No Chinese here …

Or Indian either for that matter.  

Instead, in the tradition of DFACs everywhere – the breakfast service was moved up by 30 to 60 minutes and stopped by 0730 in order to prepare for the main meal which is served at noon. Also, like many other facilities, the senior personnel – officers, first sergeants and command sergeant majors staff the serving line. The only significant variation that I saw is that all of us senior types were in ACUs rather than Dress Blues.  

At Aviation DFAC there are two lines – for this meal both the same. First station is roast carving, followed by choice (more than one ok) of turkey, prime rib, ham, pineapple chicken and corn on the cob. Following that was self serve for mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, collard greens and black eyed peas. There was a separate ham carving station along with a seafood area featuring cold crab legs and shrimp cocktails. In the next room were the salads, fruits and deserts.  

My line, of course, was the most efficient (grin). I spent a bit over an hour before my back said enough. I will attribute all of our ability to serve at double the speed of the other time to both the CSM asking everyone what they wanted and the SPC who was fast and efficient at the roast carving.  

 Seriously, the BDE Commander from 10th Mountain stopped by to say hello later and asked how we managed. His CSM and a good carver. In fact, the only thing that slowed us down at all were people self serving multiple side dishes. Oh, yes, Mac&Cheese, there was Mac & Cheese. I will need to ask Bonnie why, but it did give me something with protein besides ice cream.  

I am now back in the office with the following to finish before the end of the day

1) ABFM Part II Patient Simulation. Since this is open anything (as far as I can tell) I finally located a couple of great review articles to walk me through the two main diagnoses. With luck I will be done today – a bit in advance of 31 Dec….

2) two awards

3) review another award

4) Dari.  

My reward for getting through each section is to be able to stop and listen to an episode of Owner’s Share by Nathan Lowell. The first five episodes are up and I managed to download them last night and today at the USO. Remember those old 56k modems? With the limits on the USO system it takes about an hour to download 35 MEG. I also have the new Rawlins Cross album (Heart Head Hands) which came in the mail this week.

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5 Responses to No Chinese here …

  1. Bonnie says:

    Black-eyed peas is another must. It always amused me that we Jews (well, the Sephardic community) share that one dish on our new year holiday as well, and I believe for the same reason. The Hebrew word for these beans is “rubiah”, similar to the word for “to increase” – “rab.”. They symbolize increasing one’s merits. We just don’t mix ’em with collards or pork of any type, lol…

    Chinese! Movie! Movie is a must, even VH1 is showing Xmas music videos. Might just hit the closest redbox (these things are like mobile blockbusters, look like British phone booths, can rent a movie for a buck a day).

  2. Cheryl says:

    Why mac and cheese-someone on the staff is Southern. I just got off the phone with my sister and that is exactly what she is preparing for the big family dinner at her sister-in-law’s house.

  3. Linda says:

    Thanks for sharing the description of the dinner at the base. Your posts make the situation so much more real.

  4. Angeluna says:

    Mac & cheese with ice cream? What a holiday meal.

  5. Carmen says:

    I hope you had a nice peaceful time of it. I would have expected that the people in the hills would make a point of shooting lots of rockets just to make their point on Christmas eve.

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