In what might be one of the best inaugural speeches of a President (yet?), FDR in one of the most dire moments in American history reminded the industrious people of his country that fear can and should be overcome. For a moment, as a writer, I am asking you to stop reading to consider; what are you truly afraid of? I mean that thing that you haven’t even told your lover, best friend or family. What truly frightens you? Once you have thought about it… continue reading.
We currently live in an age in which fear is used as a tool of oppression by the elite against the under classes. Case in point is the result of the attack against the United States on September 11, 2001. The fear associated with that has been used to justify any number of things that without fear as the motivator would have never come to be. This is not something new either; it has existed since time immemorial, and will continue to, as long as you allow it. To understand even a glimpse of this you should read Buckminster Fuller’s great book; “The Great Pyrates,”
I bring this up as the result of some very real soul searching I have been doing. As you are well aware I have finally started the journey toward my self defined manifest destiny. I began the journey as the result of overcoming my fear – both real and imagined. As I have pointed out before there are any number of a million reasons to do something of which you dream and usually very few as to why you should not – FEAR being one of them. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the result. Of the work. Of the pain. Of the PLEASURE. Self created and directed fear that SOMEHOW is a more powerful motivator than the dream itself. And yet, right now, as I considered this post, shifting from okay I’ll write, to no no I’ll wait, I began to consider FDR’s very powerful and emotive statement.
For many years I was locked by expectation. By a self imposed belief that I had to do something to please my parents, siblings, girlfriends and friends at large. Much of what I felt was a personally created burden. One which recognized my own intelligence while at the same time allowed myself to be manipulated, cajoled, harnessed and used for some other persons purpose. AND TO WHAT RESULT? Was I happier, more intelligent, wealthier or somehow fulfilled by allowing my fear to dictate the actions I would take to define my own life?
Fears, however real they may have been, had taken root of my soul and resultant from this was my obedience, my comfort and my robot like motioning through life. AND FOR WHAT?
In almost every one of the two hundred thousand words I have written on this blog this year the most important appear at the end of each post; are you dreaming big and inspired? I recall writing early on about where my notion of dream came from but will remind you now.
In Pretty Woman there is a scene where a black vagabond is pushing a shopping cart down the street and he says; “What’s you dream? Everybody’s got a dream?” It has always stayed with me and repeats itself many times a day in my head.
It is not merely enough to have the dream. You have to be willing to live the dream. EVERY DAY. To take steps and actions toward that dream which are consistent with your integrity, character and drive. It is easy to sleep your way to the top. It’s a whole lot harder and more consistent with dreams to remain true to YOU and to take steps, however small, toward the fulfillment of that dream everyday. And when inevitably life hands you lemons – MAKE LEMONADE.
AS I sit here listening to Maria Callas I am struck how someone so intelligent could be so stupid as to undermine his own ambition by trying to be something someone else wanted. I wonder what would have happened if she became a seamstress or a dry cleaner shop owner. What would the world have been deprived of? Or Einstein. Or Tesla. Or FDR. OR YOU!
I am what is known as a stream of consciousness writer. Very rarely do I have to go back and change what I have written. Very rarely do I even think about it after it is on the page. I have read, reread and again this post. Taking four or five time as much time to write this as usual as I want to ensure that the point is made elegantly, succinctly and powerfully.
We have enormous power. Our dreams have enormous power. The question which haunts is whether we can overcome our fears and become what we most want. Gandhi did. Mother Teresa did. Martin Luther King Jr did. Can we? Are we brave enough to overcome? I firmly believe that we are!
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said; “He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.”
Ambrose Redmoon once said; “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.”
Marie Curie once said; “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.”
Take this for what it is but I am a better man for having written it.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Another word on the F Word (file under Christmas Dinner)
Guilty pleasure. Perhaps. Entertaining. Mildly. Informative – well I am still writing about it so there must be something to it.
Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” this past week was his Christmas special. I bring this up because while enjoying my guilty pleasure over the past couple of months I have watched as he educated his children as to the life cycle of Turkey in a very real and pragmatic way. He brought turkeys; four of them I believe, from almost birth, and allowed the children to establish a relationship with them. Of course there was the precocious announcement of names which were rather pedantic, but after all, it was children naming them.
I watched with great interest as he and his children played with the birds. Fattened them. Admired their personalities and basically reared them for their inevitable life cycle – Christmas dinner.
Say what you will about Gordon Ramsay, but you do have to admire the fact that he is teaching his children that food is not just something that we buy in markets. That it doesn’t come from some magical place in a land far away. That in fact we all have a part to play in the life cycle of our food. Whether it be vegetables or proteins. I am a big proponent of instilling in children the knowledge that food comes from places that can and should be understood. That yes, shock of horrors, vegetables do come from the ground and are covered with dirt. Shock of horrors, that proteins are raised to become our eventual meal and that in their final days, like inmates on death row, are treated to special diets which both fatten and nourish them, so that they can be even MORE delicious on our plate.
So I say congrats to Ramsay, but more so, to his children, for now having the knowledge that can only be learned from experience. A lasting experience which undoubtedly will leave an indelible mark on his children and countless others lives.
The venerable James Beard once said; “A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” this past week was his Christmas special. I bring this up because while enjoying my guilty pleasure over the past couple of months I have watched as he educated his children as to the life cycle of Turkey in a very real and pragmatic way. He brought turkeys; four of them I believe, from almost birth, and allowed the children to establish a relationship with them. Of course there was the precocious announcement of names which were rather pedantic, but after all, it was children naming them.
I watched with great interest as he and his children played with the birds. Fattened them. Admired their personalities and basically reared them for their inevitable life cycle – Christmas dinner.
Say what you will about Gordon Ramsay, but you do have to admire the fact that he is teaching his children that food is not just something that we buy in markets. That it doesn’t come from some magical place in a land far away. That in fact we all have a part to play in the life cycle of our food. Whether it be vegetables or proteins. I am a big proponent of instilling in children the knowledge that food comes from places that can and should be understood. That yes, shock of horrors, vegetables do come from the ground and are covered with dirt. Shock of horrors, that proteins are raised to become our eventual meal and that in their final days, like inmates on death row, are treated to special diets which both fatten and nourish them, so that they can be even MORE delicious on our plate.
So I say congrats to Ramsay, but more so, to his children, for now having the knowledge that can only be learned from experience. A lasting experience which undoubtedly will leave an indelible mark on his children and countless others lives.
The venerable James Beard once said; “A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Lament for my Arm Hair ( file under inevitable loss)
Several times a week,
Do I smell that familiar scent of,
OFF!
Reaching my arm as I do,
In contempt of fire,
Into the ring for a pan or a pot, a steak or a piece of fish.
Only to discover,
That my nose hairs begin to dance,
With that scent that can only be thrown by flame meeting hair.
Lament for my arm hair,
Oh yes indeed,
Looking down to discover a bare arm, where once there was hair.
And now what is this,
But a shriveled and disheveled,
Barren area of my arm that has been freed from its follicles by flame.
Several times a week,
Do I smell that oh so familiar scent,
Of my arm hair diminishing and in a weird kind of way I can for only a moment glimpse,
That which bows down on my grill or my flame,
And how it must feel,
But only for a moment,
For while I lament my hair,
I celebrate my journey.
Are you celebrating your journey? Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Logan Pearsall Smith once said “There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine”
I couldn’t agree more.
A la prochaine
SDM
Do I smell that familiar scent of,
OFF!
Reaching my arm as I do,
In contempt of fire,
Into the ring for a pan or a pot, a steak or a piece of fish.
Only to discover,
That my nose hairs begin to dance,
With that scent that can only be thrown by flame meeting hair.
Lament for my arm hair,
Oh yes indeed,
Looking down to discover a bare arm, where once there was hair.
And now what is this,
But a shriveled and disheveled,
Barren area of my arm that has been freed from its follicles by flame.
Several times a week,
Do I smell that oh so familiar scent,
Of my arm hair diminishing and in a weird kind of way I can for only a moment glimpse,
That which bows down on my grill or my flame,
And how it must feel,
But only for a moment,
For while I lament my hair,
I celebrate my journey.
Are you celebrating your journey? Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Logan Pearsall Smith once said “There is more felicity on the far side of baldness than young men can possibly imagine”
I couldn’t agree more.
A la prochaine
SDM
Options (file under considerations weighing on me)
So what do I do? I’m sure this is a question that many of you have asked yourself over time. As I wrote about the other day this coming year is filled with all kinds of life changes that require mental acuity and planning.
Do I go to New York?
Do I got to Europe?
Do I take over my friends’ kitchen? (not by mutiny either)
Do I seek out a cruise ship cooking position?
Do I find another position in Toronto?
Do I approach the two standing job offers I have right now?
Lots on my plate.
These are just some of the questions that I am considering on top of my regular questions. Each has pros and cons connected with the decision and I have to tell you that to me the two most attractive are going to New York or going to Europe. But I just don’t know.
Vincent Van Gogh once said; “For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Do I go to New York?
Do I got to Europe?
Do I take over my friends’ kitchen? (not by mutiny either)
Do I seek out a cruise ship cooking position?
Do I find another position in Toronto?
Do I approach the two standing job offers I have right now?
Lots on my plate.
These are just some of the questions that I am considering on top of my regular questions. Each has pros and cons connected with the decision and I have to tell you that to me the two most attractive are going to New York or going to Europe. But I just don’t know.
Vincent Van Gogh once said; “For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
The Saga Continues… (file under continuation of To be Perfectly Frank (file under ARE YOU SERIOUS))
Anyone that knows me knows that the holidays are an incredibly tough time for me. There are numerous reasons for this that are outside the usual reasons that people don’t like the holidays. The first is that I have enormous amounts of guilt that well up around Christmas and around February. Though it has gotten better with time, there still remains, the remnants of a guilt and a pain that stays with me. I am going to make a concerted effort this year to leave it where it is.
However, I have to say, as I said in my post about Christmas, this year did not feel very Christmassy to me. And no I am not bemoaning Santa nor sugarplum fairies. Instead for the first time in a long time it just didn’t feel like Christmas. And please don’t read that I didn’t enjoy the company that I was with for Christmas because that wasn’t the case either.
Instead I got to begin my Christmas, as the above titled post suggests a less than stellar tongue lashing from the owner of my restaurant. And yes, the saga continues. Today after I was done work (truthfully I don’t even know what the purpose of being open was but not my call) Chef said that he wanted to see me before I went. I knew why and I took a deep breath as I changed.
We went out the side door and Chef asked what was up. I basically recounted for him what I did for you my readers. I told him that I felt that both my professionalism and my honour were attacked in the same breath. Anyone who knows me can tell you quite clearly that there are two things in my adult life that I am very proud of, one is my word and the other is my professionalism. I have done jobs which would make even the toughest stomached person fold. And I have done it with a smile on my face (98% of the time) and always acted in the highest possible professional standard. Thus when someone attacks my professionalism I am left at odds with that person.
To make matters even worse. I have a bad back. If I was Sir Smoke a Lot in “Half Baked” believe me the doctor would say that I need a backiotomy. I have a sciatic nerve pinch. This is a condition which usually causes extreme pain down one leg or the other from the coxic to the heel. Well I have the great fortune of suffering from pain in both anytime there is a ten degree jump in less than a twenty four hour period. It is excruciating and today it is killing me.
Thus while we are having the conversation it was plain as day on my face that I was both pissed at the situation and in incredible amounts of pain. As we spoke I made it quite plain that I felt I had been wronged. He made it plain as day that it is okay for me to feel that way but that I need to be able to swallow certain things. LIKE WHAT, should I bend over too? It is one thing to attack a persons professionalism if it is warranted BUT IT IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT MATTER TO ATTACK ONES CHARACTER.
I pointed out to Chef that while I feel I have been treated less than stellar in other circumstances in my culinary career never have I felt so angry, so jaded, so wronged as I did in this case. A talking down to, in a very inappropriate way, in front of my colleagues. INAPPROPRIATE. He did agree that I have had an exceptional culinary learning. That I am a quick study and super intelligent. But I still had a ways to go. Of course I agreed. I said that even forty years from now I will have more to learn in the kitchen. But in no way does that excuse how I was treated.
So now, I need to have a conversation with the owner. Let him know how I feel and then react to how he responds. I am already quite sure of how he will respond. At which point I have two choices, to continue working in an environment where the owner has no respect for either me as a person or as an employee OR TO LEAVE. Chef made it very clear that HE knows I can leave there tomorrow and get a job at any restaurant in the city. In truth the only thing that keeps me there currently is my professionalism and my respect for Chef.
So again, at Christmas time, I am left with a bad taste in my mouth. I am left considering my immediate future and my long term strategy to get to where I want to go. Who knew the kitchen would have so much to do with politics and chess?
I apologize, I think I just needed to vent now so I don’t fume tomorrow.
The Scottish writer William Shenstone once wrote; “Anger is a great force. If you control it, it can be transmuted into a power which can move the whole world.”
True.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
However, I have to say, as I said in my post about Christmas, this year did not feel very Christmassy to me. And no I am not bemoaning Santa nor sugarplum fairies. Instead for the first time in a long time it just didn’t feel like Christmas. And please don’t read that I didn’t enjoy the company that I was with for Christmas because that wasn’t the case either.
Instead I got to begin my Christmas, as the above titled post suggests a less than stellar tongue lashing from the owner of my restaurant. And yes, the saga continues. Today after I was done work (truthfully I don’t even know what the purpose of being open was but not my call) Chef said that he wanted to see me before I went. I knew why and I took a deep breath as I changed.
We went out the side door and Chef asked what was up. I basically recounted for him what I did for you my readers. I told him that I felt that both my professionalism and my honour were attacked in the same breath. Anyone who knows me can tell you quite clearly that there are two things in my adult life that I am very proud of, one is my word and the other is my professionalism. I have done jobs which would make even the toughest stomached person fold. And I have done it with a smile on my face (98% of the time) and always acted in the highest possible professional standard. Thus when someone attacks my professionalism I am left at odds with that person.
To make matters even worse. I have a bad back. If I was Sir Smoke a Lot in “Half Baked” believe me the doctor would say that I need a backiotomy. I have a sciatic nerve pinch. This is a condition which usually causes extreme pain down one leg or the other from the coxic to the heel. Well I have the great fortune of suffering from pain in both anytime there is a ten degree jump in less than a twenty four hour period. It is excruciating and today it is killing me.
Thus while we are having the conversation it was plain as day on my face that I was both pissed at the situation and in incredible amounts of pain. As we spoke I made it quite plain that I felt I had been wronged. He made it plain as day that it is okay for me to feel that way but that I need to be able to swallow certain things. LIKE WHAT, should I bend over too? It is one thing to attack a persons professionalism if it is warranted BUT IT IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT MATTER TO ATTACK ONES CHARACTER.
I pointed out to Chef that while I feel I have been treated less than stellar in other circumstances in my culinary career never have I felt so angry, so jaded, so wronged as I did in this case. A talking down to, in a very inappropriate way, in front of my colleagues. INAPPROPRIATE. He did agree that I have had an exceptional culinary learning. That I am a quick study and super intelligent. But I still had a ways to go. Of course I agreed. I said that even forty years from now I will have more to learn in the kitchen. But in no way does that excuse how I was treated.
So now, I need to have a conversation with the owner. Let him know how I feel and then react to how he responds. I am already quite sure of how he will respond. At which point I have two choices, to continue working in an environment where the owner has no respect for either me as a person or as an employee OR TO LEAVE. Chef made it very clear that HE knows I can leave there tomorrow and get a job at any restaurant in the city. In truth the only thing that keeps me there currently is my professionalism and my respect for Chef.
So again, at Christmas time, I am left with a bad taste in my mouth. I am left considering my immediate future and my long term strategy to get to where I want to go. Who knew the kitchen would have so much to do with politics and chess?
I apologize, I think I just needed to vent now so I don’t fume tomorrow.
The Scottish writer William Shenstone once wrote; “Anger is a great force. If you control it, it can be transmuted into a power which can move the whole world.”
