Hello Sisters and Brothers....Whew it's tough...haha its a tough "shell" we all have sometimes...more on that later...(a teaser its called).
I did want to follow through with what I was talking about...the proper way to wash your hands. Now This is a "Cooking blog"...of sorts. IN Cooking we all know the process is begun with what is called Mis En Place...A French term that literally means, "setting in place." It's used in cooking to describe all the prep and gathering of ingredients before starting the actual cooking process. And even in the act of properly washing hands there is this concept at work. I want to go over the "ingredients" and a little of the why. To wash hands properly you need Water -Potable of a sufficient temperature...Pros will tell you it needs to be a certain temperature friends you all have it..at least 100 degrees...body temp is 98.6 what I share with folks is wash your hands in water that is as hot as you can handle...This is a good thing not a painful ordeal...OK? I would rather you enjoy your handwashing experience as much as possible! The longer you wash the better.
Next...You need soap...Super duper Antibacterial hyperactive germ destroying soap? No...Soap....Even the health department folks will tell you it really doesn't matter..the purer the better for some do have perfumes and creams and oils...Why not the super duper? Trick answer...the object of this blog is to encourage handwashing...as many times in the day you can think about it...in Food Service we wash between each task, this cuts the chances for what we call Cross contamination...the obvious word picture is handeling raw chicken and then tossing salad with your hands...Danger! Danger! Will Robinson! Ok so thats why we do that and you should too...but remember many foods are dangerous. Just door knobs, appliance handles, Kids Pets, and even yourself! Chuckles...Yes you are dangerous. So back to soap..( I'm an ADD adult ok?) Simple soaps..for lots of washing. The idea is to clean the hands getting rid of bacteria and filth on the hands...Now can we completely clean hands...no. Hands inherantly have a variety of bacteria on them...now heres a newsflash for some folks...some are good! and of course some are bad...what anitbacterial soaps do is a good job of getting rid of all those bacteria. It takes the good with the bad...that is why we who wash our hands alot in the industry have dry chapped hands...the natural stuff on our hands gets washed away ...we then have quite a chore keeping them moisterized and healthy.
Next Last and not least...Paper Towels. If you think about it you know why...the repeated use of one towel..and using it as a wiping cloth pot holder...you get the idea..while it does have those more than honorable uses for clean hands you need what we call "Single use Towels".
OK Now you have your Mis En Place...you got it all together..now turn the water on....get a good flow...no dribbles you need enough running water to flush away any residue from washing...now get your hands wet! Water Hot enough? Good! Now soap up all the way past the wrists...focus on the fingertips for reasons obvious and for reasons we'll talk about later...The worldly instruction is to scrub them for 20 seconds. Rinse..Now what Grab the paper towel and dry off. Now the Secret revealed...Now the ultimate revelation! About washing hands...hehe...When you dry your hands USE THE PAPERTOWEL TO TURN THE WATER OFF!!!
Sorry didn't mean to yell...But think about this...where you wash your hands is the most helpful.AND the most dangerous place...scenario...you been making chicken skewers...you go to the sink to wash hands...you remember most of the rules...you finish washing throw the paper towel away and then...(jaws theme thing) you use your clean hands to turn the water off....sigh..OK so you full of confidence go and make the salad stick your finger in the BBQ sauce to taste it ...you get the horid picture...you may be careful to not contaminate others but forget about yourself...you may touch your hair rub your eyes pick your...no you wouldn't go that haha....you get the idea..Am I paranoid??? Sure! I call it paranoid in a GOOD way. We all know washing hands can prevent exchange of disease...right?
OK just remember by paper towels use lots of simple hand soap bar or liquid doesn't matter...keep the paper towels wherever you wash your hands. IN a perfect world you wash your hands separately from where you do food prep or dishes.
