why he was such a grouchy man from being lock in the kitchen over grease and heat everyday and to deal with the kitchen helpers is not a easy job... so i forgive and i'm glad that i went through this whole learning experience... if i just left and work in Singapore, we would never have that peace.. now i will never regret it!
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