So I fired off an email on Friday to L’s acquaintance that had mentioned he was interested in becoming a Chef. As stated in the email I gave him a call when I got home this afternoon. When I did not get him I sent him another email asking him to get in contact with me when he is ready. I will definitely keep you posted on any updates.
So today was Day 13 of 14 before I get a day off. Such is the price of going to NYC and having so much damn fun. But unlike other times in the past when I pulled long stretches without a break I find that I have oodles of energy and am brimming with positivism as I know that every day I am one day closer to my goal.
Saturday was a very interesting day at work. As I may or may not have mentioned my morning partner was off all last week and I was alone. On Saturday my relief came in at 9 am and I pretty much left him to take care of prep and anything else that came up as I wanted to see just how well I could do the line dance. (Not to be confused with line dancing as in cowboy boots).
I have always been someone who looks challenges directly in the eye and then, to the best of my ability, knocked them out of the park. Saturday was no exception. It was a challenge that I needed to give myself in order to grow as a cook. So naturally I got there at my usual about 6:10 am and started about my daily tasks. I’ve taken on starting coffee for the servers and laying out the cutting boards for the Garde Manger as well. It is a little thing but I know that it is appreciated.
It felt great to challenge myself on Saturday. I mean really great. I managed to Tango, Salsa, Pirouette, Meringue and Waltz all at the same time. At one point I had four omelettes, eight or nine orders of eggs either over easy, over hard or Sunnyside up and about five orders of Eggs Benedict, Florentine or Benjamin all going at the same time. My body with attention to detail moved gracefully from one side of the line to the other, almost as if I was on skates, sliding down the line, dropping the plates, putting on the various components, turning around and tending to the eggs and then right back to the plates and their various presentations. It was the first time that I had intentionally put myself in the weeds to see if I could pull myself out. I could have at any point called for help and it would have been there in two seconds flat. But I refused to, I wanted to put pressure on myself, I wanted to see how fast I could turn around chits, I wanted to see if I could ensure that the food did not suffer and that I still got it out in a timely fashion. Feel good? DAMN RIGHT! It was a personal victory which revealed to me that I could handle the various stresses in a high paced environment without losing my head or my chits. I am extremely thrilled to report that I was able to turn around orders in as little as three minutes and my longest took twelve when I was getting severely slammed.
Of course because the club is all about making sure the members are always happy you can get breakfast any time of the day. This presents a certain set of challenges when you approach lunchtime. Again because you could get three or four orders on a chit, one for breakfast and the rest for lunch. Organization and timing becoming your paramount concern next to ensuring that the food tastes and LOOKS good. As 12:30 passed I was busy. I had about twelve chits up and I would say it was thirty percent breakfast and the rest lunch. Every time I got that many chits, M would ask if I was okay. I assured him I was and just continued doing what I was doing.
By the end of my shift I had worked about one hundred and forty chits which amounted to about four hundred different orders with (approximately) nine hundred different components. Did it feel good? DAMN RIGHT!
I thought back to Reservation and my experience on the grill and thought how I believe I could pull myself out now without much assistance. Yet I began to wonder why I was left to essentially hang. My relief never came as quickly as it could have and only now do I find myself wondering why in any substantial way. Was it part of the process? Was it some design that I still am unclear on? Or was it something else? I believe as I go forward I will be able to answer that question better. But nonetheless it felt pretty good to wonder about.
I am finding that I am not sleeping well. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am currently alone in my place. No roommate and no C. That will change when C gets here in less than a month. However, I also think it is because I have so much on my brain. I am constantly thinking about food, about new concepts, new dishes, new techniques and all of it with an eye to making the best food I possibly can.
All in all I am thrilled. Absolutely thrilled with my decision. I have found a place that I can call home for a while and continue to test my dishes and techniques. All with an eye to the future but maintaining quality and consistency in the present.
This post caused me to think of two quotes. One from William Faulkner; “People need trouble -- a little frustration to sharpen the spirit on, toughen it. Artists do; I don't mean you need to live in a rat hole or gutter, but you have to learn fortitude, endurance. Only vegetables are happy.”
The other from John Heywood; “If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired? WHY NOT! I’m here for you anytime. Just let me know what I can do.
A la prochaine
SDM
Showing posts with label In The Weeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In The Weeds. Show all posts
Monday, May 11, 2009
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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
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
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