Tunablue: 2006

Monday, November 13, 2006

Dining Alone

This is one of my entries to my 'art-of-dining alone' journal. And a catch up from my California internship days a few months back.

Boulettes Larder. For a free spirited traveller like me who tends to talk to other travellers on the road (including random strangers I really shouldn't be talking to), this place is perfect... I liked Boulette Larder for it's family meal set up. There's just one big table where everybody sits. They serve simple mediterranean food that are represented by fresh local produce. I enjoyed the savory yougurt with purslane and barley, I never had purslane this way before. I just love how it's lemony tang with the hearty savory flavor of barley complemented the fresh creamy yougurt it was served with. It's wonderfully complex!

I had a great time and I met fabulous people: Norma and Allen, Bossa Nova Artists. It all started when I took pictures of my food and tasting each item with gusto. They asked me what I do because I seem to be so much into my food. They even asked what I ordered so they can order the same thing. They are from Mexico and we had a great conversation about its regional cuisines and Italo Calvino who introduced me to the food 'Under the Jaguar Sun'. (Thanks to Jojo who introduced me to Italo Calvino's literature.)

At the end of our meal, I got an open invitation to visit them in Baja! I didn't know they were famous till I checked the website on their card 6tosentido. Norma even emailed me to make sure I'm accepting her invitation. I can't wait to visit them!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Ironic Cuisine?

I tried the new top rating restaurant in the country recently. It's in Chicago too where I'm currently at. I had to spend a bit of my savings for this dinner. (This is what I save for now). It was quite an experience. We had a 24-course tasting menu. They were more like, bite-size tasters but there was so much to taste on each plate: the sauce, the gelee, the bubbles, the foam, the smear, the topping and oh, the main item, I almost forgot. Each element explodes with flavors. Very entertaining!

In the middle of dinner, I curiously asked one of our servers about their food. I asked her, 'so how would you describe your cuisine?' and she proudly replied, 'Oh, we're serving Progressive American cuisine!' And so I asked further, 'What is Progressive American cuisine?' Is it like fusion?' and she replied, 'It's a little bit of fusion.' It's mainly American cuisine with Asian and Italian influence but no French.' And I got more curious, 'No French?' because in my mind, it must be hard to discount the influence of French cuisine in fine dining. I'm not pro french or anything but they must have really something special to even mention it.' She replied, 'Definitely, no French.' I was about to ask more questions but bread service started. Set on our table were beautiful butter quenelles.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Complements from the Chef

Fish class is now my new favorite class. Unfortunately, it only lasts 13 days and we're on Day 11 tomorrow. We do fish fabrication and preparation in this class with matching advance sauces and plating exercises.

Chef Elaine Sikorski teaches this class. She's very knowledgeable. She's very thorough. Discriminate and uncompromising. She only expects of her students what she expects of herself i.e. A LOT! She's known to be one of the toughest chef instructors but she's one I really look up to because she practices what she preaches, commands respect and reflects the integrity that I believe all cooks MUST posses.

On our Day 10 in Advance Fish class, we had a plating exercise on lobsters and broth-like sauces. I've seen lobster plated before but I've never done it myself. Coming from only 6 months of professional experience, I've only gone as far as watching the line prepare food. The challenge was to come up with a $40 looking plate. First of all, what does a $40 lobster plate look like? What's in it? Is my lobster too big or too small? What's worth of being on a $40 dollar lobster entree? I had no idea. My planned plate didn't seem to be $40. We had 3 other dishes to be worried about so we didn't get to think about this to the last few minutes.

My partner and I tried to the best that we can to come up with one. We went to the fine dining kitchen and asked the chefs if we can pick up some ingredients from their walk in because we really didn't have much in our walk-in but carrots, onions, celery and tomatoes. We were able to solicit some baby vegetable and tomato water so we used those. It was crazy. I wasn't happy with my plate, but I just have to get it done and get it out.

Right when the dishes were 'picked-up' (simulated) Chef Elaine tasted it, sipped some water and spat it out. She obviously didn't like it. It was horrible! But later she asked, 'do you know Michel Richard?' I replied dumb-founded, 'No, Chef.' She said, 'You don't? You seem to be going towards his direction. Your homework for today is to go to Borders and browse thru his book. You'll see what I mean' I frequent borders for books but I haven't gone in about a month and a half now because I'm studying and working at the same time.

So today I got the chance to browse thru Happy In The Kitchen (September 2006) by Michel Richard and I was just beyond flattered. Of course I'm far from that level but 'going towards the direction of his style' coming from Chef Elaine is a HUGE complement! I don't know what to say or do but to keep practicing and practicing so I can live up to her expectations (now that she had made it known).

