Well, the year is over. With the new year, I'll be truly settled into my new life--as both a professional cook and an independent person. Of course, I've already accomplished both of those things, at least to start with--they were my resolutions for 2005. I have only one this year: carpe diem.
My stay in Texas is also over. Tomorrow I make the trip back to Pittsburgh. Oddly, I don't think of Spring as my "home" anymore; it's really just a place I'm visiting. I never was really crazy about this town. It's got a few charms like Pepper Chino, Mr.Raddin's choir, and the ability to see stars at night. But truth be told, the view from Mount Washington is far more spectacular. Living in the Golden Triangle these past few months has changed my life, and I'm beginning to think that remaining in the Burgh for an externship wouldn't be too bad if I couldn't continue my urbanite existence in some other New England metropolis. I am sad to say that my general experience with the South has left me a little bitter towards hot weather and Republicans, and that I have fallen in love with the biting cold and the skyscrapers of the City of Steel.
That said, my recipes will be soaked in tears as I think of my friends and family during the flight. I am really, really, really, really going to miss some people here. I will see you all again this year if it means walking South from Liberty Avenue. Happy New Year.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
put a little english on it
Man, nine and a half hour shift today--I haven't been home since 8:00 this morning because I had to go straight to work from school.
School was awesome today though. I woke up, felt incredible, and stopped at the Starbucks at the end of the block where all the employees know my name. They didn't even charge me for coffee today. People here are so damn nice. I love Pittsburgh. But school was great. I took the cooking practical yesterday (I'll save that for another post), so I was supposed to be deep-cleaning the kitchen today, but I ended up doing prep for the chili we're having on the last day. I weighed the 18 pounds of meat we ended up with for the recipe, and using mathematical skillz, adjusted the rest of the recipe in proportion to that. It came out to be 25 bell peppers (sm. dice), five pounds of onion (sm. dice), 6.5 tablespoons of serrano and jalapeno peppers (mince), 20 garlic cloves (crushed and minced), as well as 30 ounces of chili powder, 20 ounces of cumin, and ten bay leaves that I had to toast in a rather large saute pan.
The high-volume prep was fun (and ironic, with me recently making fun of Emeril's incredible ability to make a few portions of a meal in an hour) and yielded me a big 2-inch hotel pan full of trinity. Tomorrow the meat will be seared in a tilt skillet, and then all the junk I cut up will be sauteed with it--this is done with a boat paddle. About six gallons of veal stock will be added, and over the course of several hours it will turn into the stuff dreams are made of.
Work has made me angry lately. Someone is stealing things (mostly meat--a whole striploin among other things) and there was a big heavy locked door installed at the top of the staircase. Every time we need to go downstairs to get something, we have to get a manager with a key.
But work was also cool today because I worked alone for a few hours, and banged out a nine-dish ticket (to go, which is not as easy as it sounds) all on time by myself. I remember when I first got here and worked Mondays by myself, I would get orders for, say, a filet mignon and mashed potatoes, and maybe calamari at the same time, and I'd freak out because I didn't know how to come up with a plan (or grill things properly). Now I know the menu like the cracked and bleeding back of my hand, and I know exactly what to do first, what to do simultaneously with other things, and what to fire last and instead of burning myself repeatedly in the middle of a clumsy nervous breakdown, it's second nature to rotate or flip things on the grill while cutting bread for sandwiches or taking stuff out of the fryer/oven/broiler/low-boy coolers. I believe that, today, I began to put a little English on the plates.
~you can come stay at my house
School was awesome today though. I woke up, felt incredible, and stopped at the Starbucks at the end of the block where all the employees know my name. They didn't even charge me for coffee today. People here are so damn nice. I love Pittsburgh. But school was great. I took the cooking practical yesterday (I'll save that for another post), so I was supposed to be deep-cleaning the kitchen today, but I ended up doing prep for the chili we're having on the last day. I weighed the 18 pounds of meat we ended up with for the recipe, and using mathematical skillz, adjusted the rest of the recipe in proportion to that. It came out to be 25 bell peppers (sm. dice), five pounds of onion (sm. dice), 6.5 tablespoons of serrano and jalapeno peppers (mince), 20 garlic cloves (crushed and minced), as well as 30 ounces of chili powder, 20 ounces of cumin, and ten bay leaves that I had to toast in a rather large saute pan.
The high-volume prep was fun (and ironic, with me recently making fun of Emeril's incredible ability to make a few portions of a meal in an hour) and yielded me a big 2-inch hotel pan full of trinity. Tomorrow the meat will be seared in a tilt skillet, and then all the junk I cut up will be sauteed with it--this is done with a boat paddle. About six gallons of veal stock will be added, and over the course of several hours it will turn into the stuff dreams are made of.
Work has made me angry lately. Someone is stealing things (mostly meat--a whole striploin among other things) and there was a big heavy locked door installed at the top of the staircase. Every time we need to go downstairs to get something, we have to get a manager with a key.
But work was also cool today because I worked alone for a few hours, and banged out a nine-dish ticket (to go, which is not as easy as it sounds) all on time by myself. I remember when I first got here and worked Mondays by myself, I would get orders for, say, a filet mignon and mashed potatoes, and maybe calamari at the same time, and I'd freak out because I didn't know how to come up with a plan (or grill things properly). Now I know the menu like the cracked and bleeding back of my hand, and I know exactly what to do first, what to do simultaneously with other things, and what to fire last and instead of burning myself repeatedly in the middle of a clumsy nervous breakdown, it's second nature to rotate or flip things on the grill while cutting bread for sandwiches or taking stuff out of the fryer/oven/broiler/low-boy coolers. I believe that, today, I began to put a little English on the plates.