OH! The 20 seconds...The worldly advice is to sing "Happy Birthday" while you wash. I like to suggest that you use that 20 seconds as a special moment for prayer...good thoughts...The LOrd's Prayer works as a timing device...I mean how many times can you sing Happy Birthday before you go insane...haha
Use that twenty seconds...And I also humbly offer...if you need someone to pray for...I offer myself. And I encourage you to pray for yourself...be thankful that you are showing God's Love by this simple but important act. Remember priests were not allowed into the "presence of God" the inner areas of the temple untill they had ceremonially washed ( in by the way a cooking pot..a chafing dish! true). The symbolism is there..the reality is there. Remeber where God puts you to work is Holy ground...It is the place where He will be glorified by obedient servants...Who me? These things I share with you are part of the USDA Food Code and the food safety regulations are legion and al meant for our protection and safety...We obey the Law...we do as were told. Paul the bondservant told us that obeying the government was akin to obeying God as the government was ordained by God. Rom 13:1-5.
Sisters and Brothers I encourage you to wash and be washed...
Till next time....

Reading back ...I was reminded that I did not follow through on a blog which introduced the "how too" wash your hands properly...many may already know and I will at his point encourage vigilance in the Washing...I pray you will also be encouraged by the biblical basis and inherent truth of how important it is...
Till the weekend ..be vigilant! OBTW We will be getting ready to move to our new house ...pray it all goes well
Thanks....

Got Music? If this works listen to this song....It may eventually be me and some friends doing this song...It will be the theme song for the Radio show Cooking with a Mission...Y'all enjoy!
http://chef.leo.g.googlepages.com/Bluegrass-JohnHartford-TurnYourRadio.mp3

Hello Sisters and Brothers! I thank you all and pray that you continue in your patience in the re-forming of this blog in conjunction with a upcoming new Internet radio show on blogtalkradio.com. Stay tuned as details will follow. Kind of like Our Father in how He deals with us..."What I do now you don't understand but you will know later" John 13:7....Please keep this new venture in prayer as we lift up all who come here to "Taste and See...that the Lord is good!" Psalm 34:8

Wow...been a long time...all things being relative this blog got lost...but now is found! hehe sound familiar? For those of you also lost in the past...be encouraged that it is a place of REFERENCE..not of residence! That is one of my "tapes" that I fall into sometimes...
OK It's 2008 now and I have stuff to say again...and want to use this blog to Glorify God and as a point of reference for those listening to blogtalk radio as I am on a show called The Recipe Box...Check it out and come back here for info shared...
God Bless you all!

The Continuation....Hello? Taco Bell anyone? chuckling to myself I am thinking of "Life is about Choices"....Right? If I am repeating myself I apologize up front...FACT: There are more reported cases of food-borne illness from the home than the commercial food service industry....(giving you a second to digest) OK I had an amusing thought well sort of amusing... driving up to the fast food menu-mic and ordering "Two burrito Supremes extra salmonella hold the E-Coli! ...and a diet coke..light ice..." When we order food we are practicing the faith principle...we all practice that in fact. Just as we drive through an intersection we do so in faith that the light is red for the oncoming traffic, and that they are making the choice to obey it! We order and recieve our food in part knowing that there are USDA, and other governmental agencies who have put rules and guidelines in place for our protection. ( Hmmmmm the young person who just made my Sub sandwich look just like the kid in my house that uses no such controls or discretion when eating or preparing food at my house recalling the many times he or she wiped their mouth with hte back of their hand after drinking milk from the carton...didn't he have a cough?.....hmmmmm)OK where was I earlier...Oh yeah Hand Washing...I tend to strive for the perfect world scenario...the best for all...we try but we fail alot... It's not that we don't care. We LOVE our family ...and friends...and ourselves (don't we?) Yet we don't do as much as someone paid minimum wage to feed and nourish us..assuming we order nourishing foods.I kow I started out talking about the Taco Bell fiasco...a fiasco becuse it happened before! If y'all remember a few years back. In fact for a year or so I posted a notice at work NO GREEN ONIONS TO BE USED UNLESS AUTHORIZED BY MANAGEMENT. They obviously were not vigilant. But as we have many enemies to battle it all has to be addressed by one comprehensive battle plan. Vigilance over everything that we consume ( and that is not just eating my friends). We battle against so many things Bacteria, Virus, infections, microbes, molds, chemicals, allergens, physical contaminations...I just read some TV (Frozen) dinners were being recalled for having glass in the rice! It is constant vigilance.