True.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas and New Years (file under reflections)
For what seemed like the first time in a real long time I did not spend Christmas with my family. For what seemed like the first time in a long time the family was spread all over the world (mostly Canada but also Malawi). It left me a little sad as I thought back to the obnoxiously loud celebration of Christmas, Solstice, Hanukah, Kwanza or Chrismahannakwanza.
I spent most of Christmas and the ensuing day asleep. More out of a deep body tired than anything else. Catching up on much needed rest. Of course I did do a ridiculously large bone in Prime Rib which I’ve included pictures of.
I spent a lot of time, as I am now, considering what the next year holds. C and I are going to get married. She is going to finish year one of her training at Stella Adler. I am going to finish year two of my hands on training and be one step closer to realizing my goal for my fortieth birthday. While I think about the sadness of not being with my entire family at Christmas I also thought about the joy of dreaming and the result of action.
My purpose which seems to have manifested both through my culinary journey and my ability to put to paper what the journey has been like is a source of pride for me. It marks the first time in my life that I have accepted that which I can not change. I WAS MADE TO DO THIS.
I guess the ultimate purpose of this post is to wish that all of you find joy and happiness through your friends and families in the coming year as well as personal success in whatever your dreams are. If you have not as yet designed, deciphered or discovered what your dream is, there is no time like the present to try and figure out what it means to you.
Dr. Seuss once said; “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
I spent most of Christmas and the ensuing day asleep. More out of a deep body tired than anything else. Catching up on much needed rest. Of course I did do a ridiculously large bone in Prime Rib which I’ve included pictures of.
I spent a lot of time, as I am now, considering what the next year holds. C and I are going to get married. She is going to finish year one of her training at Stella Adler. I am going to finish year two of my hands on training and be one step closer to realizing my goal for my fortieth birthday. While I think about the sadness of not being with my entire family at Christmas I also thought about the joy of dreaming and the result of action.
My purpose which seems to have manifested both through my culinary journey and my ability to put to paper what the journey has been like is a source of pride for me. It marks the first time in my life that I have accepted that which I can not change. I WAS MADE TO DO THIS.
I guess the ultimate purpose of this post is to wish that all of you find joy and happiness through your friends and families in the coming year as well as personal success in whatever your dreams are. If you have not as yet designed, deciphered or discovered what your dream is, there is no time like the present to try and figure out what it means to you.
Dr. Seuss once said; “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Monday, December 22, 2008
To be Perfectly Frank (file under ARE YOU SERIOUS)
I understand that as an owner of a restaurant right now you might be a little bit concerned. Moreover I understand that there are things that you need to consider when you are an owner. But when you are TOO hands on it is damaging not just to the restaurant but also to the people that work in it. ESPECIALLY when you are wrong.
Today, after a relatively slow lunch I made myself my lunch and went out to the restaurant to eat it. The owner (who is taking off for Las Vegas tomorrow) came up to me and made a comment about hours, labour cost and something else. He then proceeded to start having an EXTREMELY inappropriate conversation with me while Chef was absent (because he could, after all he is an owner).
He spoke about the way the kitchen was run today from a labour perspective and then started bitching about labour last week. At first I tried to disengage myself from the conversation as it certainly was not one to be had without Chef. So I put down my food (my appetite now suitably ruined) and tried to speak with him about his concerns as he would not let go. He then proceeded to ask me a question and upon hearing my answer, in as much, called me a liar. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Now we have stepped outside the realm of professional conversation and lodged a personal attack. When I tried to assuage his concerns he proceeded to start flaring at me and refused to listen to what I had to say. In fact it would not have mattered whether it was Chef or I, the response would have been the same.
He then proceeded to diminish not just my character but also my professionalism. At this point I ended the conversation as I had any number of choice words to express my absolute DISGUST with his lack of professionalism and his personal attacks on me. To be perfectly frank I do not need to be called a liar by anyone OR have my professionalism attacked.
I spent most of this year studying under two great Canadian Chefs. One who was one of the youngest Executive Chefs in Canadian Chef History and the other who has worked with the likes of Heston Blumenthal. As I write this I am still seething and if the conversation was happening now would register my disgust in any number of choice ways. As it is, if my character and professionalism are in question, perhaps I should go back to the level that I started at instead of working for basically amounts to a steakhouse.
I am actively going to have conversations in the coming weeks with Chef and other Chefs and friends I have in the industry AS I AM CERTAIN that my character and my professionalism are in HIGH DEMAND and would be appreciated just about anywhere I walk through the door.
In an odd twist of fate I had to go to Reservation today to drop of some things for the Pastry Chef and another colleague. I happened to run into Director of Operations and we spoke briefly about the new job and what is going on. He asked about C and after I mentioned that I might go down to NYC for work to which he said; “You will have no problem finding work down there.”
I am reminded of a quote from Bob Marley; “The stone that the builder refuse is most often the stone he should use.” I AM SEETHING WITH ANGER but as I write am becoming more composed.
Voltaire once said; “Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well”
Mother Teresa once said; “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Today, after a relatively slow lunch I made myself my lunch and went out to the restaurant to eat it. The owner (who is taking off for Las Vegas tomorrow) came up to me and made a comment about hours, labour cost and something else. He then proceeded to start having an EXTREMELY inappropriate conversation with me while Chef was absent (because he could, after all he is an owner).
He spoke about the way the kitchen was run today from a labour perspective and then started bitching about labour last week. At first I tried to disengage myself from the conversation as it certainly was not one to be had without Chef. So I put down my food (my appetite now suitably ruined) and tried to speak with him about his concerns as he would not let go. He then proceeded to ask me a question and upon hearing my answer, in as much, called me a liar. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Now we have stepped outside the realm of professional conversation and lodged a personal attack. When I tried to assuage his concerns he proceeded to start flaring at me and refused to listen to what I had to say. In fact it would not have mattered whether it was Chef or I, the response would have been the same.
He then proceeded to diminish not just my character but also my professionalism. At this point I ended the conversation as I had any number of choice words to express my absolute DISGUST with his lack of professionalism and his personal attacks on me. To be perfectly frank I do not need to be called a liar by anyone OR have my professionalism attacked.
I spent most of this year studying under two great Canadian Chefs. One who was one of the youngest Executive Chefs in Canadian Chef History and the other who has worked with the likes of Heston Blumenthal. As I write this I am still seething and if the conversation was happening now would register my disgust in any number of choice ways. As it is, if my character and professionalism are in question, perhaps I should go back to the level that I started at instead of working for basically amounts to a steakhouse.
I am actively going to have conversations in the coming weeks with Chef and other Chefs and friends I have in the industry AS I AM CERTAIN that my character and my professionalism are in HIGH DEMAND and would be appreciated just about anywhere I walk through the door.
In an odd twist of fate I had to go to Reservation today to drop of some things for the Pastry Chef and another colleague. I happened to run into Director of Operations and we spoke briefly about the new job and what is going on. He asked about C and after I mentioned that I might go down to NYC for work to which he said; “You will have no problem finding work down there.”
I am reminded of a quote from Bob Marley; “The stone that the builder refuse is most often the stone he should use.” I AM SEETHING WITH ANGER but as I write am becoming more composed.
Voltaire once said; “Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well”
Mother Teresa once said; “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Week in Review (file under Pain, Burns and Great Success)
Henry David Thoreau once said; “Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.” I don’t think that he ever experienced a severe burn on his hand that made it virtually impossible for him to write. But thankfully, I have a great experience memory and can draw on it even a few days later.
This week was a rough week. There was lots of work to do and very long services. Lunch service each day went from approximately 11:30 am until around 3:30 pm which gave us little more than an hour to get ready for dinner service. We were exceptionally busy this week what with all the people getting into the Christmas spirit.
As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes you find yourself operating on auto pilot, not necessarily thinking about what you are doing. Well again this week I managed to get a terrific burn on my right hand. It occurred when, on autopilot, I reached on top of the salamander and grabbed a pan. The salamander is kept at approximately five hundred degrees and metal pans stored no top of it as you can imagine get impossibly hot. Immediately my hand seared into the pan and while the normal reaction might be to drop it I brought the pan down to the fire and then jumped up and down in unparalleled agony. My hand immediately blistered and all I could think about was the half dozen or so orders that were on my station. I immediately put my hand under hot water for a second while one of my colleagues grabbed the burn spray. Once it was sprayed on I grabbed a glove and put it on to which Chef advised me that it would make the pain worse. I looked at him and said that may be so but I still have orders to get out. This of course is the sanitized version of events as there was quite a bit of cursing for about a minute or so. Plus I started beating myself up right away for not having a rag in my hand and what’s worse thinking that I did.
I got the orders out. Which for me was painful but all part of the job. My response to the pain was to work through it and make sure that my patrons got the same food that they would have if I had not burned my hand. Once service was over I placed my hand in an ice bath to numb it from the pain so that I could continue to work. I was both proud and ashamed at myself. But I did get the job done.
I also worked the front line alone on Friday. It felt really good to be able to do this. It enabled me to work two stations and get food out in a timely manner. It caused me to work on my timing and speed as well as order completion.
I felt good about the week and what I accomplished. I have some homework this week as Chef is doing a retooling of the menu. He’s asked me to come up with some dishes for review along the idea of what I would eventually like to cook. Gladly I responded and have spent quite a bit of time considering it.
Maxwell Maltz once said; “When you see a thing clearly in your mind, your creative "success mechanism" within you takes over and does the job much better than you could do it by conscious effort or "willpower”
Dale Carnegie once said; “Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”
How true are those?
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
This week was a rough week. There was lots of work to do and very long services. Lunch service each day went from approximately 11:30 am until around 3:30 pm which gave us little more than an hour to get ready for dinner service. We were exceptionally busy this week what with all the people getting into the Christmas spirit.
As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes you find yourself operating on auto pilot, not necessarily thinking about what you are doing. Well again this week I managed to get a terrific burn on my right hand. It occurred when, on autopilot, I reached on top of the salamander and grabbed a pan. The salamander is kept at approximately five hundred degrees and metal pans stored no top of it as you can imagine get impossibly hot. Immediately my hand seared into the pan and while the normal reaction might be to drop it I brought the pan down to the fire and then jumped up and down in unparalleled agony. My hand immediately blistered and all I could think about was the half dozen or so orders that were on my station. I immediately put my hand under hot water for a second while one of my colleagues grabbed the burn spray. Once it was sprayed on I grabbed a glove and put it on to which Chef advised me that it would make the pain worse. I looked at him and said that may be so but I still have orders to get out. This of course is the sanitized version of events as there was quite a bit of cursing for about a minute or so. Plus I started beating myself up right away for not having a rag in my hand and what’s worse thinking that I did.
I got the orders out. Which for me was painful but all part of the job. My response to the pain was to work through it and make sure that my patrons got the same food that they would have if I had not burned my hand. Once service was over I placed my hand in an ice bath to numb it from the pain so that I could continue to work. I was both proud and ashamed at myself. But I did get the job done.
I also worked the front line alone on Friday. It felt really good to be able to do this. It enabled me to work two stations and get food out in a timely manner. It caused me to work on my timing and speed as well as order completion.
I felt good about the week and what I accomplished. I have some homework this week as Chef is doing a retooling of the menu. He’s asked me to come up with some dishes for review along the idea of what I would eventually like to cook. Gladly I responded and have spent quite a bit of time considering it.
Maxwell Maltz once said; “When you see a thing clearly in your mind, your creative "success mechanism" within you takes over and does the job much better than you could do it by conscious effort or "willpower”
Dale Carnegie once said; “Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”
How true are those?
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Genetically Modified Foods (file under Do you know what your children are eating?)
This is a follow up post now that I have a little bit of time to expound on the post that related to this last week. You can read it at http://newbieintheweeds.blogspot.com/2008/12/times-file-under-they-are-changin.html .
There is no doubt that the last generation has seen a technological leap no less significant than the steam age, the industrial revolution or the post war period. This leap has been the result of our primary civilization drive to make the world a better place. If you believe this last statement I think that you should check your head or let me sell you a beautiful plot of land on the moon.
The leap that has occurred since world war two is the result of the spoils of war. Our medical advance is largely due to the inhumane practices of German and Japanese scientists that suffered no punishment for their crimes against humanity and were instead treated as intellectual heroes, taken from their homelands and given free reign and freedom in America (a little known fact to the general public) as long as they continued their research on behalf of America. This may seem like a far fetched statement but if you study history you will see that it is in fact accurate.
From the initial push on this advance the next primary driver or catalyst has been profit. Slowly we have watched as politicians, the supposed leaders of our countries have become less the man than the companies that “sponsor” them. These companies act with impunity as long as shareholder value is maintained or increased, as is the bottom line. This may have seemed like a good thing in the eighties or even the nineties, but now can anyone argue that the impunity that they operate with is in fact damaging the world in which we live? The Mantra of Gordon Gecko from Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” that; “Greed is good,” may have been true at one point for shareholders and stakeholders but what about the public at large. Look at the current situation in the world markets, it is the result of unchecked greed. Men and women that knew in the absence of regulation they could get away with things that robbed Main Street, you and I, of everything that we have worked hard for. In light of the current loss of seven trillion (7,000,000,000,000) dollars from the American economic engine and the complete collapse of the “free hand” of the market by ludicrous bailouts I’m left with a horrible taste in my mouth which relates to the impunity with which these organizations are destroying the fabric of our societies. This all relates to what I am about to write about in the following paragraphs.
Profit for any company is the end all and be all. It is THE driving force behind innovation, creativity and productivity. If there is an adverse affect on the bottom line you can watch as companies start downsizing and shutting down operations. How does all this relate to food you may be asking. I will illustrate the point now.
Choice. In our market system we are fooled into believing that we have choice. Choice between Coke and Pepsi. GM and Ford. American Airlines and Southwest. But are these real choices or two pigs dressed differently feeding at the trough of both our hard earned dollars and our taxes to boot to add insult to injury. This same belief n choice has lead to massive mergers and acquisitions that have created supranational businesses (again operating with virtual impunity) that are making decisions each day under the supposed guise of profit guidance but which are in fact hurting humanity.
Thomas Pawlick in his book; “The End of Food,” which again I strongly urge you to read, as a starting point, illustrates this point quite clearly. These Leviathans of industry are slowly but surely eating away at the health of citizens, under the supposed watchful eye of government, and are getting away with it.
Geneticists, since approximately 1994, have been invading our food supply for the sake of profit. Companies such as Calgene, Monsanto, Bechtel and the like have created a system by which family farmers are slowly wiped out by industrial farms with which they can not compete. Even more importantly is the fact that nature has a way of dealing with certain problems effectively, while, the seeds and industrial production of food is now threatening the very balance of that system in the name of profit. Pawlick points out that the Tomatoes we eat are not the tomatoes that our parents eat. The North American tomato varieties used to number somewhere around 5500. The tomatoes that we currently buy in the market are predominantly of two varieties. One from California and one from Florida. Both genetically modified to attempt to ensure that size, colour, firmness are uniform. However, what they haven’t told you is that through this genetic modification we are receiving tomatoes that are far less healthy than the tomatoes that our parents ate. In fact, the nutritious elements of tomatoes since the end of world war two have been slowly attacked and replaced with, get this, lipids (fats) and sugar. Now correct me if I am wrong but nature gave us the tomato, do we really need man to perfect it. To corporations the answer is yes. They want to ensure that the crop, year after year, produces the same tomato so that then end consumer can get something that resembles a tomato but in fact is more like a red ball that man has created to look good in a supermarket.
Tomatoes are not the only food that is affected. It is just a good example because I am sure that all of you reading this can go to your fridge right now and find that you have either that tomato from California or Florida. The result is the death of the farming family. And that is a tragedy. Some of the other food stuffs that nature provided that man has tinkered with now include, Cotton, Soybeans, Corn, Potatoes, Canola, Sugar Cane, Sugar Beets and Rice. This list is not exhaustive either. And for what reason is man tinkering with natures already perfect bounty; Reasons include; to make them resistant to herbicides and pesticides and pests, viruses, to abate degradation (predominantly due to the practice of picking unripened fruit for shipping long distances) and in some cases to improve the nutritional aspects of foods (but these are few and far between Rice being the best example).
