A F&^$%ing Spring roll?

My day started off, well, less than stellar. I’ve been missing my C and haven’t really been sleeping much. I rarely do when she’s gone but when I do I really sleep. At any rate last night I could only sleep for about two hours and I had a horrible dream so it was a rather restless sleep.

Our sweet car Delia is on the frits as well. So due to the comparatively small amount of snow that fell last night of course the entire city becomes paralyzed. What should take me no more than an hour and a few minutes to get to work took me almost two hours and fifteen minutes give or take. Naturally I took this as a sign of things to come but as I am living my dream I just kept smiling, reading my book and sending all the warmth and love I could towards NYC for my baby.

Arriving at work I poured a coffee which a few minutes later was spilled all over the cutting table by L. Another sign. So I tended to the stock, skimmed it and then started working on juliennning some onions, mandolining some carrots and mixing some noodles. Then L showed me how to roll a spring roll. It seems easy enough. Though I do recall that one of the few things that I’ve never been able to grasp when cooking at home is how to roll spring rolls. Is it because I’m left handed? Who knows? Anyway, I spent a while trying to roll these things and after an extended period of time did not give up but rather acknowledged that I was wasting time on a day that there was so much to do. I think that L was a little perturbed at first but after a while he realized that I was just getting frustrated.

A F&^$%ing Spring roll? I couldn’t roll a spring roll? For quite a while it adversely affected my day. Until I realized I also couldn’t brunoise a little over three weeks ago. I will get it. Anything I put my mind to.

I then moved on to fish and chips. Things went dramatically better there though I did knick my finger two more times. (Read two C… weird huh?) I then went to get an insert and banged my leg. Frustration was clearly on my face and so the Pastry Chef (J) looked at me and just said; “Hey take a deep breath” and then shot me one of those knowing smiles. I get the feeling that everyone has days like that in the kitchen. Today just happened to be my day.

Though after that everything got much better. We prepped a lot for Valentines Day which is going to be quite the feast (Don’t worry Babe, you and I will have our very own private feast when you get back. Think Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast). At any rate then we had a function for seventy people that I was helping L prepare the plates for. I’ve gotten a little better at plating. I know that over time I will get much better. But it went pretty smoothly. I was feeling quite a bit better by now.

At this point I was multi tasking and doing several things at once. Earlier I had prepped some mushrooms for risotto and of course did some fries for service. Easy tasks but enough to make me feel good. But by this point I was doing the plating, vac packing things and making a sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese filling for chicken for Valentines Day dinner. A had asked for a certain consistency and didn’t give me a recipe. He really just said Goat Cheese, Sun dried, A little cream and seasoning. I added some garlic to it and seasoned it the way that I thought it tasted good. One of the managers was walking by S and I asked her to taste it. Her exact words were; “That is awesome. What’s that for?” I told and her and went about my way.

Exec Chef also tasted it after it had all but a very minute amount been piped into the chicken. He too thought it was good. So my day ended much better than it started.

As I’ve said many times. I really enjoy the way that Exec Chef and Head Chef operate. A couple of times over the last week I’ve seen Exec Chef bring some people into the kitchen to demonstrate a certain piece of equipment we have. (I have another story about another piece of equipment we have relating to the big 800 person function that we did but I am going to wait until the next time we use it). Exec Chef is a not only our Executive Chef but he is also a Corporate Executive Chef for Garland (http://www.garlandcanada.ca/) A major player in the food service industry. He does all kinds of things for them which I found very interesting.

At any rate, today he had a couple come in so he could demonstrate this machine. As I was quartering the mushrooms I listened intently as he demonstrated it with tenderloin and a piece of fish. He speaks with such passion, such enthusiasm, clearly, directly and purposefully. I hope that one day I can speak the same way. It is clear through the way that he speaks he knows his stuff and that he is not some used car salesman. In fact not a salesman at all. Quite simply a man with the knowledge, know how and wherewithal to show people so they readily understand something. In the exact same fashion as he treats me when teaching me something. It is truly inspiring to have a mentor like him and Head Chef. I feel truly blessed but also the pressure of having to make sure that I live up to their expectations.

I also got to have a cigarette with someone else I work closely with who is usually in the other kitchen during service. S is a great guy. He knows his stuff and like me has no formal training. He let me know (as have numerous there now) that I will do just fine. He even said that he can see my progression and that by summer I will be well on my way to being able to navigate the things that seem difficult now. Everything with time and experience. It seems like an unspoken mantra at Reservation. Time and Experience people. The kitchen is a great metaphor for life on countless levels.

On that note; Robert Burton once said; “Cookery has become a noble art, a noble science; cooks are gentlemen.” Not only are Head Chef and Exec Chef gentlemen, their spirit ennoble those around them and make them better people. I hope you all have someone like that in your lives.

My day truly started in the weeds today but ended up making me feel empowered. I hope you all feel empowered and have an inspired tomorrow.

A la prochaine

SDM