So as you can tell I am so busy these days. I haven’t even been able to write my daily poems on butcher paper. From the moment I walk in to the moment I leave it is a non stop roller coaster ride of majestic proportions on the dream train of my life.
As I was yesterday I am currently trying to convince my fingers to type faster, to convince the universe to give me just one more hour in the day and my body to not succumb to its fervent desire to drop dead and sleep for three days straight. Adrenaline, coffee, cigarettes and PASSION are keeping me going but ALWAYS with a smile on my face because I can see clearly where I am going and how I am getting there.
This past weekend was INSANE. I have never worked so hard in my life. First off I figured out how to set up the grill properly, as I mentioned last week, it enables a more perfect workflow. Organization and speed are the name of the game when I am on the grill.
If you are not organized properly you will be in the shits from the second you open until the second you close. I know that many of you may think that I am just slinging burgers and that I even make the joke about McDonald’s but ultimately what I am doing at the grill is no different than what they do at Reservation. I am performing a food service that requires speed, accuracy and attention to detail. Currently I am planning a more perfect execution of my organization, attempting to figure out a better way to do what I am doing so that when I get into the shits I can pull myself out.
Speed is just as it suggests. I broke the record on the Grill on Saturday. We were part of the Luminato festival and the One City/ One Table celebration. As such we had approximately 60,000 people on site over the weekend. When you have that many people you have to plan ahead, be organized and execute with speed and accuracy.
I did (with only fifty minutes of total help) over six hundred orders all on my own. SIX HUNDRED. I did not go to the bathroom from 12 in the afternoon until 10:36 pm and had absolutely no break. At one point I almost fainted because the sun was kicking my ass and found myself sitting on the ground for two minutes trying to get myself back into the swing.
I get conflicting advice from people as to the way I run the grill. Chef J says that I shouldn’t speak to the customer at all and essentially he suggests that I should just be a robot and serve. However, I think (most respectfully) that he is wrong. I serve the way that I live; I am charming, passionate, caring and considerate. I interact with the customer for two reasons, one it leaves them with a great feeling inside and two because while I am interacting with them they don’t mind that they are having to wait a few extra minutes for what they’ve ordered.
As I’ve explained before I only have one fryer and that as a result it slows my progress in orders. If you have an order for eight chicken fingers you have to make 32 chicken fingers and eight orders of fries. Well in a small fryer that doesn’t keep temperature outside it is not as easy as you would think. I let the customers know that it may take ten minutes. Some leave and say they will be back; others stand there and wait. So as I’m taking orders and making orders I talk to people. Ask how their day has been, etc. It seems to keep the beast at bay if you know what I mean.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Should I be a robot or should I be me? I would LOVE TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS!
So this is as far as my little fingers will take me today. I have to run to work and had to type as fast as I could just to get this out. I will try to get the rest of Saturday out tomorrow morning.
Calvin Coolidge once said; “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”
Be Inspired and DREAM BIG!
A la prochaine
SDM
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Agony and The Ecstasy (file under have to kick it up a notch)
Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope this finds you all well…
As you can tell from my lack of blog posts I have been extremely busy. In fact I am currently trying to convince my fingers to type a little faster so that I can post here just a tease of what is to come when I have some time to write which I believe will be either Friday night, Saturday morning or Sunday.
The things that I will be writing about include and this is as much for my reminder as it is to tease you;
Breaking the record on the grill (having served over six hundred chits in one day with only fifty minutes help, one bathroom break and a pretty big mistake I made)
Having an awesome chat with Executive Chef about me, what I’m doing and where I’m going
Having a horrible chat with Head Chef in which I was reduced, shattered and felt like a complete asshole.
And finally a post will be forthcoming about my thoughts on food, my restaurant and why I love every minute of the agony and the ecstasy.
I apologize for not having the time to write. But I can assure you that the posts that are coming are top notch and will have you both in stitches and tears.
We cooks are by our very nature go go go. The past couple of weeks has seen me have no day off, work at least twelve to sixteen hours a day, shuffle between the agony and the ecstasy and fighting an enormous amount of pain BUT I would not change what I am doing or who I am doing it for.
I AM GOING PLACES, one step at a time and with a humbled heart.
Are you living your dream? Can you say that you know the agony and the ecstasy? Find it? Live it? Go and become what you always wanted because when you get to your deathbed the only person you have to blame for not living the life you wanted to is YOURSELF.
A long time ago my mother exposed my sister to Virginia Satir (and I think I was probably 11 or 12) and for some reason today I feel as if it is appropriate to share it with all of you;
In all the world,
there is no one else exactly like me -
everything that comes out of me is authentically mine,
because I alone choose it - I own everything about me - my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions,
whether they be to others or to myself -
I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears -
I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me - by so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts -
I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me,
and other aspects that I do not know -
but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself,
I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me -
However I look and sound, whatever I say and do,
and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me - If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought and felt turned out to be unfitting, I can discard that which I feel is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded -
I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do.
