Struggles with Past Lives (file under its all a trip)

Yesterday was a GREAT day off. I spent the morning writing a blog post or two and then rollerbladed about 30 to 40 kilometers and it felt great. I am absolutely loving having my blades back. It is such great exercise and a great method of transportation.

I also spent some of the morning doing some menu planning and special design. I am doing that again today. Moreover, I got another question about a dinner party for two from my friend Canadian Foodie Girl which I will post at some point today. She emailed me on facebook but any of you can email me at askachefintraining@gmail.com

I also got to see my father yesterday. Something which has happened pretty infrequently over the past couple of years because of the amount of time that I work. Which as you all know is quite a bit. We started off amicably enough but then it degenerated, for some reason, I am yet to figure out, into a typical family struggle. We all have them. I’m sorry it happened because the more I get older the more I realize that there is no need for the struggle. Measured dialogue and thoughtful responses can always overcome any issue.

But like everything else in my life I have come to realize that I can fixate on the issue or treat it as an isolated incident. I’d rather focus on the positive in life. Especially that I have started to act as a more responsible and mature adult. Aghast, I never wanted to be an adult, always more of the Peter Pan type if you know what I mean. I is what I is as the old expression goes.

Also, the other day, I took some pictures on the way to work so that you all could experience the same beautiful vista that I get on the way to work and back. I hope to take pictures of the kitchen tomorrow when I’m back at work. That reminded me to send Executive Chef an email to ask him which I just did.

So without further ado, my morning and afternoon vistas, for your enjoyment. I absolutely love going to work so early in the morning. The city is not yet alive in the way it will be in two short hours. I use to think that I was a night owl, but now I am wondering, is it possible to be an all day everyday person?




I will be writing a few more posts today. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, with regard to the Vietnam War (and Mos Def then did a song about it); “We must move past indecision to action. Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response.”

Are you dreaming big and inspired?

A la prochaine

SDM

There’s Something to be Said (file under PURE Joy)

Goethe seems to be my guy these days. He once said; “Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own.” This quote seems to be the greatest explanation of the reawakening that I am having right now.

As a cook it is true that my greatest happiness and joy is the result of others pleasure. Some might even say that my ultimate purpose now is to revel in the pleasure that others receive from my actions. And that, to me, is both thrilling and a massive responsibility. It means that I need to forgo my emotions and feelings in order to ensure the pleasure of my patrons. That in order for me to increase their pleasure I need to allow myself to leave the outside world at the door when I get to work, leave the outside there and concentrate, in the moment, to making the best possible dish that I can. If I do this, I am certain, that I have contributed to someone else’s pleasure which thus ensures my happiness.

As I am rollerblading to work these days I have a lot of time while pushing my body to push my mind and these are some of the thoughts (outline above) that have been running through my mind. Does that sound silly to you?

I love waking up in the morning. Alive, I roll out of bed, and start the process of my day. Vitamins, shower, dress, blades on and out the door. Arrive at work, get changed, punch in, start the set up for my stations and then prep for the day. This includes, as you are all aware, creating the next days specials.

As well today I did two smoothies again and they both were delicious. So much so that I ended up making enough for about twelve people. Calls of yum and ooh and ahhs could be heard throughout the building and all I could do was smile. It would seem that Health in a Glass is making a come back and I think that I might actually start recording all the smoothie recipes too and put out a book of those someday.

Yesterdays specials went very well. Which is above all, supremely satisfying to me. Even my coworkers have noticed how I relish in creating a great special. While I was at work today we sold about four of my pizza specials and three of the pasta. AND it was relatively slow. I am sure that tonight they will sell out of the special.

Today’s specials that I created are a grilled Portobello mushroom, artichoke hearts and crispy double smoked bacon. The pasta is a seafood Carbonara with scallops, crab, shrimp and double smoked bacon. DELICIOUS.

In case any of you could not tell, creating these specials is one of my greatest joys. I get to use the freshest ingredients and can do anything I want. I am building a repertoire of dishes that are distinctly me. And I have started a recipe book. Which at this rate should be pretty full by the end of the summer. Can any one say self publish?