What the companies that sell these seeds do not want the public to know is that these genetic modifications require a greater number of inputs to sustain the crops. Herbicides, pesticides, inorganic fertilizers and the like which end up costing more money than the crop is worth UNLESS it is on an industrial scale of production.
To me there are even more problems with genetically modified foods. First off, who owns the seed controls the crop. Thus, a company such as Monsanto can selectively cultivate crops anywhere it wants in the world without regard to what nature wants. But it does so at the expense of the farmer who can not take seed from a genetically modified piece of produce and use it to plant next years crop as has always been the case throughout history. Moreover, in the name of profit, the ancient and proven practices of soil protection of planting one crop one year and another the next has fallen to the wayside. The result will surely be a degradation of the soil to the point that the affect will be scorched earth. Top soil that is so beaten by the herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers that it is no longer useable. Does this sound like good food policy? Or is it good profit policy?
These companies now go into developing countries and have them create massive industrial production farms of crops that were never meant to be there. And in so doing destroy the natural cycle of crop production which will have an adverse affect on ALL OF US no matter where we are on the planet.
These are but a few reasons that we need to pay attention to what corporations are doing in the name of profit with respect to food. We need to demand that our government do studies (not the companies who profit from it) into the long term affects of this current food production strategy.
Profit is also the reason that numerous fish species are in decline and are on the verge of destruction. The reason that diseases such as Mad Cow Disease enter the food chain. You may be asking yourself how does this happen. In the case of Mad Cow which is really called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) which you can read more about at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy is the result of profiteers using discarded parts of the cow, grinding it up and putting it in feed for cows to make the cows fatter and larger thus more profitable at slaughter. Does anybody else see the problem with feeding herbivores themselves? This practice has supposedly abated but I’m sure that the profiteers have found a new way to disguise what they are doing. How long will it be before the government starts paying attention to what is done in the name of profit?
AND to make matters worse these are just a couple of examples for which there is evidence that PROFIT is at the core of the destruction of the human food supply system. We need to have a massive grassroots effort to return food to humans instead of faceless profiteers. We need farmers to start being people again and not machines. We need to bring back the experts, the farmers, not scientists in order to ensure the sustainable development of the food chain.
I don’t want to write so much here in terms of what needs to be done because I believe that once people start seeing what the truth is they will come up with their own solutions. Some that are out there right now include the Organic and Slow Food Movements. We have tried the fast food model and look at the result; Massive health implications including Coronary Disease and obesity which is affecting life on this planet for billions of people.
I will write more about this again but think that for now this represents a good starting point for discussion.
Professor Phillip James states; "The perception that everything is totally straightforward and safe is utterly naive. I don't think we fully understand the dimensions of what
we're getting into."
Doctor Geoffrey Clements states; "The genetic modification of food is intrinsically dangerous. It involves making irreversible changes in a random manner to a complex level of life about which little is known. It is inevitable that this hit-and-miss
approach will lead to disasters. It must disrupt the natural intelligence
of the plant or animal to which it is applied, and lead to health-damaging
side-effects."
I urge you to look into what companies for the sake of profit are doing to destroy your health,
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
There is no doubt that the last generation has seen a technological leap no less significant than the steam age, the industrial revolution or the post war period. This leap has been the result of our primary civilization drive to make the world a better place. If you believe this last statement I think that you should check your head or let me sell you a beautiful plot of land on the moon.
The leap that has occurred since world war two is the result of the spoils of war. Our medical advance is largely due to the inhumane practices of German and Japanese scientists that suffered no punishment for their crimes against humanity and were instead treated as intellectual heroes, taken from their homelands and given free reign and freedom in America (a little known fact to the general public) as long as they continued their research on behalf of America. This may seem like a far fetched statement but if you study history you will see that it is in fact accurate.
From the initial push on this advance the next primary driver or catalyst has been profit. Slowly we have watched as politicians, the supposed leaders of our countries have become less the man than the companies that “sponsor” them. These companies act with impunity as long as shareholder value is maintained or increased, as is the bottom line. This may have seemed like a good thing in the eighties or even the nineties, but now can anyone argue that the impunity that they operate with is in fact damaging the world in which we live? The Mantra of Gordon Gecko from Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” that; “Greed is good,” may have been true at one point for shareholders and stakeholders but what about the public at large. Look at the current situation in the world markets, it is the result of unchecked greed. Men and women that knew in the absence of regulation they could get away with things that robbed Main Street, you and I, of everything that we have worked hard for. In light of the current loss of seven trillion (7,000,000,000,000) dollars from the American economic engine and the complete collapse of the “free hand” of the market by ludicrous bailouts I’m left with a horrible taste in my mouth which relates to the impunity with which these organizations are destroying the fabric of our societies. This all relates to what I am about to write about in the following paragraphs.
Profit for any company is the end all and be all. It is THE driving force behind innovation, creativity and productivity. If there is an adverse affect on the bottom line you can watch as companies start downsizing and shutting down operations. How does all this relate to food you may be asking. I will illustrate the point now.
Choice. In our market system we are fooled into believing that we have choice. Choice between Coke and Pepsi. GM and Ford. American Airlines and Southwest. But are these real choices or two pigs dressed differently feeding at the trough of both our hard earned dollars and our taxes to boot to add insult to injury. This same belief n choice has lead to massive mergers and acquisitions that have created supranational businesses (again operating with virtual impunity) that are making decisions each day under the supposed guise of profit guidance but which are in fact hurting humanity.
Thomas Pawlick in his book; “The End of Food,” which again I strongly urge you to read, as a starting point, illustrates this point quite clearly. These Leviathans of industry are slowly but surely eating away at the health of citizens, under the supposed watchful eye of government, and are getting away with it.
Geneticists, since approximately 1994, have been invading our food supply for the sake of profit. Companies such as Calgene, Monsanto, Bechtel and the like have created a system by which family farmers are slowly wiped out by industrial farms with which they can not compete. Even more importantly is the fact that nature has a way of dealing with certain problems effectively, while, the seeds and industrial production of food is now threatening the very balance of that system in the name of profit. Pawlick points out that the Tomatoes we eat are not the tomatoes that our parents eat. The North American tomato varieties used to number somewhere around 5500. The tomatoes that we currently buy in the market are predominantly of two varieties. One from California and one from Florida. Both genetically modified to attempt to ensure that size, colour, firmness are uniform. However, what they haven’t told you is that through this genetic modification we are receiving tomatoes that are far less healthy than the tomatoes that our parents ate. In fact, the nutritious elements of tomatoes since the end of world war two have been slowly attacked and replaced with, get this, lipids (fats) and sugar. Now correct me if I am wrong but nature gave us the tomato, do we really need man to perfect it. To corporations the answer is yes. They want to ensure that the crop, year after year, produces the same tomato so that then end consumer can get something that resembles a tomato but in fact is more like a red ball that man has created to look good in a supermarket.
Tomatoes are not the only food that is affected. It is just a good example because I am sure that all of you reading this can go to your fridge right now and find that you have either that tomato from California or Florida. The result is the death of the farming family. And that is a tragedy. Some of the other food stuffs that nature provided that man has tinkered with now include, Cotton, Soybeans, Corn, Potatoes, Canola, Sugar Cane, Sugar Beets and Rice. This list is not exhaustive either. And for what reason is man tinkering with natures already perfect bounty; Reasons include; to make them resistant to herbicides and pesticides and pests, viruses, to abate degradation (predominantly due to the practice of picking unripened fruit for shipping long distances) and in some cases to improve the nutritional aspects of foods (but these are few and far between Rice being the best example).
What the companies that sell these seeds do not want the public to know is that these genetic modifications require a greater number of inputs to sustain the crops. Herbicides, pesticides, inorganic fertilizers and the like which end up costing more money than the crop is worth UNLESS it is on an industrial scale of production.
To me there are even more problems with genetically modified foods. First off, who owns the seed controls the crop. Thus, a company such as Monsanto can selectively cultivate crops anywhere it wants in the world without regard to what nature wants. But it does so at the expense of the farmer who can not take seed from a genetically modified piece of produce and use it to plant next years crop as has always been the case throughout history. Moreover, in the name of profit, the ancient and proven practices of soil protection of planting one crop one year and another the next has fallen to the wayside. The result will surely be a degradation of the soil to the point that the affect will be scorched earth. Top soil that is so beaten by the herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers that it is no longer useable. Does this sound like good food policy? Or is it good profit policy?
These companies now go into developing countries and have them create massive industrial production farms of crops that were never meant to be there. And in so doing destroy the natural cycle of crop production which will have an adverse affect on ALL OF US no matter where we are on the planet.
These are but a few reasons that we need to pay attention to what corporations are doing in the name of profit with respect to food. We need to demand that our government do studies (not the companies who profit from it) into the long term affects of this current food production strategy.
Profit is also the reason that numerous fish species are in decline and are on the verge of destruction. The reason that diseases such as Mad Cow Disease enter the food chain. You may be asking yourself how does this happen. In the case of Mad Cow which is really called Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) which you can read more about at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy is the result of profiteers using discarded parts of the cow, grinding it up and putting it in feed for cows to make the cows fatter and larger thus more profitable at slaughter. Does anybody else see the problem with feeding herbivores themselves? This practice has supposedly abated but I’m sure that the profiteers have found a new way to disguise what they are doing. How long will it be before the government starts paying attention to what is done in the name of profit?
AND to make matters worse these are just a couple of examples for which there is evidence that PROFIT is at the core of the destruction of the human food supply system. We need to have a massive grassroots effort to return food to humans instead of faceless profiteers. We need farmers to start being people again and not machines. We need to bring back the experts, the farmers, not scientists in order to ensure the sustainable development of the food chain.
I don’t want to write so much here in terms of what needs to be done because I believe that once people start seeing what the truth is they will come up with their own solutions. Some that are out there right now include the Organic and Slow Food Movements. We have tried the fast food model and look at the result; Massive health implications including Coronary Disease and obesity which is affecting life on this planet for billions of people.
I will write more about this again but think that for now this represents a good starting point for discussion.
Professor Phillip James states; "The perception that everything is totally straightforward and safe is utterly naive. I don't think we fully understand the dimensions of what
we're getting into."
Doctor Geoffrey Clements states; "The genetic modification of food is intrinsically dangerous. It involves making irreversible changes in a random manner to a complex level of life about which little is known. It is inevitable that this hit-and-miss
approach will lead to disasters. It must disrupt the natural intelligence
of the plant or animal to which it is applied, and lead to health-damaging
side-effects."
I urge you to look into what companies for the sake of profit are doing to destroy your health,
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Chef O’ Claus (file under Merci Chef!)
I received two presents wrapped wonderfully from Chef this week. He looked at me as he handed them to me and said that I couldn’t open them until Christmas. He then relented and said that I could open the smaller one first. He wrote on the present; “For the intellectual Chef.”
I got around to opening it yesterday and was thrilled to see that it was “Food – A Culinary History.” Another encyclopedic volume to add to my growing culinary library. I’ve started reading it and from the introduction can tell you that I will have many a post to write about it.
Garrison Keller once said; “A book is a gift you can open again and again.” And I plan to.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
I got around to opening it yesterday and was thrilled to see that it was “Food – A Culinary History.” Another encyclopedic volume to add to my growing culinary library. I’ve started reading it and from the introduction can tell you that I will have many a post to write about it.
Garrison Keller once said; “A book is a gift you can open again and again.” And I plan to.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Times (file under They Are a Changin)
As many people know I am a massive fan of Hunter S. Thompson. The father of Gonzo journalism and certainly an original. As I’ve though about this post I have found myself considering exactly what he would say and found myself blank as it is far too gonzo for even him.
I asked former Executive Chef and current Director of Operations about the nature of our business when I first started working for him. I told him that it was my dream to change the business. I know how I want to change it, why I want to change it and spend my days working on the plan to change it. He told me that he feels it is impossible to change the culture of food the way that I want to. I respectfully disagree and while I have a plan I can not use this forum to explain what it is just yet.
As a cook, a chef, or anyone in the food industry can tell you there are very few players in the business at the top level. Maybe ten or fifteen massive conglomerates that in some way or another dictate food policy around the globe.
As we all know, globalization is slowly becoming a reality, despite the best efforts of our so called radicals and grass roots people to work against the tide. The result in the food industry is that we have gone from species of plants that ranged in the thousands to now just the hundreds and if the conglomerates have their way only but a handful. This is wrong. WRONG!
I have just finished reading a book which I strongly recommend entitled; “ The End of Food” by Thomas Pawlick. I URGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK.
Amongst other things, Pawlick addresses the slaughter of the family farm and the reshaping of agribusiness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agribusiness ). It is a shame and it is something that we can do something about. It is kind of like John Lennon said; “War is over, if you want it.”
There is a war being wages by massive companies that seek to ensure that the produce we buy from the supermarkets, huge conglomerates themselves, looks the same. For instance that a tomato looks like a tomato. What they don’t tell you is that this practice is killing off the species of plants by ensuring the companies like Cargill and Monsanto, just to name two and their Genetically Modified (seeds, are the only source available to farmers. Moreover that once these farmers accept these Genetically Modified (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food ) seeds that they are forever in needs of the services of these giants of industry for fertilizer, seeds, etc. THIS IS WRONG.
Pawlick brought up a point that I wrote a paper about in university about the Stalin purges of the Russian arming peasant class and the disastrous results for farming not just in the Ukraine but the whole Soviet Union.
We need to eat. These companies know that. But the food that we are eating today is less nutritious and because of the farming practices may actually be doing us more harm than good.
I have mentioned numerous times before that I know what I plan to do. It involves changing this. One morsel at a time. Can I do it? Yes.. But only if you become informed.
Stay tuned because this is just the tip of the iceberg. I would write more now but I am tired. It has been a long day. I have a day off coming up and will write a more in depth post but wanted to get your minds thinking.
Vandana Shiva says; "Far from feeding the world, people are going to starve because of genetically engineered foods. More and more peasants will see their
crops substituted through biotechnology."
Pay attention people and I promise more to come from me on the subject in the next few days.
Malthus (another University paper I wrote about) once said; “Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.” Genetic Modification renders this statement untrue but AT WHAT COST!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
I asked former Executive Chef and current Director of Operations about the nature of our business when I first started working for him. I told him that it was my dream to change the business. I know how I want to change it, why I want to change it and spend my days working on the plan to change it. He told me that he feels it is impossible to change the culture of food the way that I want to. I respectfully disagree and while I have a plan I can not use this forum to explain what it is just yet.
As a cook, a chef, or anyone in the food industry can tell you there are very few players in the business at the top level. Maybe ten or fifteen massive conglomerates that in some way or another dictate food policy around the globe.
As we all know, globalization is slowly becoming a reality, despite the best efforts of our so called radicals and grass roots people to work against the tide. The result in the food industry is that we have gone from species of plants that ranged in the thousands to now just the hundreds and if the conglomerates have their way only but a handful. This is wrong. WRONG!
I have just finished reading a book which I strongly recommend entitled; “ The End of Food” by Thomas Pawlick. I URGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK.
Amongst other things, Pawlick addresses the slaughter of the family farm and the reshaping of agribusiness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agribusiness ). It is a shame and it is something that we can do something about. It is kind of like John Lennon said; “War is over, if you want it.”
There is a war being wages by massive companies that seek to ensure that the produce we buy from the supermarkets, huge conglomerates themselves, looks the same. For instance that a tomato looks like a tomato. What they don’t tell you is that this practice is killing off the species of plants by ensuring the companies like Cargill and Monsanto, just to name two and their Genetically Modified (seeds, are the only source available to farmers. Moreover that once these farmers accept these Genetically Modified (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food ) seeds that they are forever in needs of the services of these giants of industry for fertilizer, seeds, etc. THIS IS WRONG.
Pawlick brought up a point that I wrote a paper about in university about the Stalin purges of the Russian arming peasant class and the disastrous results for farming not just in the Ukraine but the whole Soviet Union.
We need to eat. These companies know that. But the food that we are eating today is less nutritious and because of the farming practices may actually be doing us more harm than good.
I have mentioned numerous times before that I know what I plan to do. It involves changing this. One morsel at a time. Can I do it? Yes.. But only if you become informed.
