Training Day

        I felt so cool flashing my ID at the security officer at the Underwood gate as I drove into the fair grounds last night for a training meeting at Chicago Dogs. It was like I was part of some backstage crew for the world's largest theater production. It still felt unnatural driving my car through those familiar streets, but I nodded savvily at a crew attaching a banner to a restaurant and waved knowingly at some women taking a rest at a picnic table. 

         With the addition of the mobile food stands, the grounds were starting to feel more like the place I knew from fair time. In the minutes before my interview, I rambled between Rootbeer barrels, cotton candy trailers, and hotdog and slushy stands.  In the past few weeks, traveling vendor booths had converged along the fair streets, filling them out in a recognizable maze of heart clogging goodies. Adding to the mishmash, was a king sized collection of white plastic waste bins and sturdy benches strewn across the lawn at ten foot intervals. The sound of machines humming wafted to my ears, as they tested their limbs, gearing up for the BIG EVENT. At a humid 85 degrees, the sweltering sunlit patches of the road certainly felt fair like. But what was still missing were the SMELLS. I guess I will just have to wait for those deep fryers to fire up Thursday morning for the aromatic performance.
          The actual training was completely painless. I watched studiously as my boss demonstrated how to make the Chicago Dog. Here are the standard ingredients:

• the bun
• the dog
• fancy mustard
• green (and I mean really green, like psychedelic green) relish
• onions
• tomatoes
• cucumber
• peppers
• celery salt
• pickle

       This is a LOT of stuff to put on a hotdog. But once I saw a few get made, and my boss pointed out this super duper handy cheat sheet taped to the back of the prep table, I thought, I have totally got this.         

 I tried my hand at this Chicago Dog making artistic venture. 

Elf next to one of my first Chicago Dog creations.

What do you think?

SShh! I know some of the ingredients are missing. It was a special order. I have to be prepared for this kind of thing, in case we have a guest who does not like pickles, or suffers from cultural withdrawal without ketchup on his hotdog.

                        

          Well on my way to becoming best Chicago Dog maker artisst EVER!

              Then I looked over my shoulder at the menu board. There are seven other types of sandwiches, my boss hadn't even mentioned. I glanced at the prep table. No cheat sheets. Plus, there are FIFTEEN different toppings, one the name of which, I cannot even pronounce. 
        I might be in for a rough first day, I thought.
        "Don't worry," my boss assured us newbies, "This training might seem totally inadequate--"
       Was I just thinking that?
        "--but once you make a few of the sandwiches on Thursday you'll see that it really works well."
        All the veterans agreed, "It's easy. There will be more cheat sheets. You can follow them."
        "OK," I said, nodding, "No problem. I am totally stoked." As long as there are cheat sheets!