I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive,
and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me -
I own me, and therefore I can engineer me -
I am me &
I AM OKAY
by Virginia Satir
With that I bid you well on your own journey and promise that I will have you in laughter and tears when I get to write the next posts.
Sam Walton (YES THE WALMART WALTON) once said; “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.”
Believe in yourself everyone… BE INSPIRED AND DREAM BIG!
A la prochaine
SDM
As you can tell from my lack of blog posts I have been extremely busy. In fact I am currently trying to convince my fingers to type a little faster so that I can post here just a tease of what is to come when I have some time to write which I believe will be either Friday night, Saturday morning or Sunday.
The things that I will be writing about include and this is as much for my reminder as it is to tease you;
Breaking the record on the grill (having served over six hundred chits in one day with only fifty minutes help, one bathroom break and a pretty big mistake I made)
Having an awesome chat with Executive Chef about me, what I’m doing and where I’m going
Having a horrible chat with Head Chef in which I was reduced, shattered and felt like a complete asshole.
And finally a post will be forthcoming about my thoughts on food, my restaurant and why I love every minute of the agony and the ecstasy.
I apologize for not having the time to write. But I can assure you that the posts that are coming are top notch and will have you both in stitches and tears.
We cooks are by our very nature go go go. The past couple of weeks has seen me have no day off, work at least twelve to sixteen hours a day, shuffle between the agony and the ecstasy and fighting an enormous amount of pain BUT I would not change what I am doing or who I am doing it for.
I AM GOING PLACES, one step at a time and with a humbled heart.
Are you living your dream? Can you say that you know the agony and the ecstasy? Find it? Live it? Go and become what you always wanted because when you get to your deathbed the only person you have to blame for not living the life you wanted to is YOURSELF.
A long time ago my mother exposed my sister to Virginia Satir (and I think I was probably 11 or 12) and for some reason today I feel as if it is appropriate to share it with all of you;
In all the world,
there is no one else exactly like me -
everything that comes out of me is authentically mine,
because I alone choose it - I own everything about me - my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions,
whether they be to others or to myself -
I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears -
I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me - by so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts -
I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me,
and other aspects that I do not know -
but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself,
I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me -
However I look and sound, whatever I say and do,
and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me - If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought and felt turned out to be unfitting, I can discard that which I feel is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded -
I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do.
I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive,
and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me -
I own me, and therefore I can engineer me -
I am me &
I AM OKAY
by Virginia Satir
With that I bid you well on your own journey and promise that I will have you in laughter and tears when I get to write the next posts.
Sam Walton (YES THE WALMART WALTON) once said; “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.”
Believe in yourself everyone… BE INSPIRED AND DREAM BIG!
A la prochaine
SDM
Thursday, June 12, 2008
In Laws, The Weekend and Advice (file under yes, yes and yes)
So C's parents are in town this weekend and of course I am going to be busy, busy and busy. But hey this is the life that I have chosen and I am thrilled to be living my dream. This weekend I feel as if I know how to run the grill (my station on the patio) and will have great success in doing so as I did last week.
Last night, A and I had a chat which included Thomas Keller, Roland Henin, how to truss a chicken and where I am going. He feels that I will get there and even told me that he thinks that I pick things up quickly and that when he looks at how they had to bail me out the first weekend and then seeing how I operated the next that if I can continue doing that throughout my career I will be very successful as I am a quick study.
He also suggested that when it is time for me to leave Reservation that I should find a technically demanding Garde Manger job. The idea being that how can you be a chef if you don't know how to do everything; including as I've said washing dishes.
Anyway, just a quick post as I'm off to work.
Thomas Keller once said; “I have no formal culinary training, right.” and nor do I. My Chefs are my formal training and I think that it is serving me better than had I gone to school. The flame is a great teacher.
Have an inspired day and dream big.
A la prochaine
SDM
Last night, A and I had a chat which included Thomas Keller, Roland Henin, how to truss a chicken and where I am going. He feels that I will get there and even told me that he thinks that I pick things up quickly and that when he looks at how they had to bail me out the first weekend and then seeing how I operated the next that if I can continue doing that throughout my career I will be very successful as I am a quick study.
He also suggested that when it is time for me to leave Reservation that I should find a technically demanding Garde Manger job. The idea being that how can you be a chef if you don't know how to do everything; including as I've said washing dishes.
Anyway, just a quick post as I'm off to work.
Thomas Keller once said; “I have no formal culinary training, right.” and nor do I. My Chefs are my formal training and I think that it is serving me better than had I gone to school. The flame is a great teacher.
Have an inspired day and dream big.
A la prochaine
SDM
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