Stay tuned because this is just the tip of the iceberg. I would write more now but I am tired. It has been a long day. I have a day off coming up and will write a more in depth post but wanted to get your minds thinking.
Vandana Shiva says; "Far from feeding the world, people are going to starve because of genetically engineered foods. More and more peasants will see their
crops substituted through biotechnology."
Pay attention people and I promise more to come from me on the subject in the next few days.
Malthus (another University paper I wrote about) once said; “Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.” Genetic Modification renders this statement untrue but AT WHAT COST!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Days like These (File under Mama Said There’d Be)
I had a rough day. Personally rough because I had to challenge my own person. I had to decide very quickly whether I would allow the demons deep within my soul to take control of my outward manifestations OR whether I would exercise some self restraint and learn something in the process.
We have a very hands on owner at Without Reservation. He does a lot of the expediting during lunch service and he has a bit of a problem, in that, he likes to jump chits and send out food that has been prepared for another bill. But first by way of explanation.
When a chit comes in the entire kitchen works in tandem to ensure that the bill is completed, in full, at the same time. Chef will call out a bill number and let us know the amount of time that is required for the longest element of that bill. It then becomes our challenge, task or obstacle, whatever you want to call it, to ensure that WE deliver within that time frame. Thus you can imagine what happens if an element of one bill is “jumped” and sent to another bill. The finely choreographed ballet soon looks like amateur hour at the community kitchen. AND I DON’T WANT THAT… EVER!
At lunch today I personally sent out sixty meals (approximately). SIXTY MEALS. At my busiest I was preparing eight different sandwiches and sides, two Penne and a Spaghetti. All of which was being done to coincide with the Chefs’ call. I put up the food that I could as I was finishing off the Penne and soon looked up in horror as my Spaghetti and a couple of the sandwiches had been shifted from bills that I was working to bills that had just come in. This was done ostensibly to finish off a bill quickly. Yes, it finished the bill of quickly, but, on the other hand, it screwed up three or four other bills that caused me to have to come up, on the fly, with a way to complete those bills.
The problem is quite simple. Chicken only cooks so quickly. It wouldn’t matter whether it was Chicken or Fish or Pasta. The principle is the same. When you are working in a fast paced environment such as a lunch service, you learn how to divide your time appropriately to make sure that you never are the problem with a bill. However, when a bill is jumped and the food that you have prepared for that bill is sent out it causes you an enormous amount of stress because you never want to let your Chef down.
I am Irish and Scottish. Which means by my very heritage, I have been known, to have a temper. That temper usually manifests itself in a lyrical tirade that may or may not be lost on the recipient but the intent is quite plain. At numerous points during lunch today, perhaps as many as six or seven, I would have loved to let my mind be known verbally. Instead, much to my amazement and intense pleasure, I swallowed my anger and did my best to fulfill the orders that were my responsibility. I came very close, a couple of times, to letting go, but I did not.
Thus I have in the process become a better man, a better cook and will become a better Chef down the road because of it. Believe me when I say though that my fellow cooks were aware of my anger through some of my actions. After all actions do speak louder than words. There is a certain sound that a pan makes when it hits a sink in anger. Needless to say that sound was heard quite a few times through service.
After service I went outside and could see that Chef was angry. I asked what was up. He kept it internalized and I knew it wasn’t me. As I took a deep drag of my cigarette I mentioned my displeasure with what had happened during service. He noted my displeasure and let me know that it would be resolved in the near future.
As I sit and write this now I am thrilled with two things that happened today. One because of something that Executive Chef said to me as I was leaving Reservation. “Ferme la porte.” THANK YOU CHEF! A valuable lesson and one which I am learning is absolutely right. The second is that I am in control of my destiny, my personal response and my future.
For the longest time I would blame my heritage for the way that I was. NO LONGER! I am in control of me. As such I need to wage a battle with my mistaken beliefs and hold dominion over my reaction and response to the world around me. All in all, I think that today was a valuable day of personal awareness. And the more I analyze it, the better I feel.
All I could think about when I wanted to explode were the following quotes, 3 in fact;
Seneca once said; “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”
Lord Alfred Tennyson said; “The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.”
Jack Kerouac; “My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.”
Food for thought. Don’t you think?
There is an old Asian Proverb which states; He that will not reflect is a ruined man.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
We have a very hands on owner at Without Reservation. He does a lot of the expediting during lunch service and he has a bit of a problem, in that, he likes to jump chits and send out food that has been prepared for another bill. But first by way of explanation.
When a chit comes in the entire kitchen works in tandem to ensure that the bill is completed, in full, at the same time. Chef will call out a bill number and let us know the amount of time that is required for the longest element of that bill. It then becomes our challenge, task or obstacle, whatever you want to call it, to ensure that WE deliver within that time frame. Thus you can imagine what happens if an element of one bill is “jumped” and sent to another bill. The finely choreographed ballet soon looks like amateur hour at the community kitchen. AND I DON’T WANT THAT… EVER!
At lunch today I personally sent out sixty meals (approximately). SIXTY MEALS. At my busiest I was preparing eight different sandwiches and sides, two Penne and a Spaghetti. All of which was being done to coincide with the Chefs’ call. I put up the food that I could as I was finishing off the Penne and soon looked up in horror as my Spaghetti and a couple of the sandwiches had been shifted from bills that I was working to bills that had just come in. This was done ostensibly to finish off a bill quickly. Yes, it finished the bill of quickly, but, on the other hand, it screwed up three or four other bills that caused me to have to come up, on the fly, with a way to complete those bills.
The problem is quite simple. Chicken only cooks so quickly. It wouldn’t matter whether it was Chicken or Fish or Pasta. The principle is the same. When you are working in a fast paced environment such as a lunch service, you learn how to divide your time appropriately to make sure that you never are the problem with a bill. However, when a bill is jumped and the food that you have prepared for that bill is sent out it causes you an enormous amount of stress because you never want to let your Chef down.
I am Irish and Scottish. Which means by my very heritage, I have been known, to have a temper. That temper usually manifests itself in a lyrical tirade that may or may not be lost on the recipient but the intent is quite plain. At numerous points during lunch today, perhaps as many as six or seven, I would have loved to let my mind be known verbally. Instead, much to my amazement and intense pleasure, I swallowed my anger and did my best to fulfill the orders that were my responsibility. I came very close, a couple of times, to letting go, but I did not.
Thus I have in the process become a better man, a better cook and will become a better Chef down the road because of it. Believe me when I say though that my fellow cooks were aware of my anger through some of my actions. After all actions do speak louder than words. There is a certain sound that a pan makes when it hits a sink in anger. Needless to say that sound was heard quite a few times through service.
After service I went outside and could see that Chef was angry. I asked what was up. He kept it internalized and I knew it wasn’t me. As I took a deep drag of my cigarette I mentioned my displeasure with what had happened during service. He noted my displeasure and let me know that it would be resolved in the near future.
As I sit and write this now I am thrilled with two things that happened today. One because of something that Executive Chef said to me as I was leaving Reservation. “Ferme la porte.” THANK YOU CHEF! A valuable lesson and one which I am learning is absolutely right. The second is that I am in control of my destiny, my personal response and my future.
For the longest time I would blame my heritage for the way that I was. NO LONGER! I am in control of me. As such I need to wage a battle with my mistaken beliefs and hold dominion over my reaction and response to the world around me. All in all, I think that today was a valuable day of personal awareness. And the more I analyze it, the better I feel.
All I could think about when I wanted to explode were the following quotes, 3 in fact;
Seneca once said; “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”
Lord Alfred Tennyson said; “The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.”
Jack Kerouac; “My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.”
Food for thought. Don’t you think?
There is an old Asian Proverb which states; He that will not reflect is a ruined man.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
The F Word (file under Different Strokes for Different Folks)
I’ve mentioned Gordon Ramsay here before, if my memory serves, predominantly as it related to the American version of Hell’s Kitchen and as Marco Pierre White’s whipping boy way back when. Look it up, there is a picture of Gordon Ramsay crying in one of Marco Pierre White’s books. At any rate, Chef Ramsay, has a new show airing on the Food Network here in Canada (also I’m sure syndicated worldwide).
I have now watched a few episodes with my finger squarely on the fast forward button. I have immense respect for what Chef Ramsay has been able to achieve in his career. Though I find his methods a bit out there and feel that some of them may be created persona for his television audience rather than entirely real. Though some people that I know have encountered him and assure me that he is just as he appears. Again I take it with a grain of salt.
Intensely curious I watched as Chef Ramsay ripped apart his Commis’ for this, that or the other thing. The show is basically him building dishes, teaching his Commis’ with so called celebrity patrons at his restaurant. I strongly recommend watching just one episode so you can see exactly what I am talking about. It is also strange when he is explaining the recipes through a very surreal voice over to music wherein he says one word and then shows the steps. VERY WEIRD. But I guess in this age of instant gratification and limited attention spans he figures that his audience is only capable of paying attention for that long.
I bring this up because I believe that somehow, somewhere, certain Chefs came to believe that the only way to instill greatness in one of their students was through fear and intimidation. That fear, driving the student, to make the teacher happy. I AM NOT FROM THIS SCHOOL OF THOUGHT. I believe that it is completely unnecessary to degrade your student. While it may be necessary to deflate his ego or the like I certainly do not ascribe to Chef Ramsay’s methods. However, I believe that he has a track record that has worked for him and for the gluttons of punishment that have gone to work with him.
In this way I find that certain Chefs can illustrate plainly the belief that it is better to be feared than loved. I personally do not believe this. I would much rather have people love and respect me than fear me. Check it out for yourselves and you will see what I am talking about.
The great American jurist Thurgood Marshall once said; “What is the quality of your intent?
Certain people have a way of saying things that shake us at the core. Even when the words do not seem harsh or offensive, the impact is shattering. What we could be experiencing is the intent behind the words. When we intend to do good, we do. When we intend to do harm, it happens. What each of us must come to realize is that our intent always comes through. We cannot sugarcoat the feelings in our heart of hearts. The emotion is the energy that motivates. We cannot ignore what we really want to create. We should be honest and do it the way we feel it. What we owe to ourselves and everyone around is to examine the reasons of our true intent.
My intent will be evident in the results.”
Enough said!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
I have now watched a few episodes with my finger squarely on the fast forward button. I have immense respect for what Chef Ramsay has been able to achieve in his career. Though I find his methods a bit out there and feel that some of them may be created persona for his television audience rather than entirely real. Though some people that I know have encountered him and assure me that he is just as he appears. Again I take it with a grain of salt.
Intensely curious I watched as Chef Ramsay ripped apart his Commis’ for this, that or the other thing. The show is basically him building dishes, teaching his Commis’ with so called celebrity patrons at his restaurant. I strongly recommend watching just one episode so you can see exactly what I am talking about. It is also strange when he is explaining the recipes through a very surreal voice over to music wherein he says one word and then shows the steps. VERY WEIRD. But I guess in this age of instant gratification and limited attention spans he figures that his audience is only capable of paying attention for that long.
I bring this up because I believe that somehow, somewhere, certain Chefs came to believe that the only way to instill greatness in one of their students was through fear and intimidation. That fear, driving the student, to make the teacher happy. I AM NOT FROM THIS SCHOOL OF THOUGHT. I believe that it is completely unnecessary to degrade your student. While it may be necessary to deflate his ego or the like I certainly do not ascribe to Chef Ramsay’s methods. However, I believe that he has a track record that has worked for him and for the gluttons of punishment that have gone to work with him.
In this way I find that certain Chefs can illustrate plainly the belief that it is better to be feared than loved. I personally do not believe this. I would much rather have people love and respect me than fear me. Check it out for yourselves and you will see what I am talking about.
The great American jurist Thurgood Marshall once said; “What is the quality of your intent?
Certain people have a way of saying things that shake us at the core. Even when the words do not seem harsh or offensive, the impact is shattering. What we could be experiencing is the intent behind the words. When we intend to do good, we do. When we intend to do harm, it happens. What each of us must come to realize is that our intent always comes through. We cannot sugarcoat the feelings in our heart of hearts. The emotion is the energy that motivates. We cannot ignore what we really want to create. We should be honest and do it the way we feel it. What we owe to ourselves and everyone around is to examine the reasons of our true intent.
My intent will be evident in the results.”
Enough said!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Smokers Corner (file under Quick Drags, Fags and Garbage)
Chefs and cooks the world over can tell you a similar tale. When it comes time for a cigarette during work there is only one place to go. Relegated really. To the garbage area. As unglamorous as that may sound, in fact, it is a refuge. It is a place where you can go and grab a seat for a quick break from an otherwise hectic day. Surrounded by garbage you sit there and take a moment for quiet contemplation, chat with the kitchen staff and inhale as quick as you can. I’ve got a slow cigarette down to four minutes and a fast one to about two minutes.
I know it sounds crazy that a garbage area can somehow become hallowed or glamorous. But to line cooks, kitchen staff and Chefs the world over it is as beautiful as the most glorious smoking room you have ever seen.
Luis Bunuel once wrote; “If alcohol is queen, then tobacco is her consort. It's a fond companion for all occasions, a loyal friend through fair weather and foul. People smoke to celebrate a happy moment, or to hide a bitter regret. Whether you're alone or with friends, it's a joy for all the senses. What lovelier sight is there than that double row of white cigarettes, lined up like soldiers on parade and wrapped in silver paper? I love to touch the pack in my pocket, open it, savor the feel of the cigarette between my fingers, the paper on my lips, the taste of tobacco on my tongue. I love to watch the flame spurt up, love to watch it come closer and closer, filling me with its warmth.”
But in no way do I advocate people starting smoking. Hypocrite – probably. But that is my demon to battle and someday in order to improve my palate I will quit. For now I just want to cut down. However, being a smoker, as I have, for 22 years, it won’t be easy.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
I know it sounds crazy that a garbage area can somehow become hallowed or glamorous. But to line cooks, kitchen staff and Chefs the world over it is as beautiful as the most glorious smoking room you have ever seen.
Luis Bunuel once wrote; “If alcohol is queen, then tobacco is her consort. It's a fond companion for all occasions, a loyal friend through fair weather and foul. People smoke to celebrate a happy moment, or to hide a bitter regret. Whether you're alone or with friends, it's a joy for all the senses. What lovelier sight is there than that double row of white cigarettes, lined up like soldiers on parade and wrapped in silver paper? I love to touch the pack in my pocket, open it, savor the feel of the cigarette between my fingers, the paper on my lips, the taste of tobacco on my tongue. I love to watch the flame spurt up, love to watch it come closer and closer, filling me with its warmth.”
But in no way do I advocate people starting smoking. Hypocrite – probably. But that is my demon to battle and someday in order to improve my palate I will quit. For now I just want to cut down. However, being a smoker, as I have, for 22 years, it won’t be easy.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
We Show Up (file under the show must go on)
Obviously with C home our social calendar is filling up more rapidly than the loss prevention room at Macy’s during the Christmas season. Of course you need to be able to balance work with play but sometimes you play a little much and have the choice of calling in dead (not really an option) or doing what every other person longing to be a chef does; SHOW UP!
Friday night C and I were at our good friends C and L. I finished work around 9 as we had a four course dinner party for forty which I addressed in the previous post. After work I had a pint of Guinness while I waited for C. We went to our friends place and drank and had an all around good time until around six am. Fortunately I didn’t have to be at work until three but even still though my head was clear my body was revolting a bit. As such I showed up to work early and made myself the best body repair dish I could after a night of debauchery, a grilled vegetable sandwich with Brie on pannini and truffle scented Poutine. SO GOOD! After that I felt like a million bucks.
One by one the brigade started filing in and it became immediately clear that we all had punished ourselves with a great time the night before. When Chef came in he looked like I felt. He, like most Chefs, suffers from sometimes debilitating arthritis and as such was not only hung over but in any extraordinary amount of pain. As such I immediately stepped up to the plate to make sure that everything ran smoothly.
There were only three of us to run the kitchen as Chef worked on paper work. We ended up not being overly busy but still had a lot to do. I ended up with some assistance from the Garde basically working the front line by myself. I did approximately fourteen steaks, a few chicken, six salmon, five penne, three ravioli, a few grilled veg sandwiches and a whole lot more.