So what can we do about it? Knowledge is power and as we learn we grow into better persons, cooks, and care providers over those put in our path to serve...even ourselves. Before you get discouraged please note that there is Good News! Woo Hoo! well and bad ( in a way) The Cure is as intimidating as learning about all the bad stuff.
TBC

The Secret Ingredient.
Thank you for coming to receive the Secret Ingredient that will make your food taste better, make your family happier, and will have you cooking like a professional Chef!
My name is Leo Griego and I am a Food Service Professional. I am the President/CEO/Executive Chef of Servants House, Inc a food service management and consulting corporation. I am also a certified teacher of ServSafe, an industry standard in Food Safety created by the National Restaurant Association. In the position I have it is my job to be not only aware of but dedicated to Food Safety in every aspect of what we do in our establishment. This is our philosophy in a nutshell:
“In the food service industry, food safety is non-negotiable. The risk of foodborne illness is one faced by every professional in the food service industry. Newly emerging pathogens, changing demographics and an increasing demand for ready-to-eat food products are constant challenges to providing safe food. As Food Safety and ServSafe instructor, it is my responsibility to help our workers and volunteers understand that while food may be attractive and delicious, it can still pose a danger to human health unless the proper procedures are followed. At the SH,Inc, our workers are becoming trained, dedicated professionals, who not only know the proper procedures, they know why the proper procedures are needed.
Food safety is non-negotiable. Serving safe food is NOT an option. It is our obligation as restaurant and food service professionals. Proper training is one of the best ways to create a culture of food safety within facilities operated or managed by SHI. Food safety is an integral element of our culture, which incorporates mutual respect and trust among clients, employees and volunteers.”
So you may say “ That is all very nice to know but what does that have to do with me? I don’t work at a restaurant!!”. Well it has a lot to do with you because one of the first thing we learn in Food safety is that over half of all food borne disease cases reported comes from the home! Notice I said reported as in to the hospital or to the health department… A very old report in year 2000 said an estimated 76 million cases of food borne disease occurred in the US . How many of us have had a mild cases of what we call ...“ Stomach flu” , tummy ache, diarrhea, cramps, gas, discomfort, heartburn, even bad dreams, after a leftover supper or a pot luck at church…or for “unknown” reasons…if we look to the kitchen we may find out the why. Yes minorly agrivating...Yeah I missed a day of work, or school...or two...Yeah I lost money...Oh well!
OK now for the Scary stuff…The truth is that the nature of foodborne diseases is constantly changing. A century ago, typhoid fever, tuberculosis and cholera were common foodborne diseases. pneumonia, polio, and smallpox, were common too. Improvements in science and food safety, such as pasteurization of milk, safe canning, disinfection of water supplies, Antibiotics, vaccines, and aggressive public health campaigns had yielded a string of victories over old enemies and have conquered those diseases. Today other foodborne infections have taken their place, including some that have only recently been discovered. Examples:
the global spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the resurgence of tuberculosis, and the appearance of new enemies like hantaviruses, Ebola virus, and E. coli O157:H7 are reminders of the resilience and adaptability of our microbial adversaries. Within the last few years, a "bird flu" virus that had never before attacked humans began to kill people in Hong Kong.
A new variant of a fatal brain disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, was identified in the United Kingdom, apparently transmitted by beef from animals with "mad cow disease."
Staphylococcus bacteria with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin, long the antibiotic of last resort, were seen for the first time. The country has been hit with several major multistate foodborne outbreaks, including those caused by parasites on raspberries; viruses on strawberries; and bacteria in produce, ground beef, cold cuts, and breakfast cereal. E-coli in Spinach...Oy Popeye!..say it ain't so! A new strain of tuberculosis that is resistant to many drugs, and occurs most often in people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), persists in New York City and some other large cities including one near you probubly... OK?