~you can come stay at my house
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
woooooo, woo.
Whoa, it's nine degrees outside right now. That's how many degrees there are. Nine. The wind chill is -3. It was a really, really good idea to take that hot cafe au lait with me.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Don't feel like making a long post, so here's what's goin down:
Going home Saturday. Can't wait to see people.
Got paid Friday for a whole bunch of hours. Nice.
Cooking practical is this week. I'm totally stoked.
That party on Thursday was really great. I met some awesome people and didn't drink alcoholic beverages.
Going home Saturday. Can't wait to see people.
Got paid Friday for a whole bunch of hours. Nice.
Cooking practical is this week. I'm totally stoked.
That party on Thursday was really great. I met some awesome people and didn't drink alcoholic beverages.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Man, that speech went splendidly. Taking the time off to prepare more thoroughly definitely payed off. I also brewed the best pot of coffee in the world using the knowledge I gained through my research.
For many years, I have been making bad coffee.
The simple fact of the matter is that, while I always insist on meticulously cleaning my equipment to rid it of old oils, storing my coffee in an airtight container away from light and heat, and never buying one of those pain-in-the-ass coffee machines, I just didn't use enough coffee to make coffee. It's 2.5 tablespoons to 8 ounces of water, man. More is fine, less is really bad. I always just "filled it up to that little line" in my grinder and dumped the talcum powder that 15 continuous seconds of pulverizing yielded into the filter--the result was always overextraction. After a certain point, all the oils were extracted from the grounds, and as I continued to pour boiling water over them, there was nothing left to flavor the water with except the more bitter elements present in the bean. Today when I used 14 tablespoons for 6 cups, ground my Gold Coast beans into the consistency of granulated sugar, and used not-quite-boiling water, I created the nectar of the gods; a full-bodied brew that had a bouquet like a seventy-dollar Cabernet Sauvignon. It was sweet without sugar, and smooth without cream, though it possessed a light acidity and subtle black currant overtones. It was not that bitter, pungent motor oil, desperate for dilution, that is consumed unhappily by millions every morning for power. It was pure, triple-distilled joy. After my speech, during which my classmates enjoyed some of my stuff from Dixie cups and a 1.5 quart carafe I found at Le Gourmet Chef, Alex told me he used to do a lot of coke, but that this shit was good.
Oh yeah, and the speech went well. People said I knew what I was talking about!
For many years, I have been making bad coffee.
The simple fact of the matter is that, while I always insist on meticulously cleaning my equipment to rid it of old oils, storing my coffee in an airtight container away from light and heat, and never buying one of those pain-in-the-ass coffee machines, I just didn't use enough coffee to make coffee. It's 2.5 tablespoons to 8 ounces of water, man. More is fine, less is really bad. I always just "filled it up to that little line" in my grinder and dumped the talcum powder that 15 continuous seconds of pulverizing yielded into the filter--the result was always overextraction. After a certain point, all the oils were extracted from the grounds, and as I continued to pour boiling water over them, there was nothing left to flavor the water with except the more bitter elements present in the bean. Today when I used 14 tablespoons for 6 cups, ground my Gold Coast beans into the consistency of granulated sugar, and used not-quite-boiling water, I created the nectar of the gods; a full-bodied brew that had a bouquet like a seventy-dollar Cabernet Sauvignon. It was sweet without sugar, and smooth without cream, though it possessed a light acidity and subtle black currant overtones. It was not that bitter, pungent motor oil, desperate for dilution, that is consumed unhappily by millions every morning for power. It was pure, triple-distilled joy. After my speech, during which my classmates enjoyed some of my stuff from Dixie cups and a 1.5 quart carafe I found at Le Gourmet Chef, Alex told me he used to do a lot of coke, but that this shit was good.
Oh yeah, and the speech went well. People said I knew what I was talking about!
Ugh, what a terrible day. My head feels like Hollandaise sauce. I donated blood yesterday and went to work about five minutes later, and closed alone (though I did have the best burger I have ever eaten, ever). I stayed up til 2 writing my speech on coffee and woke up this morning with this headache, and realized that I still haven't gotten little cups to serve coffee to the class in. So I'm skipping class to get those, be better prepared, and have more time to brew 1.5 qts of coffee to put in the stainless carafe I bought. I guess that's a fairly good reason, right? I'm doing really well in meats anyway, and I could grill flank steaks and make pico de gallo (on today's agenda) with my hands tied behind my back. I dunno. I use the available abscence days kind of liberally, but then again, I'm a busy guy and I never skip when I know there's something important--if I wake up already ten minutes late and feeling like I've been hit with a ton of bricks, but I know I'll be making tourne vegetables all day anyway, it's not really a big deal and I'm no worse a cook for doing it. I got competency signoffs for every cooking method weeks ago, so the biggest thing I have to worry about is the cooking practical next week before I go home. We're responsible for making one portion of a meat, a sauce to go with it, a starch, and we're given a vegetable and told to make it taste good.