Everything was running smoothly up until the last few orders when my eyes started failing me and I was reading the chits wrong. But, as any self respecting Chef would do I found a way to overcome the problem quickly. On two chits I read the order as if there was only one steak and one salmon. In fact there were two. As such, on the fly, and quickly, I had to get a medium salmon and a medium steak out. Almost without thought I seasoned both of them and put them on the grill to mark them. (By the way this is not the preferred method of cooking but it worked). As food had already gone out to the table I had to get this done quickly. After grill marking them I threw them under the salamander and was able to get them out to the table in less than four minutes after discovering my screw up. I apologized profusely to the waiter as it was my fault and not his that I misread the chit.
When I asked for a quality check after getting it out quickly he let me know that they were very happy, said the food tasted great and had no problem with the slight delay in food getting out.
I credit Reservation with giving me the ability to think quickly on my feet. Both Executive Chef and Director of Operations (not to mention A who has been invaluable to my progression) with teaching me that you need to overcome obstacles quickly. By using your head and not loosing your cool. So I thank all three of you for aiding me in overcoming the obstacles I faced last night.
In the end I have to admit that I feel amazing about being able, despite being somewhat hung over, being able to quickly address a problem. The whole night went off exceptionally well minus the two hiccups and I made sure to thank both the front of house and the brigade for their great work.
The night also gave me an extraordinary opportunity to learn. From our mistakes we learn much more than from our successes and the lessons stay with us for a lifetime. When I take the time to analyze where I was when I started this journey and where I am today I have come to realize that not only am I in the right industry, but I can and will achieve my goal.
After shutting down the kitchen I went to the front of house where the owner was. I had taken the time during the day to make a very special egg Nog which we were giving to the staff as a thank you when they were done their shifts. Walking out I felt very good about our week and what we had accomplished. The owner had the bartender pour me a double eggnog and he thanked me for the week. He let me know that we broke his previous sales record, not just broke it, but smashed it. As I pounded my first egg Nog and grabbed the rum to pour myself another, I felt satisfied that Chef and I and the brigade are starting to make a difference. All the more remarkable when you consider that many restaurants are soon going to feel the pinch of tightened pockets and financial restraint.
The great Canadian actress Mary Pickford once said; “If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired? START TODAY!
A la prochaine
SDM
Friday night C and I were at our good friends C and L. I finished work around 9 as we had a four course dinner party for forty which I addressed in the previous post. After work I had a pint of Guinness while I waited for C. We went to our friends place and drank and had an all around good time until around six am. Fortunately I didn’t have to be at work until three but even still though my head was clear my body was revolting a bit. As such I showed up to work early and made myself the best body repair dish I could after a night of debauchery, a grilled vegetable sandwich with Brie on pannini and truffle scented Poutine. SO GOOD! After that I felt like a million bucks.
One by one the brigade started filing in and it became immediately clear that we all had punished ourselves with a great time the night before. When Chef came in he looked like I felt. He, like most Chefs, suffers from sometimes debilitating arthritis and as such was not only hung over but in any extraordinary amount of pain. As such I immediately stepped up to the plate to make sure that everything ran smoothly.
There were only three of us to run the kitchen as Chef worked on paper work. We ended up not being overly busy but still had a lot to do. I ended up with some assistance from the Garde basically working the front line by myself. I did approximately fourteen steaks, a few chicken, six salmon, five penne, three ravioli, a few grilled veg sandwiches and a whole lot more.
Everything was running smoothly up until the last few orders when my eyes started failing me and I was reading the chits wrong. But, as any self respecting Chef would do I found a way to overcome the problem quickly. On two chits I read the order as if there was only one steak and one salmon. In fact there were two. As such, on the fly, and quickly, I had to get a medium salmon and a medium steak out. Almost without thought I seasoned both of them and put them on the grill to mark them. (By the way this is not the preferred method of cooking but it worked). As food had already gone out to the table I had to get this done quickly. After grill marking them I threw them under the salamander and was able to get them out to the table in less than four minutes after discovering my screw up. I apologized profusely to the waiter as it was my fault and not his that I misread the chit.
When I asked for a quality check after getting it out quickly he let me know that they were very happy, said the food tasted great and had no problem with the slight delay in food getting out.
I credit Reservation with giving me the ability to think quickly on my feet. Both Executive Chef and Director of Operations (not to mention A who has been invaluable to my progression) with teaching me that you need to overcome obstacles quickly. By using your head and not loosing your cool. So I thank all three of you for aiding me in overcoming the obstacles I faced last night.
In the end I have to admit that I feel amazing about being able, despite being somewhat hung over, being able to quickly address a problem. The whole night went off exceptionally well minus the two hiccups and I made sure to thank both the front of house and the brigade for their great work.
The night also gave me an extraordinary opportunity to learn. From our mistakes we learn much more than from our successes and the lessons stay with us for a lifetime. When I take the time to analyze where I was when I started this journey and where I am today I have come to realize that not only am I in the right industry, but I can and will achieve my goal.
After shutting down the kitchen I went to the front of house where the owner was. I had taken the time during the day to make a very special egg Nog which we were giving to the staff as a thank you when they were done their shifts. Walking out I felt very good about our week and what we had accomplished. The owner had the bartender pour me a double eggnog and he thanked me for the week. He let me know that we broke his previous sales record, not just broke it, but smashed it. As I pounded my first egg Nog and grabbed the rum to pour myself another, I felt satisfied that Chef and I and the brigade are starting to make a difference. All the more remarkable when you consider that many restaurants are soon going to feel the pinch of tightened pockets and financial restraint.
The great Canadian actress Mary Pickford once said; “If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired? START TODAY!
A la prochaine
SDM
Four Course Dinner Party for Forty (file under differences between current and past reality)
This year I have been a piece in the puzzle of joyful occasions for approximately six or seven thousand people. When I do my yearly roundup in middle January I can give you a more specific number but for the purposes of this post I believe that number will suffice.
At Reservation the function or banquet team had delivering happiness down to a science. L and I worked tirelessly to ensure that we made food look and taste good. We knew without thinking because of the number of functions that we worked how to do things and make the show run smoothly. I have to admit, I kind of miss the well oiled machine that was our function team. We could do functions at Reservation for twenty five as well as we did for six hundred or even double that.
So on Friday night at Without Reservation on top of our regular service we had a four course meal for forty, which incidentally, was going at the height of service, which made it rather interesting.
Simple set up, salad, soup, mains and desert. Salad was either a Caesar or house salad. Soup was a tomato herb. Main choices were steak, chicken or salmon and desert was crème brûlée. Chef and I have had experience doing parties like this and have it down to a second nature.
In order to smoothly run a function there are certain things that must be done in order to ensure that the food is good, the service is good and that it goes well. From our end Chef and I and the brigade knew what we were doing and how to do it. The Front of House well that is a whole different matter.
At Reservation it was a well oiled machine. Everyone knew their respective roles and how to fulfill to the best of our abilities. I feel that at Without Reservation the Front of House staff does not necessarily have much experience with doing parties such as this. And it showed.
To my eye, orders did not go smoothly. The count initially was wrong which adversely affects our ability to put out the right amount of proteins in a timely fashion. Naturally Chef and I were able to deal with it but it is my observation. So rather than having a coherent order sheet we had to three separate times try to figure out the front of house notations and in fact walk them through giving us the information in a meaningful way so that we could do our job. It worked out fine though and just took us a few shakes of the tree to get it right with the front of house. THIS IS NOT CRITICISM, it is OBSERVATION and more over is something that Chef and I will be able to correct going forward based on our experience.
The food we put out looked good, tasted great and was well received by the customer. He and his team will be back which is always a nice feeling. Compliments were sent from the client to the kitchen and I felt pretty good about what we accomplished.
Samuel Johnson once said; “Art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects; and every moment produces something new to him who has quickened his faculties by diligent observation”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
At Reservation the function or banquet team had delivering happiness down to a science. L and I worked tirelessly to ensure that we made food look and taste good. We knew without thinking because of the number of functions that we worked how to do things and make the show run smoothly. I have to admit, I kind of miss the well oiled machine that was our function team. We could do functions at Reservation for twenty five as well as we did for six hundred or even double that.
So on Friday night at Without Reservation on top of our regular service we had a four course meal for forty, which incidentally, was going at the height of service, which made it rather interesting.
Simple set up, salad, soup, mains and desert. Salad was either a Caesar or house salad. Soup was a tomato herb. Main choices were steak, chicken or salmon and desert was crème brûlée. Chef and I have had experience doing parties like this and have it down to a second nature.
In order to smoothly run a function there are certain things that must be done in order to ensure that the food is good, the service is good and that it goes well. From our end Chef and I and the brigade knew what we were doing and how to do it. The Front of House well that is a whole different matter.
At Reservation it was a well oiled machine. Everyone knew their respective roles and how to fulfill to the best of our abilities. I feel that at Without Reservation the Front of House staff does not necessarily have much experience with doing parties such as this. And it showed.
To my eye, orders did not go smoothly. The count initially was wrong which adversely affects our ability to put out the right amount of proteins in a timely fashion. Naturally Chef and I were able to deal with it but it is my observation. So rather than having a coherent order sheet we had to three separate times try to figure out the front of house notations and in fact walk them through giving us the information in a meaningful way so that we could do our job. It worked out fine though and just took us a few shakes of the tree to get it right with the front of house. THIS IS NOT CRITICISM, it is OBSERVATION and more over is something that Chef and I will be able to correct going forward based on our experience.
The food we put out looked good, tasted great and was well received by the customer. He and his team will be back which is always a nice feeling. Compliments were sent from the client to the kitchen and I felt pretty good about what we accomplished.
Samuel Johnson once said; “Art and nature have stores inexhaustible by human intellects; and every moment produces something new to him who has quickened his faculties by diligent observation”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Comment Follow Up from last Post (file under confused)
After a great, though long, day yesterday I received notice that I had a comment from A on my last post. Reading it I was confused. It was as if I had somehow offended him though I can’t think how.
In the last post I spoke about politics and how it affects the kitchen. Feel free to give it a read and let me know if there is anything in it that anyone could possibly be insulting or untoward. I have strived on this blog to be honest about my experience and in fact have even censored myself if something were to happen which was negative. In effect whitewashing certain experiences in order to protect both the guilty and the innocent. As such I am currently confused.
As I have left one restaurant to go to the next I have started writing pieces which are a personally accurate reflection of MY experience. I have begun to look both with a critical but honest eye on how the past year has shaped my life and will continue to shape my life going forward. Thus, if I have offended anyone I apologize, it certainly is not my intent, but further, I need to continue writing pieces, which reflect both my experience and my future.
Oscar Wilde once said; “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” This blog is my mask and I always strive to tell you the truth.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
In the last post I spoke about politics and how it affects the kitchen. Feel free to give it a read and let me know if there is anything in it that anyone could possibly be insulting or untoward. I have strived on this blog to be honest about my experience and in fact have even censored myself if something were to happen which was negative. In effect whitewashing certain experiences in order to protect both the guilty and the innocent. As such I am currently confused.
As I have left one restaurant to go to the next I have started writing pieces which are a personally accurate reflection of MY experience. I have begun to look both with a critical but honest eye on how the past year has shaped my life and will continue to shape my life going forward. Thus, if I have offended anyone I apologize, it certainly is not my intent, but further, I need to continue writing pieces, which reflect both my experience and my future.
Oscar Wilde once said; “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” This blog is my mask and I always strive to tell you the truth.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Politics (file under No, not going back… just considerations)
Machiavelli once wrote; “The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.” How true?
When I was working at Reservation there was a fair amount of politics. The politics that existed between the front of the house and the back of the house. The politics that occurred between the entire front of the house. That of the back of the house. That of suppliers. Customers, etc. Politics abounds everywhere.
One of the things that always occurs to me is that in our society we exist largely in a meritocracy. I say largely because in theory we exist only in a meritocracy. Though both you and I know that this is far from true in any meaningful sense. Although it is a great idea to cling to.
At Reservation, there was an excessive amount of politics. There were those that were the elite and were treated as such. Then there were the plebes and then the slaves. As I look back at it now, though a good experience, I was nothing more than a slave. Please understand that this is nothing more than an observation. I was a willing participant and allowed myself to be taken advantage of. What that says about me is a whole different matter.
Now, at Without Reservation, I am watching as the ugly face of politics is trying to unseat the very real progress that I have made. The disconnect between the front of house and back of house is a little less so than it was at Reservation. However, the politics at Without Reservation seem somehow more vitriolic. More designed to instill pain and suffering and in my opinion it is because of a complete lack of understanding as to how a kitchen runs.
There are always going to be differences between colleagues for any number of reasons that are too many to list here but I am considering each and every one of them. As I am getting older I am able (for perhaps the first time in my life) to remove myself from the rabble rousing and saber rattling. For the most part because engaging in the politics of the workplace does absolutely nothing to help me, to advance my career or to help me get to where I am going. As a point of personal privilege here I would also like to say that I don’t consider what I am doing as a career. I think it is a personal choice that I have made to bring happiness, joy, satisfaction and the like into my life.
My fervent desire is that I see the political issues lesson as time goes forward. My belief is that they probably won’t. However, knowing this arms me with a massive amount of knowledge and leaves me the ability to formulate my next move. A lot like chess or war really. What would Sun Tzu say?
At any rate, as I consider this, I know that I am becoming something closer to what I have always longed to be. And though we are all political animals (in the Animal Farm Napoleon kind of way) I think that my lack of participation in the entanglements of politics is actually making me a better person.
Orwell wrote in Animal Farm; "All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings."
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
When I was working at Reservation there was a fair amount of politics. The politics that existed between the front of the house and the back of the house. The politics that occurred between the entire front of the house. That of the back of the house. That of suppliers. Customers, etc. Politics abounds everywhere.
One of the things that always occurs to me is that in our society we exist largely in a meritocracy. I say largely because in theory we exist only in a meritocracy. Though both you and I know that this is far from true in any meaningful sense. Although it is a great idea to cling to.
At Reservation, there was an excessive amount of politics. There were those that were the elite and were treated as such. Then there were the plebes and then the slaves. As I look back at it now, though a good experience, I was nothing more than a slave. Please understand that this is nothing more than an observation. I was a willing participant and allowed myself to be taken advantage of. What that says about me is a whole different matter.
Now, at Without Reservation, I am watching as the ugly face of politics is trying to unseat the very real progress that I have made. The disconnect between the front of house and back of house is a little less so than it was at Reservation. However, the politics at Without Reservation seem somehow more vitriolic. More designed to instill pain and suffering and in my opinion it is because of a complete lack of understanding as to how a kitchen runs.
There are always going to be differences between colleagues for any number of reasons that are too many to list here but I am considering each and every one of them. As I am getting older I am able (for perhaps the first time in my life) to remove myself from the rabble rousing and saber rattling. For the most part because engaging in the politics of the workplace does absolutely nothing to help me, to advance my career or to help me get to where I am going. As a point of personal privilege here I would also like to say that I don’t consider what I am doing as a career. I think it is a personal choice that I have made to bring happiness, joy, satisfaction and the like into my life.
My fervent desire is that I see the political issues lesson as time goes forward. My belief is that they probably won’t. However, knowing this arms me with a massive amount of knowledge and leaves me the ability to formulate my next move. A lot like chess or war really. What would Sun Tzu say?
At any rate, as I consider this, I know that I am becoming something closer to what I have always longed to be. And though we are all political animals (in the Animal Farm Napoleon kind of way) I think that my lack of participation in the entanglements of politics is actually making me a better person.
Orwell wrote in Animal Farm; "All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings."
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Considerations (file under Life… A work in Progress)
I realize now that I have revealed very little of myself in a historical context. I have given little snippets here and there, but not much else. That is something I will remedy when I get a chance. Probably when I am doing my year in review around the end of January. But I bring this up because I beseech all of you, at the end of each post, asking, are you dreaming big and inspired. Look back and you will see that with the exception of three or four posts I absolutely beseech you to find you. Moreover I also say A la prochaine. This too is something that is indicative of who I am. I mention this because I wanted to share a poem with you that has been running through my mind a lot lately;
Dylan Thomas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas ) wrote “ Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” ;
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I have hit numerous obstacles in my life. And since I was a boy I remember thinking to myself, even as young as thirteen or fourteen, that Thomas was absolutely right when he wrote this piece. I’m sure to each and every one of you reading this the meaning is personal and varied. For me it is a great jumping off point to look at my own personal life considerations, truly a work in progress, and what it is I want to achieve AND I assure you I HAVE NEVER GONE GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT, NOR WILL I.
