How to be Kitchen Rabbit at the Big Experiment

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How To... This page is one of a series of "How-To", answering questions about what rabbits can do. All How-To Pages Some helpful pages: ...be a good Demo Rabbit ...run a scheduled event ...run a floating tournament ...run a Fluxx tournament ...run a Treehouse tournament

The Kitchen Rabbit take responsibility for keeping the staff area running smoothly. This job has several parts, and could easily be split among several people, but it's not so much work that one person can't do it all. The shopping is less than one hour per day. The kitchen duties are 5 to 15 minutes at the start of every hour, from 9am to midnight. That might seem like a lot of work, but if you consider that the rest of the hour is yours to wander or nap, it's not that bad. You can even skip an hour here and there with no ill effects.

If you're going to be away from your duties for more than a couple of hours, get somebody to fill in for you, or be prepared for none of this to get done while you are away. You'll come back and the place will be a mess, the bread machines will be empty, and the plates will have two a couple veggies each on them.

You may be wondering why anybody would want this job. Have you ever thrown ever thrown a successful party? Have you ever thrown a party where you spend weeks planning it, days preparing for it, and hours throwing it? You know that satisfied feeling you have when you go to bed afterward knowing you have shown your friends a good time and fed them a feast? Now, imagine how satisfied you'll be after a party four days long. It's tiring, for sure, and frustrating sometimes, but satisfying.

Contents 1 Stuff that Needs Bringing 1.1 Eating Stuff 1.2 Kitchen stuff 1.3 Infrastructure 2 Grocery Shopping 2.1 Daily 2.2 Once or Maybe Twice 2.3 Special requests 2.4 What's Missing? 3 Bread Making 4 Snack Providing 5 Kitchen Tidying 6 General Tidying 7 At The End Of The Day 8 Lab Breakdown 9 Health Notes 10 This is a Warning

[edit] Stuff that Needs Bringing

Origins Looney Lab Rabbits answer the call every year in helping make The Big Experiment happen at Origins! Info for Demo Rabbits Other 'How-to' Info

[edit] Eating Stuff

• Paper plates
• Plastic knives in abundance
• Plastic spoons & forks, too
• Paper or plastic cups
• Paper napkins

[edit] Kitchen stuff

• Measuring cup (1 cup) for flour
• Measuring spoon (1 teaspoon)
• 2 laminated sheets with bread recipe
• Cutting boards, 1 per bread machine, plus one for other stuff
• Bread Knife
• Sharp knife
• Oven mitts
• Dish pan (also useful for catching water drips)

[edit] Infrastructure

• Large cooler
• 25 foot extension cord
• Power strip
• Hot water kettle
• Kitchen thing
• Containers for clean and dirty knives
• Drop cloths for the floor
• Scotch brand blue masking tape (no off brands)

[edit] Grocery Shopping

The closest grocery store (that I know about) to the convention center is a Giant Eagle at 777 Neil Avenue. Starting at the Convention Center:

1. Drive North on North High Street to Buttles Avenue.
2. Turn left on Buttles Avenue.
3. Pass Goodale Park, on your left. (May be congested due to CommFest.)
4. Cross Neil Avenue.
5. Turn left into parking lot.

It's less than a mile, and you could probably walk there, but bring a cart or something to lug the groceries back to the GCCC or you will be sorry. If you stay and park at the Hampton Inn, you get in/out privileges with the Valet parking so it's easier and faster to drive.

There is a Whole Foods, but it is about 12 miles away. Take High Street North to "Dublin Granville Rd" (possibly just "Granville Rd." on the signs) and turn left, then go about 3.7 miles.

You could maybe do a bunch of this shopping at the North Market, but tht's close enough that if people want something special from there, they can go get it themselves.

I recommend going grocery shopping every full day of the convention. Wednesday will be run off whatever people bring, and if you gauge demand properly and stock up on Saturday, you might not have to go shopping Sunday. I'd avoid making emergency trips unless it's a real Emergency. Running out of something (even flour) in the late afternoon is survivable.

[edit] Daily

• Flour, 5 pounds per bread machine per day (makes ~4 loaves)
• Yeast, 4 packets per bread machine per day (or maybe get the jar)
• Bread, 1 loaf of bakery bread per day, if there's room in the budget
• Mixed nuts or some kind of trail mix
• 1 lb. block of cheddar or other cheese
• Box of triscuits or other crackers
• Veggies
  • Baby Carrots
  • Celery Sticks
  • Green Beans (Not very popular)
  • Pea Pods (Not very popular)
• Veggie dips
  • Creamy dip, 1 16oz tub per day (Marzetti dill dip was popular)
  • Hummus, 1 8oz tub per day (Plain hummus is best)
• Packaged Snacks, for grab-n-go types
  • Granola bars, family size box
  • Lance-type cheese-n-crackers kinda snacks
  • Mints (suggestion: red and white pinwheel mints), everybody loves fresh minty breath and a little sugar helps your attitude
• Drinks
  • A couple gallons of water
  • Bottled sports drink might come in handy for the dehydrated
  • The Looneys drink vast quantities of Diet Coke, having some in the lab is nice
• If nobody brought it
  • Large jar creamy peanut butter
  • Large jar chunky peanut butter
  • Small jar nutella
  • Two or three medium jars of jelly/jam/marmalade

[edit] Once or Maybe Twice

These are important.