Not only that but I shaved another five minutes off my return trip. Not so bad if you ask me. I think that within a few weeks, perhaps a month, I should be able to get to work in fifteen minutes and back in about twenty. We’ll see and I will keep you posted.

At any rate, Happy Easter or Passover every one. I hope that you feel the same blessings and joy in your lives that I do. It really is a matter of choice you know.

Confucius once said; “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

A la prochaine

SDM

In that Vain (file under How’s that working out for you)

As I mentioned before I started at The Club, I went out and bought myself a treat, Rollerblades. I did this for two reasons; One, I haven’t had a pair in years and I’m certain that anyone that knows me well can attest that at some point between the ages of twelve and twenty four that they believed my feet were in fact Rollerblades. The other reason is that I am currently saving up for C and I’s wedding and it made sense to me that I spend two months of travel up front so that I could spend that money saved on the wedding.

As it turns out I live about 8 kms away from work. A big change from the twenty that I used to. Which would take between an hour and an hour and half of travel. To get to work this morning took approximately twenty minutes. A five minute improvement from my first time getting there on my blades. Most of it is on a downgrade on the way there so it is pretty easy. On the way back it takes me about double the time because of wind and going up grade.

I have already felt the reward of my body being back on blades. There is a bigger spring in my step and certainly in my spirit. It is my goal to be as fit as I was at 16 by the time of our wedding. This has included doing sit ups and pushups and now cardio with the Rollerblading to work.

It feels good. Damn good. Have you treated yourself to something recently that makes you feel as good?

Buddha once said; “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”

Are you dreaming big and inspired?

A la prochaine

SDM

First Day (file under AWESOME)

Shakespeare once wrote; “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” I awoke early, before the alarm (which is happening more and more often these days) and I was excited at the prospect of starting a new job. One which would allow me to my own self to be true.

The plan had been for me to rollerblade to work. Of course Mother Nature had a different plan. I have to admit that it is much easier to wake up when it is warm out as opposed to when it is cold. But nonetheless, waking up, I strolled to the shower and took a nice long shower. While in the shower I became aware of a change that had happened in me sometime in the past few months. For some reason a sense of personal urgency had developed with regard to my direction, where I was going and how I was getting there. This thought stayed with me as I grabbed my Tim’s and waited for the bus.

Usually I would have a soundtrack for my life playing on my Ipod but alas I left it in my brothers’ car and haven’t had it for a couple of weeks. Instead I played a game with myself while reading the paper, imagining what that soundtrack might be on this day. A new day. A new job. A new beginning.

The trip was short to the club. Maybe twenty five minutes in total. Including a walk which lasted four or five minutes as I walked at a good clip due to the freezing rain that was trying to come down on my parade. To no avail though as I arrived at around 6:16 am to start anew. FRESH!

My colleague was waiting for me at the Front entrance to walk me through a “training day.” We were the only ones in the kitchen at this early hour. He walked me through the various start up requirements and how to frame the day before starting in on work.

Fill the blanching pots. Light the stoves, start the fryers, the grill, the convection ovens and the flat top. Fill the hot line water and the cool line with ice. Utensils on station and then check the stock of each of the station fridges to ensure that we were ready to go. Make sure to remember to put the muffins, bacon and sausages in the convection. The whole start up ritual took perhaps twenty minutes. Then off to the walk ins to figure out what prep needed to get done.

Monday is a pretty quiet day at The Club. With most of the prep trying to stay at least a day ahead. My coworker asked if I felt like doing any specials for today. Sure I said and proceeded to do the mise en place for a Pesto Margarita Pizza and a Sun Dried Tomato Ravioli with a Sun Dried Tomato Pesto. They were the first things to come to mind and I didn’t want to rock the boat.

The ability to create specials from the finest ingredients that can be found is relatively easy with a bit of knowledge and creativity. But it did cause me to think that I need to get a new notebook to start recording both my ideas and the realities of the specials I will help to create each day.

It was a slow day. I think total we had about twenty orders. But there were other things I could do; walk around and get my bearings. Get a feel for what was in the walk ins, dry stores, etc. To figure out what the work ethic was, what was expected, etc.

My day finished around 2:30 pm. I was home by 3:10 and started thinking about the day that had just passed.

