Closer to home, and on a happier note:
A couple of days ago at work, I was down on the main floor when Tim and Mike (both from the meat department) called me over and asked what I knew about roux.
I, of course, explained to them that a roux is a mixture of some kind of fat (usually butter, sometimes bacon fat, sometimes vegetable oil) with usually an equal amount of all purpose flour, that is cooked together so that the raw flour flavor disappears, and which is then used to thicken stews and soups and sauces.
Did I know anything about pre-packaged roux?
Well, I guessed that such a thing might exist, but we don't carry it.
It turns out that a customer (of the young female variety) had been looking for the pre-packaged stuff, and if we hurried, we might catch her and I could tell her what I knew. So off Tim and I went, and we found her at one of the self-scan registers with her boyfriend. She and I had a nice conversation (and she's from the South, which explains why she was familiar with the packaged roux), and I found that she prefers to make her gumbo with okra, and she was glad to meet someone else who enjoys cooking, and will be coming back to our store.
Ever since then, Tim has been calling me Roux.
I've been calling him Kanga.