I am almost thirty four years old. I long for stability and work towards it every day. Mindful that life will almost always certainly throw a curve ball at you here and there. It is not the curve that is important but rather how you deal with it that defines who you are. But I digress.
Currently, I am looking at marriage (January 2010), a potential move to NYC to further my culinary career (and possibly be closer to the love of my life), how I want to get to where I want to go and the list goes on and on. I am considering, as an adult (loath though I may be to find myself becoming one at the tender age of 33) the things that adults consider. I am looking at the past, the opportunities that I have had, have made use of and have screwed up either through my own faults or none at all and what does it all mean. My culinary journey is the result of figuring out for myself that there is much more to life than the pursuit of money, comfort, status and the like. Things I have never been motivated by at all. Instead I find myself defining my meaning through a personal purpose, my own desire, to be honest, to work a hard day and come home fulfilled. I live each day as if I am raging against the dying of the light and to my good fortune the light always seems to return.
So where am I going with all this? What do I do? Do I screw off to Europe for six months next year while C is in NYC? Do I stay on the course that I am on? Continue working the line until I find the next place? How do I create meaningful relationships in a professional sense that are based on mutual respect and esteem (something which has always dogged me)? How do I fulfill my own timeline with respect to where I want to be? This is just a few of the life considerations that I am looking at right now. I guess a part of me is going through the exercise of putting this on paper so that you can ALL see that answers only come to those that ask the questions. Dreams are only realized by those that dare to dream them and have the audacity to work toward their fulfillment. It is not merely enough to state the dream. YOU MUST WORK AT IT!
Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest for the moment. Back shortly with another post.
Charles F. Kettering once said; “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Dylan Thomas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas ) wrote “ Do not go Gentle into that Good Night” ;
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
I have hit numerous obstacles in my life. And since I was a boy I remember thinking to myself, even as young as thirteen or fourteen, that Thomas was absolutely right when he wrote this piece. I’m sure to each and every one of you reading this the meaning is personal and varied. For me it is a great jumping off point to look at my own personal life considerations, truly a work in progress, and what it is I want to achieve AND I assure you I HAVE NEVER GONE GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT, NOR WILL I.
I am almost thirty four years old. I long for stability and work towards it every day. Mindful that life will almost always certainly throw a curve ball at you here and there. It is not the curve that is important but rather how you deal with it that defines who you are. But I digress.
Currently, I am looking at marriage (January 2010), a potential move to NYC to further my culinary career (and possibly be closer to the love of my life), how I want to get to where I want to go and the list goes on and on. I am considering, as an adult (loath though I may be to find myself becoming one at the tender age of 33) the things that adults consider. I am looking at the past, the opportunities that I have had, have made use of and have screwed up either through my own faults or none at all and what does it all mean. My culinary journey is the result of figuring out for myself that there is much more to life than the pursuit of money, comfort, status and the like. Things I have never been motivated by at all. Instead I find myself defining my meaning through a personal purpose, my own desire, to be honest, to work a hard day and come home fulfilled. I live each day as if I am raging against the dying of the light and to my good fortune the light always seems to return.
So where am I going with all this? What do I do? Do I screw off to Europe for six months next year while C is in NYC? Do I stay on the course that I am on? Continue working the line until I find the next place? How do I create meaningful relationships in a professional sense that are based on mutual respect and esteem (something which has always dogged me)? How do I fulfill my own timeline with respect to where I want to be? This is just a few of the life considerations that I am looking at right now. I guess a part of me is going through the exercise of putting this on paper so that you can ALL see that answers only come to those that ask the questions. Dreams are only realized by those that dare to dream them and have the audacity to work toward their fulfillment. It is not merely enough to state the dream. YOU MUST WORK AT IT!
Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest for the moment. Back shortly with another post.
Charles F. Kettering once said; “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Love’s Return (file under I’m in Love)
As many of you may or may not know, the love of my life is currently doing a program at Stella Adler in NYC. Since September she and I have only been in the same place at the same time for five days. It’s been quite a semester for her. I am so proud of C for living her dream. Having the courage, in spite of great difficulty, to spread her wings and soar, in the pursuit of something more. Something that is hers and hers alone. So I just wanted to say congratulations to her and to all of you that have the courage, drive and determination to stick with it even in the face of great obstacles. Her reward, tonight, is a brilliant home cooked meal, by none other than myself of course.
Tonight she is getting a potato leek soup and a goat cheese and leek stuffed chicken in a chive white wine butter sauce. There will of course be wine, laughing and loving. Congrats babe and welcome home, even if only for a while. And, moreover, I could not be more proud of what you have achieved and more abundantly proud for what I have watched you become. Keep growing, keep shining and keep being the you I know you to be.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.”
A la prochaine
SDM
Tonight she is getting a potato leek soup and a goat cheese and leek stuffed chicken in a chive white wine butter sauce. There will of course be wine, laughing and loving. Congrats babe and welcome home, even if only for a while. And, moreover, I could not be more proud of what you have achieved and more abundantly proud for what I have watched you become. Keep growing, keep shining and keep being the you I know you to be.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.”
A la prochaine
SDM
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Trans Fat (file under the winds of change)
We live in a time of massive change on multiple levels. Many have no idea what Trans Fat is and why it is both an issue and important. For a good Trans Fat primer go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat .
I bring this up because I believe that slowly but surely the winds of change are sweeping away the use of Trans Fat, at first voluntarily and now through both consumer demand and regulation. I, as almost every other food provider, am guilty of using Trans Fats in cooking (primarily in the fat fryer) and am proud to let you know that we have no switched over to a Trans Fat reduced product.
As many of you may or may not be aware there is a movement in the United States http://www.bantransfats.com/ to completely ban trans fat, which to my point of view, is a VERY good thing, not to mention necessary. Cities, towns and even states are moving to ban or reduce the level of trans fat in our food, notably, New York City and more recently California. It has come to my attention that the City of Toronto is asking food service providers to voluntarily reduce or completely remove trans fat from menus. A voluntary ban in my experience eventually leads to regulation which requires it. But it is important to note that food giant are paying attention and responding to consumer demands, such as is the case with Kraft Foods (http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/HealthyLiving/Articles/NutritionBasics/TransFatUpdate.html ).
If you check out the two sources that I have provided you will see that this is an issue that is going to become very prominent in the next few years. I feel that the most important thing that we can do as consumers is to be educated so that we can make our own decisions. For me personally I would like to see the use of Trans Fat banned completely as one of the controllable factors of poor health in North America. But you let me know.
The World Health Organization states in “WHO global strategy on diet, physical activity and health: South-East Asia regional consultation meeting report, New Delhi, India, 10- 12 March 2003” that; “Multiple studies have corroborated that trans-fatty acids are probably one of the most dangerous elements in the diet for atherosclerotic risk, as they have a combined effect of increasing LDL cholesterol and decreasing protective HDL. Deep-fried fast foods and baked goods containing hydrogenated fats are major sources."
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
SDM
I bring this up because I believe that slowly but surely the winds of change are sweeping away the use of Trans Fat, at first voluntarily and now through both consumer demand and regulation. I, as almost every other food provider, am guilty of using Trans Fats in cooking (primarily in the fat fryer) and am proud to let you know that we have no switched over to a Trans Fat reduced product.
As many of you may or may not be aware there is a movement in the United States http://www.bantransfats.com/ to completely ban trans fat, which to my point of view, is a VERY good thing, not to mention necessary. Cities, towns and even states are moving to ban or reduce the level of trans fat in our food, notably, New York City and more recently California. It has come to my attention that the City of Toronto is asking food service providers to voluntarily reduce or completely remove trans fat from menus. A voluntary ban in my experience eventually leads to regulation which requires it. But it is important to note that food giant are paying attention and responding to consumer demands, such as is the case with Kraft Foods (http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/HealthyLiving/Articles/NutritionBasics/TransFatUpdate.html ).
If you check out the two sources that I have provided you will see that this is an issue that is going to become very prominent in the next few years. I feel that the most important thing that we can do as consumers is to be educated so that we can make our own decisions. For me personally I would like to see the use of Trans Fat banned completely as one of the controllable factors of poor health in North America. But you let me know.
The World Health Organization states in “WHO global strategy on diet, physical activity and health: South-East Asia regional consultation meeting report, New Delhi, India, 10- 12 March 2003” that; “Multiple studies have corroborated that trans-fatty acids are probably one of the most dangerous elements in the diet for atherosclerotic risk, as they have a combined effect of increasing LDL cholesterol and decreasing protective HDL. Deep-fried fast foods and baked goods containing hydrogenated fats are major sources."
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
SDM
Lament for a Potato (file under Spud Killer)
Only a Mick,
Such as I,
Would hold court,
To lament the fallen spud,
Fallen by my own hand,
Only to reveal,
The potato phoenix,
Reborn into something new and beautiful,
Tasty and bountiful,
In this year passed,
I have been the judge, jury and executioner,
Of too many to count,
And their death,
Most certainly not for not,
As I have transformed their rugged beauty,
Their palette of flavour to reveal,
With delight,
Mash, medallion and fry,
I have taken them to a Zen like state,
From which joy abounds,
For those that receive it.
Only a Mick,
Such as I,
Could possibly lament,
For the potatoes that I have killed,
Only to rebirth them into something more fantastic,
Something more appealing,
Something revealing,
That from one comes another,
And from another comes pleasure divine,
Only a Mick such as I,
Would redefine Ambrosia,
To now become,
The potato and its many uses,
And in its death,
Finding beauty,
I still lament,
As I accept,
My fate and theirs,
To something more.
Only a Mick such as I,
Could take something,
Which once starved an entire population,
Strangling it and forcing the perilous journey across the Atlantic,
To new and wonderful worlds,
And like the potato I now lament,
Onto ever greater things,
The manifest destiny,
Of mash or fry,
Shepherds pie,
And ever more.
Fear not potato,
You have not lived in vain,
For though I lament,
I too celebrate,
Your simple beauty and truth,
And all the joy that you can bring,
As I transform you,
And in so doing,
Become transformed myself.
An old Irish Proverb states; "Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony."
SDM
Such as I,
Would hold court,
To lament the fallen spud,
Fallen by my own hand,
Only to reveal,
The potato phoenix,
Reborn into something new and beautiful,
Tasty and bountiful,
In this year passed,
I have been the judge, jury and executioner,
Of too many to count,
And their death,
Most certainly not for not,
As I have transformed their rugged beauty,
Their palette of flavour to reveal,
With delight,
Mash, medallion and fry,
I have taken them to a Zen like state,
From which joy abounds,
For those that receive it.
Only a Mick,
Such as I,
Could possibly lament,
For the potatoes that I have killed,
Only to rebirth them into something more fantastic,
Something more appealing,
Something revealing,
That from one comes another,
And from another comes pleasure divine,
Only a Mick such as I,
Would redefine Ambrosia,
To now become,
The potato and its many uses,
And in its death,
Finding beauty,
I still lament,
As I accept,
My fate and theirs,
To something more.
Only a Mick such as I,
Could take something,
Which once starved an entire population,
Strangling it and forcing the perilous journey across the Atlantic,
To new and wonderful worlds,
And like the potato I now lament,
Onto ever greater things,
The manifest destiny,
Of mash or fry,
Shepherds pie,
And ever more.
Fear not potato,
You have not lived in vain,
For though I lament,
I too celebrate,
Your simple beauty and truth,
And all the joy that you can bring,
As I transform you,
And in so doing,
Become transformed myself.
An old Irish Proverb states; "Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony."
SDM
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Dishwashing (file under the Art of Getting Clean)
A perpetual problem for Chefs and owners of Restaurants is to find adequate if not good solid help when it comes to the dish pit. At Reservation every once in a while I would be asked (read required) to do some dishes. No big deal as in order to be a Chef you have to be able to do everything in your kitchen. Dishes being an intricate part of what we do it is therefore important for a Chef to lead by example and jump in the pit every once in a while.
Now, the love of my life C, she can tell you that I am not the best cleaner. Or at least I wasn’t. However, since starting my work in the kitchen I have found myself on more than one occasion doing dishes. AND LOTS OF THEM.
When I started at Without Reservation we were without a dishwasher. Chef looked around and asked for a volunteer. Naturally I was more than happy to jump in the pit. That first week I probably spent at least 15 hours doing dishes. I’m quite certain that some of you don’t spend fifteen hours a year washing dishes care of a dishwasher. Well, that’s me. Or at least it is if we don’t have a dishwasher and the job needs to get done.
There is a certain Zen like state that one develops when they are stuck in a dish pit and when no matter how quickly you go there is always another tell tale slap of a plate signifying that more dishes are ready to be done. The Zen like state involved finding your happy place and concentrating on something other than the task at hand. In as much as you can seeing as you had better make sure that the dishes are clean.
I remember being asked whether or not I minded doing dishes and I harkened back to a conversation that Executive Chef and I had had which illuminated the point that I made in the first paragraph. I chuckled to myself as I remembered back to the first dish that I washed this year. I for a moment was lost in that wholesale nostalgia that is usually reserved for some life altering moment like your wedding day or your child’s first day. I started to laugh louder as I realized that in fact the dish pit was the very embodiment in a practical way of the journey that I am on and the things that are required to get there.
Does that mean that I enjoy doing dishes? NOT REMOTELY! However, there are things that we need to do which are the reinforcement of the larger picture. And in my case. As a budding restaurateur it is necessary for me to get my proverbial hands wet. And believe me get wet they do.
So for that first week I spent a lot of time at Without Reservation in the dish pit. Of course I had to perform my line duties too. So not only did I have the caked on smell of doing line work seeping through my pores but I added to that the dish pan hands that plague many a house wife and duteous husband or chore laden child. But I looked at my hands for a moment and realized that every dish I wash brings me one step closer to my reality. A dream that was set in place a long, long time ago in what seems like a lifetime ago in a galaxy far away.
As the days have passed I have found myself in the pit quite regularly. I am not asked to be there. I go of my own volition. I’ve turned it into a kind of learning experience (not to mention humbling). So what am I learning? Good question. I’m learning what sticks to plates. What makes the most mess? Which dishes require a different complexity in cleaning the dishes? I’ve got it down to an art. Another benefit of working the pit is that I can see what comes back. How much was eaten. What was eaten on the plate and what wasn’t? I watch wastefulness as things that are left on the plate just go into the trash.
To the laymen these may seem insignificant. But the margins in restaurants are not nearly what people think they are. As such any knowledge that I can take with me now, making note of, and use in the future enables me to be a better Chef, a better restaurateur but to my view even more importantly, A BETTER HUMAN.
So what is the art? First is to ensure that you get all the dishes wet with the sprayer. Then you take steel wool or a green scrubbie and get off all the offending dirt. Another spray with the hose, both front and back and then into the rack. You send it through the sanitizer and then examine the result for any defects. Repeat as necessary. Stack and put away. SIMPLE!
All these lessons, no matter how seemingly small, are all the cornerstone and building blocks of what will make me successful. What will make me become more than even I had ever hoped. It is that attention to detail, that very act of being willing to do the smallest or grandest job, that will make my dream, all the more fantastic when I get there. And the dish pit is just one example of this.
Paul Carvel once wrote; “He who wants to change the world should already begin by cleaning the dishes.” Interesting quote don’t you think?
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Now, the love of my life C, she can tell you that I am not the best cleaner. Or at least I wasn’t. However, since starting my work in the kitchen I have found myself on more than one occasion doing dishes. AND LOTS OF THEM.
When I started at Without Reservation we were without a dishwasher. Chef looked around and asked for a volunteer. Naturally I was more than happy to jump in the pit. That first week I probably spent at least 15 hours doing dishes. I’m quite certain that some of you don’t spend fifteen hours a year washing dishes care of a dishwasher. Well, that’s me. Or at least it is if we don’t have a dishwasher and the job needs to get done.
