I Can Do This All Day
Saturday work was fairly better. I went in from 6 to close again, which is fine with me, and I'll be doing the same this coming week. Last time, I helped prep, but then just stood to the side and watched. This time, I prepped a bit in the very beginning, but Alison was there expediting and asked Steve to have Braulio teach me dessert plate-ups. I watched him for a little while and wrote down all the components for the 7, or so, items; by the end of the night, I think I was fairly proficient with most of them.
We don't actually make anything -- our pastry chef bakes everything earlier in the day -- we just have to set this there, squirt that over there, scoop this on top, etc, so it's active work, but pretty simple and easy. And the nice part is that I'll have a mini-flurry of 3 or 4 desserts over a few minutes, then have 15 or 20 minutes to just stand until the next wave of customers finish their entrees, so I don't have to get crushed by the food rush, like the line. So I'm in the action and contributing something to go right out to the tables, but it's a more relaxed pace. The pastry wing of our open kitchen is right near the front of the restaurant, so I can also kinda chat with the servers a bit, and just watch the customers (and it's also closer to the dining room speakers and air conditioning). Also cool, I felt a bit more comfortable with a lot of my coworkers, especially the wait staff, which just made it a little more fun and considerate.
Yesterday was a big deal. Mom's birthday is tomorrow, so I went up to Allentown yesterday for her birthday celebration; Melissa was also home for her mid-summer changeover at Camp, and Ted came in to visit her. As my gift to Mom, she asked only for me to cook for her, which is nice cause she covered the groceries, and I can also do cooking pretty well. I'd been thinking of a menu for a little while, and it hit me earlier in the week. Most of the items I'd made in various classes before, and liked, but they all worked really well and I was stoked with how it all came out and how I was able to fulfill my vision on the plate.
To start, I made two dozen canapes of chive cream cheese with tomato on cucumber, and melon and prosciutto with dijon on crostini. Then I had a second course of cool cucumber soup with radish confetti. This was followed by barbeque chicken with tropical glaze (the one I made up -- mango, peach, poblano, ginger, garlic, spices) over a wheat berry salad and grilled vegetables. Then, I like to think my dessert was awesome, as I made a total 6-element plateup that would make Chef Horvath proud, featuring chocolate decadence cakes, an amaaaazing lemon ice granite, with creme anglaise, hand-whipped cream, grilled pineapple, and fresh berries. I also printed up formal menus, which added a perfect touch.
Mom loved it, and I had a great time just cooking all day. I got up to Allentown by 10:30, and we had gotten all the groceries by an hour later, at which point I began cooking. Other than breaking for a bagel after I got the granite, cake, and chicken marinade underway, I just stood and worked straight through, right until 5:30, or so, and it was easy as pie. Everything went perfectly, and I was just methodical and relaxed about prepping everything. Mom and Mom-Mom watched most of it, which she said was almost as fun as eating it.
A lot of this stuff seemed simple, and I was following recipes most of the time, but I guess I don't realize how effortless I do various tasks after being immersed in it for so long, which might just impress the normal home chef? My only disappointment was with the cucumber soup, which came out a little flat and a tad sour, but that's okay with me. Now, the only problem is that I've set quite the precedent for myself and, assuming Mom keeps wanting this gift each year, I now have to out-do myself year to year. But I can deal with that, definitely.
We don't actually make anything -- our pastry chef bakes everything earlier in the day -- we just have to set this there, squirt that over there, scoop this on top, etc, so it's active work, but pretty simple and easy. And the nice part is that I'll have a mini-flurry of 3 or 4 desserts over a few minutes, then have 15 or 20 minutes to just stand until the next wave of customers finish their entrees, so I don't have to get crushed by the food rush, like the line. So I'm in the action and contributing something to go right out to the tables, but it's a more relaxed pace. The pastry wing of our open kitchen is right near the front of the restaurant, so I can also kinda chat with the servers a bit, and just watch the customers (and it's also closer to the dining room speakers and air conditioning). Also cool, I felt a bit more comfortable with a lot of my coworkers, especially the wait staff, which just made it a little more fun and considerate.
Yesterday was a big deal. Mom's birthday is tomorrow, so I went up to Allentown yesterday for her birthday celebration; Melissa was also home for her mid-summer changeover at Camp, and Ted came in to visit her. As my gift to Mom, she asked only for me to cook for her, which is nice cause she covered the groceries, and I can also do cooking pretty well. I'd been thinking of a menu for a little while, and it hit me earlier in the week. Most of the items I'd made in various classes before, and liked, but they all worked really well and I was stoked with how it all came out and how I was able to fulfill my vision on the plate.
To start, I made two dozen canapes of chive cream cheese with tomato on cucumber, and melon and prosciutto with dijon on crostini. Then I had a second course of cool cucumber soup with radish confetti. This was followed by barbeque chicken with tropical glaze (the one I made up -- mango, peach, poblano, ginger, garlic, spices) over a wheat berry salad and grilled vegetables. Then, I like to think my dessert was awesome, as I made a total 6-element plateup that would make Chef Horvath proud, featuring chocolate decadence cakes, an amaaaazing lemon ice granite, with creme anglaise, hand-whipped cream, grilled pineapple, and fresh berries. I also printed up formal menus, which added a perfect touch.
Mom loved it, and I had a great time just cooking all day. I got up to Allentown by 10:30, and we had gotten all the groceries by an hour later, at which point I began cooking. Other than breaking for a bagel after I got the granite, cake, and chicken marinade underway, I just stood and worked straight through, right until 5:30, or so, and it was easy as pie. Everything went perfectly, and I was just methodical and relaxed about prepping everything. Mom and Mom-Mom watched most of it, which she said was almost as fun as eating it.
A lot of this stuff seemed simple, and I was following recipes most of the time, but I guess I don't realize how effortless I do various tasks after being immersed in it for so long, which might just impress the normal home chef? My only disappointment was with the cucumber soup, which came out a little flat and a tad sour, but that's okay with me. Now, the only problem is that I've set quite the precedent for myself and, assuming Mom keeps wanting this gift each year, I now have to out-do myself year to year. But I can deal with that, definitely.