• Sugar for bread (get the kind in the cylindrical "coffee service" package, which closes)
• Salt for bread
• Ice for the cooler
• Facial tissues

These are "variety items" (that is, get a different one each day, to add variety).

• A jar of dill pickle spears
• A container of mixed olives from the olive bar
• Fresh cherries, berries, or other small fruit

[edit] Special requests

Ask around during the day if anybody wishes anything would be around. It's OK to get a few things of limited (or even individual) appeal, as long as it fits within the budget. This is a good way to suck up to the people in charge, and a good way to show appreciation to other Rabbits who are working very hard.

[edit] What's Missing?

I deliberately avoided getting candy, cookies, soft drinks, and meat. There are plenty of ways to fill these needs at Origins, but healthy snacks on the go are more difficult to come by. Rabbits brought cookies and candy, and some people even chipped in with cold cuts on Sunday. Your job is to provide Rabbit food, humans can fend for themselves. I also avoided soft drinks for the most part, since there are just too many different kinds and stocking a good selection is expensive. Also, soda machines are nearby. --Eeyore 09:40, 3 July 2008 (PDT)

[edit] Bread Making

Try to keep the bread machines running as constantly as possible. Keep track of the timers and try to be available when the bread is ready. Give each loaf little time to cool in the bread maker, but slice it up as soon as you take it out. I was cuttin each loaf in half horzontally, then into 1/2 inch slices. This can be difficult if the bread is too hot. Give the machine a few minutes to cool down, then wipe off the parts and start a new loaf. Do this over and over again each day. I recommend starting a loaf last thing before you go to bed each night so that some is ready in the morning.

[edit] Snack Providing

• Put veggies on paper plates for easy grabbing, nobody eats stuff out of bags.
• If Celery sticks are 4 inches long or longer, cut in half.
• Stir dips occasionally to keep the top from drying out.
• Refill veggie plates every hour or so.
• Anything packed in liquid (like pickles), drain the liquid in a sink and plate the food.
• Open boxes like granola bars and snack crackers so people know they're OK to take.
• When bread comes out near lunchtime or dinnertime, slice up some of that cheese and leave the slices on the cutting board.

Anything on the left side of the kitchen thing will get eaten. Anything on the right side probably will not. Use the right side mostly for storage, beverages, and things you want to last longer.

[edit] Kitchen Tidying

• Clean up all the bread crumbs.
• Throw away all dirty knives and clean up jelly spots on the cutting boards.
• If people donate food by leaving it out, move it to a logical place.
• Sweep up when you can.
• If the water thing is dripping on the floor, put the dish pan underneath the drip.

[edit] General Tidying

Make sure the eating table and all its chairs are free of all possessions. Move luggage to cubbies or against the wall. Move lab coats and other clothes to the coat racks. Move miscellaneous items to auxilliary tables. If it looks like active food, let it sit for a while then throw it away if it hasn't moved in an hour or two. You will wind up throwing away something somebody was saving, but the table should always be as clear as possible. Cubbies are available for storage.

[edit] At The End Of The Day

• Put covers back on dips and put in cooler.
• Cap all jars and bottles.
• Close up any open packages.
• Make up your shopping list for the next day.

You can leave some things out, like some veggies and bread for night owls, but be prepared to throw away anything in the morning that was sitting out all night.

[edit] Lab Breakdown

• Clean off all the equipment and give it back to the people who lent it.
• Seal up all the jar goods and return them to whoever provided them.
• Move all remaining stuff to the Rabbit stuff area.
• Move all plates, napkins, paper towels, cups, snacks, and beverages to the pizza area.
• Remove and fold the tie-dye curtain.
• Clean off and pack up the kitchen thing.
• Shake out the drop cloths and fold them up.
• Sweep the carpet.

[edit] Health Notes

The health of an entire room full of people is in your hands; make sure to wash them before handling the food. Also, don't hesitate to throw away any food you think has been sitting around too long or might be contaminated. If Nathan puts his hair brush on the cutting board, let him know you think that's disgusting.

[edit] This is a Warning

With great responsibility comes very little power. Unless you are a serene and easy-going person on the order of the Dalai Lama, you will finish up the weekend feeling that your Rabbit friends whom you love are not-so-secretly a pack of savages. Try not to lose your temper, because everybody is distracted by Origins, and you signed up to help compensate for that, remember? Also, try to be careful with tidying and such, or people will lose their temper with you.

It's helpful to use another person as an external control. The Rabbit Coordinator works well for this. Ask this person to relay any complaints anonymously, so that nobody has to confront you directly. Ask that person to also keep an eye on your attitude and warn you if you seem like you're losing it. Resolve yourself to not lose it no matter what that person says to you. If you need to, take a walk. Goodale Park is very nice.