There is a certain Zen like state that one develops when they are stuck in a dish pit and when no matter how quickly you go there is always another tell tale slap of a plate signifying that more dishes are ready to be done. The Zen like state involved finding your happy place and concentrating on something other than the task at hand. In as much as you can seeing as you had better make sure that the dishes are clean.
I remember being asked whether or not I minded doing dishes and I harkened back to a conversation that Executive Chef and I had had which illuminated the point that I made in the first paragraph. I chuckled to myself as I remembered back to the first dish that I washed this year. I for a moment was lost in that wholesale nostalgia that is usually reserved for some life altering moment like your wedding day or your child’s first day. I started to laugh louder as I realized that in fact the dish pit was the very embodiment in a practical way of the journey that I am on and the things that are required to get there.
Does that mean that I enjoy doing dishes? NOT REMOTELY! However, there are things that we need to do which are the reinforcement of the larger picture. And in my case. As a budding restaurateur it is necessary for me to get my proverbial hands wet. And believe me get wet they do.
So for that first week I spent a lot of time at Without Reservation in the dish pit. Of course I had to perform my line duties too. So not only did I have the caked on smell of doing line work seeping through my pores but I added to that the dish pan hands that plague many a house wife and duteous husband or chore laden child. But I looked at my hands for a moment and realized that every dish I wash brings me one step closer to my reality. A dream that was set in place a long, long time ago in what seems like a lifetime ago in a galaxy far away.
As the days have passed I have found myself in the pit quite regularly. I am not asked to be there. I go of my own volition. I’ve turned it into a kind of learning experience (not to mention humbling). So what am I learning? Good question. I’m learning what sticks to plates. What makes the most mess? Which dishes require a different complexity in cleaning the dishes? I’ve got it down to an art. Another benefit of working the pit is that I can see what comes back. How much was eaten. What was eaten on the plate and what wasn’t? I watch wastefulness as things that are left on the plate just go into the trash.
To the laymen these may seem insignificant. But the margins in restaurants are not nearly what people think they are. As such any knowledge that I can take with me now, making note of, and use in the future enables me to be a better Chef, a better restaurateur but to my view even more importantly, A BETTER HUMAN.
So what is the art? First is to ensure that you get all the dishes wet with the sprayer. Then you take steel wool or a green scrubbie and get off all the offending dirt. Another spray with the hose, both front and back and then into the rack. You send it through the sanitizer and then examine the result for any defects. Repeat as necessary. Stack and put away. SIMPLE!
All these lessons, no matter how seemingly small, are all the cornerstone and building blocks of what will make me successful. What will make me become more than even I had ever hoped. It is that attention to detail, that very act of being willing to do the smallest or grandest job, that will make my dream, all the more fantastic when I get there. And the dish pit is just one example of this.
Paul Carvel once wrote; “He who wants to change the world should already begin by cleaning the dishes.” Interesting quote don’t you think?
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Monday, December 1, 2008
And some days A follow up to (file under Train Wreck)
As I alluded to the post involving a train wreck some days are just a pain in the ass. Mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It is however how you bounce back from these days that matter. In fact that bouncing back, that perseverance, is what separates those that say from those that do. If I could figure out a way to bottle it I would be a very rich man indeed (though I already am as a result of the love that I share with the most magnificent woman in the world).
The day was horrible. I could do nothing right. NOTHING! I burned stuff. I screwed up prep. My counts were off. My brain was just not in the game. I don’t know why either. It just wasn’t.
However, the very next day was the exact opposite. It was in fact a beautiful day for me as a person and as a dreamer who is on his path. I had decided that I would stay after work so that I could know how to work every station. It is the job of a Chef to not just lead the team but to be able to work any station, at any time and under any circumstance. Though I am not yet a Chef I am trying to hold myself to the same edicts as a Chef would.
I came in early that day and just started working my little tail off. An hour before service I was ready and able to help others with the things that they needed to get done. During service, which was strange, I handled about fifty percent of all the orders that came in. I did so by considering timing, speed and organization. Something that I also have written about lately.
As I have mentioned in numerous posts, in order for the ballet, symphony, or whatever you want to call the kitchen production, timing, organization and speed are mission critical. This is something that I have had a hard time trying to figure out, partially because I am so green (well maybe not so much anymore) in the industry, but also because there are so many variables to consider and my focus up until now has prevented me from being able to follow through to a standard that I would consider proper.
I recall a conversation that I had with Executive Chef and Sous Chef A during the summer at Reservation, which related to my ability on the line. I had asked if I could ever be as good as Sous Chef A on the line and the answer without any hesitation was no. At the time I didn’t know whether to be hurt or to be spurned to action. Well now I don’t have the time to consider who is better. I only have time to consider what can be done. YES CHEF! SORRY CHEF! ANY MOMENT CHEF! 30 SECONDS, etc. For my journey I realize now it is not about the competition between two people that allows one to succeed and the other to only operate at a sub par level. Instead it is the internal dialogue and push that propels me to even greater possibilities.
Again, I feel, though this may be wrong, that when I left Reservation, there may have been the belief that I was going to fall flat on my face. I remember that Sous Chef A and I had a conversation in which eh told me that if I failed at this move that it would adversely impact my ability to live my dream. At the time it scared me. To the point that I second guessed myself. But how is all this relevant to this blog post you all may be asking. Well let me explain…
Timing; When you are working six different dishes with different requirements for lets say two different table, it is absolutely crucial that you, as the line cook, figure out a way to get them all up at the same time. This stems from both organization and the ability to see what needs to be done and to prioritize it. Now I have only been working the line for three weeks and a couple of days. In that scant amount of time I have found my inadequacies and addressed them. I have seen my flaws and started working on them.
Organization; There is no set way to run a station. How I might run a station is going to be entirely different from how my Chef, or my old Executive Chef or even Sous Chef A would run a station. You need to figure out what works for you, in terms of work flow, in terms of reach ability, in terms of maximizing your production with the minimum of movement. This is something, in fact the one thing that I am currently spending a lot of my time on. Someday, truthfully, I hope that I am as good as Sous Chef A on the line. But not from a competitive point of view. Rather for the benefit of what I am trying to achieve and in deed to make our profession better through practiced execution.
I was able that day to figure out how my station worked for me. To the point that I was capable of working not just my station but also Garde. AND also helping with the multiple other stations. It felt wonderful and it caused me to see that I do have not only the drive to do what I am doing but also the ability to conceptualize what it is I need to do. As time goes by I know that I am only going to get better and that is such a rewarding feeling.
I am reminded of a conversation that I had with Director of Operation when he was still Executive Chef after I had dropped a full plate of scallops for a VIP dinner. He looked right at me and said; “Stop brooding. Get over it and move on.” Only after the dinner was complete and I had apologized for making such a mistake did he say to me; “Tomorrow is another day. Start fresh.” This is something that was in my mind the day after my train wreck. And I believe that this belief contributed heavily to my ability to push through and produce a better result. So for that; Thank you Chef! Valuable lesson. Valuable result.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said; “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely...”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
The day was horrible. I could do nothing right. NOTHING! I burned stuff. I screwed up prep. My counts were off. My brain was just not in the game. I don’t know why either. It just wasn’t.
However, the very next day was the exact opposite. It was in fact a beautiful day for me as a person and as a dreamer who is on his path. I had decided that I would stay after work so that I could know how to work every station. It is the job of a Chef to not just lead the team but to be able to work any station, at any time and under any circumstance. Though I am not yet a Chef I am trying to hold myself to the same edicts as a Chef would.
I came in early that day and just started working my little tail off. An hour before service I was ready and able to help others with the things that they needed to get done. During service, which was strange, I handled about fifty percent of all the orders that came in. I did so by considering timing, speed and organization. Something that I also have written about lately.
As I have mentioned in numerous posts, in order for the ballet, symphony, or whatever you want to call the kitchen production, timing, organization and speed are mission critical. This is something that I have had a hard time trying to figure out, partially because I am so green (well maybe not so much anymore) in the industry, but also because there are so many variables to consider and my focus up until now has prevented me from being able to follow through to a standard that I would consider proper.
I recall a conversation that I had with Executive Chef and Sous Chef A during the summer at Reservation, which related to my ability on the line. I had asked if I could ever be as good as Sous Chef A on the line and the answer without any hesitation was no. At the time I didn’t know whether to be hurt or to be spurned to action. Well now I don’t have the time to consider who is better. I only have time to consider what can be done. YES CHEF! SORRY CHEF! ANY MOMENT CHEF! 30 SECONDS, etc. For my journey I realize now it is not about the competition between two people that allows one to succeed and the other to only operate at a sub par level. Instead it is the internal dialogue and push that propels me to even greater possibilities.
Again, I feel, though this may be wrong, that when I left Reservation, there may have been the belief that I was going to fall flat on my face. I remember that Sous Chef A and I had a conversation in which eh told me that if I failed at this move that it would adversely impact my ability to live my dream. At the time it scared me. To the point that I second guessed myself. But how is all this relevant to this blog post you all may be asking. Well let me explain…
Timing; When you are working six different dishes with different requirements for lets say two different table, it is absolutely crucial that you, as the line cook, figure out a way to get them all up at the same time. This stems from both organization and the ability to see what needs to be done and to prioritize it. Now I have only been working the line for three weeks and a couple of days. In that scant amount of time I have found my inadequacies and addressed them. I have seen my flaws and started working on them.
Organization; There is no set way to run a station. How I might run a station is going to be entirely different from how my Chef, or my old Executive Chef or even Sous Chef A would run a station. You need to figure out what works for you, in terms of work flow, in terms of reach ability, in terms of maximizing your production with the minimum of movement. This is something, in fact the one thing that I am currently spending a lot of my time on. Someday, truthfully, I hope that I am as good as Sous Chef A on the line. But not from a competitive point of view. Rather for the benefit of what I am trying to achieve and in deed to make our profession better through practiced execution.
I was able that day to figure out how my station worked for me. To the point that I was capable of working not just my station but also Garde. AND also helping with the multiple other stations. It felt wonderful and it caused me to see that I do have not only the drive to do what I am doing but also the ability to conceptualize what it is I need to do. As time goes by I know that I am only going to get better and that is such a rewarding feeling.
I am reminded of a conversation that I had with Director of Operation when he was still Executive Chef after I had dropped a full plate of scallops for a VIP dinner. He looked right at me and said; “Stop brooding. Get over it and move on.” Only after the dinner was complete and I had apologized for making such a mistake did he say to me; “Tomorrow is another day. Start fresh.” This is something that was in my mind the day after my train wreck. And I believe that this belief contributed heavily to my ability to push through and produce a better result. So for that; Thank you Chef! Valuable lesson. Valuable result.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said; “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely...”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
The Sound of Searing Flesh (file under if you only knew)
Every Chef, in fact I am sure every home cook, to some degree, has experienced the following. I can tell you that you say it is only going to happen once but sometimes you are operating on autopilot (which is both a good and bad thing in the Chef world). The following is the story of my seared flesh and the very real pain that comes from it.
Six pans, I had six pans on the go when I had to run to the fridge in order to get something to fulfill an order. I had three orders of Chicken Penne working on the front burner on a medium to high heat. Running again to the fridge I came back to my pans and realized that I had to jolt the chicken to prevent it from burning. With the items I grabbed from the fridge in one hand I placed my other hand on the pan with the chicken in it and immediately heard that sound all to familiar to Chefs the world over; “sssssssssssssssssssssssss” which is immediately followed by a “Damn it” as I snap my hand back. I look down at the offending hand and see the skin tattooed with the indent of the pan handle on my hand. I look at it for a moment as I curse myself for being so careless as to not have a rag in my hand to toss my pan.
For a moment the searing flesh rings inside your mind as if you have been punched in the throat, head butted and kicked in the nuts all at the same time. If your brave (read stupid) enough to try to sear a pan into your hand sometime you will know that the preceding description is the best possible. Without missing a beat I turned around and grabbed my offending rag (I say offending because it should have warned me with its very existence on my cutting board that I needed it) and tossed the pan. As I plated the offending Penne’s. Three in all. I let out a blood curdling “FUUUUUUUUCCCCCK.” Chef looked at me and asked if I was alright to which I responded that I was fine but was beyond missed off that I had made such a rookie mistake.
It was at this point that my seared flesh started to paint itself on my conscience. I was beyond aware of the pain but found myself working through it. It sucked. As I type this now I just looked down on my hand and saw that although this happened only a few days ago I still bear that ringlet from the pan handle perfectly on my hand. Oh well, a new lifeline as the case was.
When I left work that night I found myself considering how I had let this incident happen. I listed my mistakes and what I could have done differently and came to realize that this is just another stepping stone on the journey that I am on and in as much as it can be avoided. In reality, IT CAN’T BE AVOIDED. I play with fire every day and by doing so that the reality is that some days I am going to get burned. The name of the game then becomes how to prevent it as best as possible. RAG IN HAND AT ALL TIMES as my first Chef had told me is how.
At any rate, we live and we learn. We cut and we burn. All in all it is a valuable experience. Pain is a great teacher. Pleasure is the result as I realize that I am living my dream and that the dream is complete with cuts, burns and scratches. Life goes on.
Lance Armstrong once said; “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”
How true!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Six pans, I had six pans on the go when I had to run to the fridge in order to get something to fulfill an order. I had three orders of Chicken Penne working on the front burner on a medium to high heat. Running again to the fridge I came back to my pans and realized that I had to jolt the chicken to prevent it from burning. With the items I grabbed from the fridge in one hand I placed my other hand on the pan with the chicken in it and immediately heard that sound all to familiar to Chefs the world over; “sssssssssssssssssssssssss” which is immediately followed by a “Damn it” as I snap my hand back. I look down at the offending hand and see the skin tattooed with the indent of the pan handle on my hand. I look at it for a moment as I curse myself for being so careless as to not have a rag in my hand to toss my pan.
For a moment the searing flesh rings inside your mind as if you have been punched in the throat, head butted and kicked in the nuts all at the same time. If your brave (read stupid) enough to try to sear a pan into your hand sometime you will know that the preceding description is the best possible. Without missing a beat I turned around and grabbed my offending rag (I say offending because it should have warned me with its very existence on my cutting board that I needed it) and tossed the pan. As I plated the offending Penne’s. Three in all. I let out a blood curdling “FUUUUUUUUCCCCCK.” Chef looked at me and asked if I was alright to which I responded that I was fine but was beyond missed off that I had made such a rookie mistake.
It was at this point that my seared flesh started to paint itself on my conscience. I was beyond aware of the pain but found myself working through it. It sucked. As I type this now I just looked down on my hand and saw that although this happened only a few days ago I still bear that ringlet from the pan handle perfectly on my hand. Oh well, a new lifeline as the case was.
When I left work that night I found myself considering how I had let this incident happen. I listed my mistakes and what I could have done differently and came to realize that this is just another stepping stone on the journey that I am on and in as much as it can be avoided. In reality, IT CAN’T BE AVOIDED. I play with fire every day and by doing so that the reality is that some days I am going to get burned. The name of the game then becomes how to prevent it as best as possible. RAG IN HAND AT ALL TIMES as my first Chef had told me is how.
At any rate, we live and we learn. We cut and we burn. All in all it is a valuable experience. Pain is a great teacher. Pleasure is the result as I realize that I am living my dream and that the dream is complete with cuts, burns and scratches. Life goes on.
Lance Armstrong once said; “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”
How true!
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
And some days (file under Train Wreck)
They just are. That’s the way it goes sometimes. But tomorrow is another day.
Machiavelli once wrote; “Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.”
Keep on trucking. Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Machiavelli once wrote; “Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.”
Keep on trucking. Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Monday, November 24, 2008
Whats your dream (file under everyone has a dream)
Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens once said; “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.” In my experience I have seen that many people are willing to state their dream but are not willing to take action. You see the dreaming is not enough, you need to be willing and able to act, every day, toward the future that you dream of.