Newly recognized microbes emerge as public health problems for several reasons: microbes can easily spread around the world, new microbes can evolve, the environment and ecology are changing, food production practices and consumption habits change, and because better laboratory tests can now identify microbes that were previously unrecognized. But the bottom line is that they exist and as such we must be vigilant in not only our awareness but in our actions. There are many reasons this is happening…basically the world is becoming a smaller place. Whatever the cause, the resurgence of diseases attributed to newly emerging microbes poses a continuing challenge for the nation's public health and health-care systems. As pathogens strengthen their hold, broaden their reach, and pierce our defenses, our vulnerability is extending to the most mundane activities. Questions arise such as—Is my tap water safe to drink? Is the food I ordered in a restaurant safe to eat? Are my children likely to be bitten by disease-carrying insects or ticks while playing in the yard? Is it safe to vacation in a tropical country? Is the coughing person next to me on the subway or airplane spreading a deadly strain of influenza or tuberculosis? Remember the kids who died from E. Coli in 93? Well in 96 a toddler died from E. Coli found in Apple juice! They traced the child's infection to unpasteurized apple juice, a brand touted for its natural freshness. And if that wasn’t enough to make you paranoid… in June 1998 it infected 26 small children who played in a contaminated wading pool at a large water park in Georgia. Has anyone seen the commercial for the hand sanitizer where the woman enters the building using her feet and herds her children in protectively? We can be paranoid for sure...I prefer to call it “ Paranoid in a good way…”..OH and I saw an add " Try our Spinach Salad! It's to Die From..." Ha Ha? Not! So what can we do about it?
Well let’s start at the beginning…Lets start with our attitude! Remember the philosophy statement I made at the beginning? I humbly present this to you all for your consideration:
“In my home, food safety is non-negotiable. The risk of foodborne illness is one faced by every parent and care provider in each and every home. Newly emerging pathogens, changing demographics and an increasing demand for ready-to-eat food products are constant challenges to providing safe food. As the primary care provider, it is my responsibility to help my family understand that while food may be attractive and delicious, it can still pose a danger to human health unless the proper procedures are followed. At my home, our family is becoming aware and informed about not only the proper procedures, but why the proper procedures are needed. Food safety is non-negotiable. Serving safe food is NOT an option. It is how we share the love we have for each other. It is how we show how much we care. It is our obligation as parents and care providers. Proper training is one of the best ways to create an environment of food safety within our home. Food safety is an integral element of our culture, which incorporates mutual respect and trust among family members and our extended family…our community.” Vigilance in cleanliness...Paranoid in a good way A few simple tricks can defer alot of heartache and tummy ache! As we strive to live a lifestyle of healthy happy eating we cook with our children, eat with our children and clean up with our children...we are all in this together...I am just pointing out that we are also in this together as members of society. I have a saying at work “Don’t worry about the health department…Worry about me!” They know how I feel about my responsibilities in that aspect of what I do. We are always aware that the health department inspectors can come at any moment…for any reason. Now…You all don’t have that kind of accountability. That is why it’s important to have an attitude of doing your best for your family. We find ourselves connected to the rest of our world in many many ways especially by food.
Part 2 Now that we have the attitude…what do we do? Think back…way back to when you were a child. What do you remember your mother saying the most when time to eat? Wash your hands! Well some things don’t change and that is the most important thing you can do. Not just when you eat but when whenever you are working in the house… cleaning, cooking, anytime you use your hands. A simple change can make life alot less worrisome...It starts with a physical change...Simply installing a Roll of paper towels very near where you wash your hands...and remembering to wash hands properly will keep your family healthier and safer.....Everything from Colds, the flu, and all the food borne illnesses....the risk will be greatly reduced by this simple change. Then with an educational change...I know it sounds bizarre but lets review HOW to was our hands...in the new...old fashioned way. We did good back then but now we have to do better! Lets start with the Prep. As we in the business call Mis En Place...all our ingredients and tools in place and ready to work. Yes it is a job...and should be done as such...but the satisfaction you will have that you have done your best to secure the health and welfare of your family will make up for the time...in many ways.
TBC...