What I realized is that I am being given an opportunity to start fresh. To become part of a team. To work on the things that I know personally I need to. I am joining a team that cares about what they do, for the most part, and are happy to come to work every day.

This job means a lot to me. First off, though there is a lot of work in a kitchen, I feel it important to say, that I don’t really look at it like it’s a job. For me it is a passion which burns bright and deeply. At The Club, I will have the opportunity to grow and learn. To work my way up from the “bottom” and bear witness to my own progression each day.

I don’t want to write too much on an abstract level about yesterday. But for me, a lot of it was abstract. I could see the commitment that I had made was a good one and that this is exactly the environment that I need to be in right now. And that feels good.

Naturally there are a slew of operational things that I realized during my day yesterday. None of which I will bore you with here. But it is a completely different environment than any I have been in to date. Excited, I know that the coming days, weeks, months are going to be filled with purpose, joy and meaning. I am grateful for the opportunity and plan to incorporate all of the things that I have learned so far in a meaningful way to my own progression.

I purposely did not write over the weekend because I wanted this to be my 300th post. How Spartan of me? And yet in my mind, it made sense, that my 300th post would be this one, which heralded a new day, a great opportunity and my souls smile.

Goethe once said; “The day is committed to error and floundering; success and achievement are matters of long range”

Are you dreaming big and inspired?

A la prochaine

SDM

Starting from Scratch (file under New Beginnings)

So again my friends, here I stand on the precipice of something new, wonderful and exciting. One of my favorite authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote; “Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.”

It has been one year, two months and eighteen days since I started this wonderful journey that I am on. I have worked in two different kitchens which have given me a good foundation from which to build. And now I find myself in the enviable position of starting anew in a great kitchen, where, with the knowledge I have gained, I know I need to stay and grow organically to best achieve the result I want. I am grateful to both Reservation and Without Reservation for giving me the opportunity to work with them, to learn and to grow. Each has a place in my heart and in my tale.

Today, I am readying myself for the new job at The Club which starts tomorrow. I had a meeting with Executive Chef and the Sous Chef that I will be working under on Thursday. Rather than writing about it immediately I wanted it all to sink in before I wrote a commentary.

To prepare for the meeting I went out and bought myself a treat! It is my intent (and I have been working on It for about a month now) to make sure that I am in great health for my wedding. I have started doing push ups and sit ups and have now added to my regiment by buying myself a pair of rollerblades to get to and from work. Excited doesn’t even begin to cover it.

The meeting went extremely well. I filled out some paper work and got a great tour of the facilities. Being introduced to the Sous Chef that I am to work under I was kind of shocked at his lack of animation. Here he was responsible for the inner working of a sizable kitchen and he exhibited the same kind of Zen like calm that Director of Operations did at Reservation. It was something that caused me to start thinking. I will expound on my thoughts later.

I became excited to be joining the team even before the meeting but after it I was thrilled. I am being paid a fair wage, am entering an environment which is extremely stable, where I can learn everyday, where I am part of a team, which will guarantee that I get a minimum of eighty hours per pay period, which leaves me with time in my day to do the many things that I do outside of the kitchen which are part of my learning experience. These are just some of the great things, what’s more, BENEFITS, they will pay for courses that I choose to take which I get a 75% or higher mark in. They reward attendance and promote from within. Do you get that I am a little excited?

I have a game plan for my time at The Club. I know what I need to do. I know what I need to be and Zen like is going to play a big part in it. I have learned valuable lessons from my experiences in the kitchen and plan on putting all of them to use in my new position. Officially I am First Cook and man is that exciting.

I know that I have found myself a place where I can learn and grow which nullifies some of the concerns that I have had to date. I look forward to becoming a member of the team and putting into action everything that I have learned in the past year and three months.

So the ride is going to get a little more interesting for me. And thus, for you.

Dante Alighieri once wrote; “Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.”

It has become time for me to release the sometimes brutish nature of my own existence in order to become a better man, a better son, a better brother, a better lover, a better friend and a better member of humanity. I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead and recognize the opportunity in each and every one of them.

Are you dreaming big and inspired?

A la prochaine

SDM