My dream, quite simply, which I have put into action, is to have my fortieth birthday extravaganze in my restaurant. The one which I picture every day in somewhat abstract detail as I move toward its realization. I am guided in my dream by those that share my passion. That are willing to do what it takes to take their own lives to the next level. I am further guided by the love of my life, C, my confidant, best friend, lover and more. She is also one of the predominant reasons that I am living my dream today. I will illustrate.
C is more than just, intelligent, beautiful and charming. She too has a dream and I have always strived to aid her as best I could in the realization of that dream. For a period of weeks or months every year she goes off in pursuit of her dreams and I support her in every way I can. Currently, in pursuit of her dream I have been very lonely, as she is in Manhattan and I am here. But, as we are both living our dream or actively moving toward them it makes it a little easier. Nonetheless it is hard. But with dreams, real dreams, with people willing to take action toward them, it is an honour, and indeed a badge of courage to be able to support someone elses reach for the stars and it makes us stronger in our pursuit both as individuals and as a couple.
So what does my restaurant look like? What will it serve? Who will I be? What shall I become? Well these are all questions that will be answered in the next six years and I hope you are all ready because you have a front seat as spectators and I hope participants in my dream.
This does beg the question. What are you doing to fulfill your dreams?
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Adlin Sinclair once said; “You are the embodiment of the information you choose to accept and act upon. To change your circumstances you need to change your thinking and subsequent actions.”
Steve Jobs once said; “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
So what is your next step?
A la prochaine
SDM
My dream, quite simply, which I have put into action, is to have my fortieth birthday extravaganze in my restaurant. The one which I picture every day in somewhat abstract detail as I move toward its realization. I am guided in my dream by those that share my passion. That are willing to do what it takes to take their own lives to the next level. I am further guided by the love of my life, C, my confidant, best friend, lover and more. She is also one of the predominant reasons that I am living my dream today. I will illustrate.
C is more than just, intelligent, beautiful and charming. She too has a dream and I have always strived to aid her as best I could in the realization of that dream. For a period of weeks or months every year she goes off in pursuit of her dreams and I support her in every way I can. Currently, in pursuit of her dream I have been very lonely, as she is in Manhattan and I am here. But, as we are both living our dream or actively moving toward them it makes it a little easier. Nonetheless it is hard. But with dreams, real dreams, with people willing to take action toward them, it is an honour, and indeed a badge of courage to be able to support someone elses reach for the stars and it makes us stronger in our pursuit both as individuals and as a couple.
So what does my restaurant look like? What will it serve? Who will I be? What shall I become? Well these are all questions that will be answered in the next six years and I hope you are all ready because you have a front seat as spectators and I hope participants in my dream.
This does beg the question. What are you doing to fulfill your dreams?
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
Adlin Sinclair once said; “You are the embodiment of the information you choose to accept and act upon. To change your circumstances you need to change your thinking and subsequent actions.”
Steve Jobs once said; “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
So what is your next step?
A la prochaine
SDM
Speed and Organization (file under settling in quite nicely)
Speed and organization are the name of the game. The perfect choreography of putting things together as quickly as possible, at least as it stands now. And the same is true in Wendy’s as it would have been at Le Cirque. Speed and organization, the latter being the first focus and the first being the secondary result. It takes time in order to learn to organize a station into a workable set up. Currently to set up my station I need to do the following;
Cut and blanche fries
Cut and blanche sweet potato fries
Cut Onions for frizzled onions
Prepare flour and corn starch mixture
Make two different kinds of burgers, one regular and one Kobe
Move proteins down from Protein fridge to line fridge, proteins include;
Kangaroo
Striploin
Prime Rib
Filet
Shrimp
Chicken
Fish for fish special
Slice tomato
Lettuce
Mozzarella Cheese
Grate Parm
Blanche Macaroni, penne and spaghetti
Form and blanche Meatballs
Prepare Tomato Sauce
Make Mac and Cheese Sauce
Portion Lobster
Make bread crumb and Parm mixture
Move Milk and 35% Cream
Cut butter into knobs
Slice jalapenos
Prepare Broccoli
Bok Choi
Snap Peas
Jalapeno Aioli
Chipotle Aioli
Move buns, onion, sesame and onion twists.
Sear Tuna
Cut and prepare root chips (sweet potato and taro)
I’m sure I am forgetting something. It seems rather short a list at the moment but I think that you get the basic idea.
The first step is figuring out the best way to move when you are at high speed. Once you have figured this out you need to figure out a way to organize your fridge and station so that you can optimize your performance during service. Again this is true whether you work at Wendy’s or Le Cirque.
To now I have been working with the system that was given to me. Over the next few days I plan on tweaking the system into one which works for me. Not that the current one does not but I have seen that there are definitely some efficiencies that I can achieve by shifting some of my 9 pan and ¼ pans around as well as playing with the position of certain things in the fridge.
As I play with the positioning this week I will keep you appraised.
I liken what we do a lot to boxing. Truly it is a choreography that requires you to be clear of mind and able to move without really thinking. More acting than reacting.
I am really happy here. I feel that I have been given a chance to spread my wings and fly. I feel that I am a valued member of a team where everyone has a role to play, yet is not entirely defined by that role. I am learning a lot. Some of which has to do with the move to a new restaurant and some which has to do with the practical application of knowledge. The way that a steak reacts to your fingers when you press down against it. The way that you have to train your mind to be ready for anything. The way that a hamburger reacts to resting. The way that things stick to pans if you haven’t applied the right heat to it and let it get hot enough. All things that seem simple but in fact, with the rapid fire tic, tic, tic, tic, tic of the printer. The beautifully incessant noise that summons all cooks to the line, to make someone’s day. There is a very short learning curve on the line. Either you get it or you don’t.
I know that in three months I am going to be really, I stress, REALLY, good on the line. Not that I will be the best I can be (in a futuristic sense) but that I will progress everyday with a smile on my face and know that I am doing exactly what I want to do with my life. Working toward my goal. Which some of you may or may not be clear on. As such my next post will relate to that.
Richard Bach once said; “A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed...It feels an impulsion...this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.”
As such I feel that I am currently the cloud and that my Chef is the sky. Yet I do see the horizon and feel that everyday I am reaching one step closer toward it. Are you? Are you dreaming big and inspired? Are you following your passion? Living the life that you want to live? If not, why? Today is the day to start living for you. To be the you that you know you were born to be. Are you?
A la prochaine
SDM
Cut and blanche fries
Cut and blanche sweet potato fries
Cut Onions for frizzled onions
Prepare flour and corn starch mixture
Make two different kinds of burgers, one regular and one Kobe
Move proteins down from Protein fridge to line fridge, proteins include;
Kangaroo
Striploin
Prime Rib
Filet
Shrimp
Chicken
Fish for fish special
Slice tomato
Lettuce
Mozzarella Cheese
Grate Parm
Blanche Macaroni, penne and spaghetti
Form and blanche Meatballs
Prepare Tomato Sauce
Make Mac and Cheese Sauce
Portion Lobster
Make bread crumb and Parm mixture
Move Milk and 35% Cream
Cut butter into knobs
Slice jalapenos
Prepare Broccoli
Bok Choi
Snap Peas
Jalapeno Aioli
Chipotle Aioli
Move buns, onion, sesame and onion twists.
Sear Tuna
Cut and prepare root chips (sweet potato and taro)
I’m sure I am forgetting something. It seems rather short a list at the moment but I think that you get the basic idea.
The first step is figuring out the best way to move when you are at high speed. Once you have figured this out you need to figure out a way to organize your fridge and station so that you can optimize your performance during service. Again this is true whether you work at Wendy’s or Le Cirque.
To now I have been working with the system that was given to me. Over the next few days I plan on tweaking the system into one which works for me. Not that the current one does not but I have seen that there are definitely some efficiencies that I can achieve by shifting some of my 9 pan and ¼ pans around as well as playing with the position of certain things in the fridge.
As I play with the positioning this week I will keep you appraised.
I liken what we do a lot to boxing. Truly it is a choreography that requires you to be clear of mind and able to move without really thinking. More acting than reacting.
I am really happy here. I feel that I have been given a chance to spread my wings and fly. I feel that I am a valued member of a team where everyone has a role to play, yet is not entirely defined by that role. I am learning a lot. Some of which has to do with the move to a new restaurant and some which has to do with the practical application of knowledge. The way that a steak reacts to your fingers when you press down against it. The way that you have to train your mind to be ready for anything. The way that a hamburger reacts to resting. The way that things stick to pans if you haven’t applied the right heat to it and let it get hot enough. All things that seem simple but in fact, with the rapid fire tic, tic, tic, tic, tic of the printer. The beautifully incessant noise that summons all cooks to the line, to make someone’s day. There is a very short learning curve on the line. Either you get it or you don’t.
I know that in three months I am going to be really, I stress, REALLY, good on the line. Not that I will be the best I can be (in a futuristic sense) but that I will progress everyday with a smile on my face and know that I am doing exactly what I want to do with my life. Working toward my goal. Which some of you may or may not be clear on. As such my next post will relate to that.
Richard Bach once said; “A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed...It feels an impulsion...this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.”
As such I feel that I am currently the cloud and that my Chef is the sky. Yet I do see the horizon and feel that everyday I am reaching one step closer toward it. Are you? Are you dreaming big and inspired? Are you following your passion? Living the life that you want to live? If not, why? Today is the day to start living for you. To be the you that you know you were born to be. Are you?
A la prochaine
SDM
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Printer Chatter (file under BEAUTIFULLY INCESSANT)
So as you all know I have now been at the new job for six days. And in those six days it feels as if I have come a long way and what’s more that I recognize and look forward to even more. It is exciting. Exhilarating. Fun even.
It starts almost with a whisper as the ribbon moves over. Tic. You then know it is coming. The glorious onslaught that is my purpose. My drive. My passion and now my life. My ears ever perked for that tell tale Tic. And then tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. One order in. Chef in his booming voice calls out the order and though he does this I find myself peeking at the printer to see what the order is. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. And now it really is on. Order after order. The beautifully incessant chatter of the printer. Letting me know that yes, we are in the thick of it. And not only that, but the show going on, is one that I can’t believe I had to wait to get to.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Order Penne Primavera, Edamame, Tuna Club, etc. Tic, tic, tic, tic. Two spaghetti and three penne all day. Drop six orders of fries. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Drop six more. Two more Tuna clubs. Add to that another Primavera and it really is show time.
I furrow my brow for a moment. Thinking back in glee for a moment to the summer and the grill. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Alright, now it’s really on. Three more Tuna clubs. A pan fried green. Chef calls out, drop some greens for pan fried. Keep your pans hot he says to me. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Cajun times three. VIP table make it nice.
What a glorious sound as I surrender fully to the tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Watching, listening, acting and reacting to the second most beautiful sound I think I’ve ever heard. The first we certainly can’t talk about here. But I’m sure you can imagine. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. And here it goes again. Constantly chattering. Constantly spitting out duplicate chits for table 1, 65. And then again, over and over and over.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. By the time the rush is over we’ve served about one hundred and sixty people. 30 – 40 percent of which is coming off of my station. I wipe my brow and think to myself how enjoyable it is to have your ass handed to you. Not in the weeds. Just a regular old ass whooping and man is the pain glorious.
Mods are a whole different story. Modifications. The bain of my existence. As we can have any of twelve or thirteen different Mods. If you’re not paying attention it is easy to screw up the order and once you screw up one order you find yourself constantly trying to pull yourself out from it.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic and then nothingness. Seemingly without purpose as the last chit comes up. Coffee. Our first stretch of the day is over. Time for a smoke. Clean the line. And get ready to do it all over again.
I am unable to come up with the words to describe the pain pleasure experience of the line. Pain, when you fall behind, grab a pan without a towel, drop boiling water on yourself. Pleasure, because I am doing exactly what I am meant to do and doing it well. In fact better than expected and all in less than a week.
I do have a lot more way to go. As I said before I learned how to crawl and then walk. Now all I need to do is learn how to run. And I’m sure before long I will be Usain Bolt. Instead of World’s Fastest Man – World’s Fastest Pan.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. OH It’s ON! And I’m ready for the show. Put me in coach I’m ready to play. Full blown agony and ecstasy for a combined total of about three hours a day. And unlike in the summer when I resented the grill trap that I was in. I now relish the pain. Welcome it. In fact. Come in, sit down and let my pain be your pleasure. As so too is my pain my pleasure and my destiny.
I must be a sadist in some way. Because the moment I get home I find myself longing not just for the love of my life, C and a tender embrace but also a good old fashioned beautifully incessant printer chatter ASS KICKING!
Antoine de Saint-Exupery once said; “Commonly, people believe that defeat is characterized by a general bustle and a feverish rush. Bustle and rush are the signs of victory, not of defeat. Victory is a thing of action. It is a house in the act of being built. Every participant in victory sweats and puffs, carrying the stones for the building of the house. But defeat is a thing of weariness, of incoherence, of boredom. And above all of futility.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
It starts almost with a whisper as the ribbon moves over. Tic. You then know it is coming. The glorious onslaught that is my purpose. My drive. My passion and now my life. My ears ever perked for that tell tale Tic. And then tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. One order in. Chef in his booming voice calls out the order and though he does this I find myself peeking at the printer to see what the order is. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. And now it really is on. Order after order. The beautifully incessant chatter of the printer. Letting me know that yes, we are in the thick of it. And not only that, but the show going on, is one that I can’t believe I had to wait to get to.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Order Penne Primavera, Edamame, Tuna Club, etc. Tic, tic, tic, tic. Two spaghetti and three penne all day. Drop six orders of fries. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Drop six more. Two more Tuna clubs. Add to that another Primavera and it really is show time.
I furrow my brow for a moment. Thinking back in glee for a moment to the summer and the grill. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Alright, now it’s really on. Three more Tuna clubs. A pan fried green. Chef calls out, drop some greens for pan fried. Keep your pans hot he says to me. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Cajun times three. VIP table make it nice.
What a glorious sound as I surrender fully to the tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. Watching, listening, acting and reacting to the second most beautiful sound I think I’ve ever heard. The first we certainly can’t talk about here. But I’m sure you can imagine. Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. And here it goes again. Constantly chattering. Constantly spitting out duplicate chits for table 1, 65. And then again, over and over and over.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. By the time the rush is over we’ve served about one hundred and sixty people. 30 – 40 percent of which is coming off of my station. I wipe my brow and think to myself how enjoyable it is to have your ass handed to you. Not in the weeds. Just a regular old ass whooping and man is the pain glorious.
Mods are a whole different story. Modifications. The bain of my existence. As we can have any of twelve or thirteen different Mods. If you’re not paying attention it is easy to screw up the order and once you screw up one order you find yourself constantly trying to pull yourself out from it.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic and then nothingness. Seemingly without purpose as the last chit comes up. Coffee. Our first stretch of the day is over. Time for a smoke. Clean the line. And get ready to do it all over again.
I am unable to come up with the words to describe the pain pleasure experience of the line. Pain, when you fall behind, grab a pan without a towel, drop boiling water on yourself. Pleasure, because I am doing exactly what I am meant to do and doing it well. In fact better than expected and all in less than a week.
I do have a lot more way to go. As I said before I learned how to crawl and then walk. Now all I need to do is learn how to run. And I’m sure before long I will be Usain Bolt. Instead of World’s Fastest Man – World’s Fastest Pan.
Tic, tic, tic, tic, tic. OH It’s ON! And I’m ready for the show. Put me in coach I’m ready to play. Full blown agony and ecstasy for a combined total of about three hours a day. And unlike in the summer when I resented the grill trap that I was in. I now relish the pain. Welcome it. In fact. Come in, sit down and let my pain be your pleasure. As so too is my pain my pleasure and my destiny.
I must be a sadist in some way. Because the moment I get home I find myself longing not just for the love of my life, C and a tender embrace but also a good old fashioned beautifully incessant printer chatter ASS KICKING!
Antoine de Saint-Exupery once said; “Commonly, people believe that defeat is characterized by a general bustle and a feverish rush. Bustle and rush are the signs of victory, not of defeat. Victory is a thing of action. It is a house in the act of being built. Every participant in victory sweats and puffs, carrying the stones for the building of the house. But defeat is a thing of weariness, of incoherence, of boredom. And above all of futility.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
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