Which reminds me, time to work on my prep list for tomorrow. I have Sea Urchin, Skate, Trout and Sardines or Tuna on our 'Fish-of-the-day' so I have to make sure I can get-it-together, get-it-done and get-it-out beautifully ON TIME!

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Catching Up

It's been quite a bit since I last blogged. Between moving, school and finding a job, I barely had any time for anything else... excuses excuses. But I 'plan' to update my blog again, the next few entries are 'catch up' entries from my internships in the Bay Area.

My Biggest Paycheck

Aqua - 2 star Micheline
This email is my biggest paycheck from my unpaid internship with Aqua.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Peter Armellino
Date: Oct 3, 2006 6:30 PM
Subject: 2 stars
To: Namee

Hope you are well, we just received a 2 star review fro the Michelin guide. We were one of 4 restaurants in the bay area. only one 3 star the French laundry. We are all very proud and I thank you for all your hard work.

Peter Armellino
Chef de Cuisine
Aqua Restaurant
252 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
www.aqua-sf.com

Friday, September 29, 2006

Breakfast Sausage

BREAKFAST SAUSAGE:

Yield: approx 26 # bulk sausage forcemeat

Meats
22 # pork butt
3 # fat back, trimmed of skin
seasonings
6 oz salt
1 oz. freshly ground black pepper
1 oz. freshly ground white pepper
1 oz fresh finely chopped sage
4 T. chile flakes, ground in the spice grinder
1/4 oz. nutmeg
1/4 oz ground thyme ( fresh or dry)
1/4 oz. ginger
2 T. ground coriander
3 oz dextrose
1 pint very cold water (slurry with the spices.)
binders
1.5 cup. soy protein powder
2 pint cold water. ( mix with soy protein in robot coupe)

procedures
1-Grind all meats and fat on a 3/8 plate
Over a large SS (Stainless Steel) mixing bowl on ice

2 -add the seasoning and water only!
3 -mix vigorously by hand or Hobart mixing bowl.until protein mesh is established
It should have a sticky consistency.
4- Add soy protein/cold water slurry after the protein mesh has formed,mix until well absorbed.

5- Taste for seasoning by cooking a small amount in a sauté pan over low heat.
6-Pack into hog casings.
7- Make 6” links or ropes
8-let rest 24 hours in cooler uncovered.
(this will tighten the casing and shape the sausage further)
9-Cook over low heat until an internal temperature of 155° F.
Note : If a browned exterior is desired, brown at the end of the cooking process as opposed to the beginning of the cooking process.

Italian Sausage

ITALIAN SAUSAGE:
Everything must be chilled !

yield: 25 lbs. bulk forcemeat

ingredients

meats and fat:
16 lbs. untrimmed boneless pork butt cut into 2’ strips
4 lbs. fatback cut into 2’ strips
5 lbs. beef chuck ( lean) cut into 2’ strips

seasonings:
1 oz. powdered dextrose
1 oz. medium ground black pepper
7 oz. salt
1 oz. cracked fennel seed and lightly toasted
4 T. red pepper flakes
1 Tbs of freshly ground black pepper
5 1/2 oz. Pecorino Romano, or Parmesan finely grated
12 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. parsley, chopped
1 c. chilled water (Mixed with the spices)

binders:
1.5 c. soy protein concentrate* or milk powder (optional)
4 c. chilled red wine (Mixed with the soy protein concentrate in the robot-coupe)
* The soy protein concentrate improves the juiciness of the finished product.

Procedures

1-Grind all meats and fat on a ¼” plate
Over a large SS mixing bowl on ice

2 -add the seasoning and water only!
3 -mix vigorously by hand or Hobart mixing bowl.until protein mesh is established
It should have a sticky consistency.
4- Add soy protein/red wine slurry after the protein mesh has formed,mix until well absorbed.

5- Taste for seasoning by cooking a small amount in a sauté pan over low heat.
6-Pack into hog casings.
7- Make 6” links or ropes
8-let rest 24 hours in cooler uncovered. ( this will tighten the casing and shape the sausage further)
9-Cook over low heat until an internal temperature of 155° F.

Note : If a browned exterior is desired, brown at the end of the cooking process as opposed to the beginning of the cooking process.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Summer Sausage

Smoked Mettwurst
German summer sausage

Yield 10 # bulk forcemeat

Ingredients:
Meats and fat
5 # boneless fatty pork butts
3 # beef chuck
2 # veal meat

Seasoning:
2 tsp Prague #1
5 TBS salt
2 TBS ground nutmeg
1 TBS grd White pepper
1/2 TBS grd allspice
4 TBS powdered dextrose
1 tsp grd celery seeds
1 tsp grd marjoram
½ tsp grd caraway seeds
1 tsp grd coriander
2 tsp whole mustard seeds
1 pint ice cube

Method:

1-grind all meats thru ½ ‘ grinder plate with the ice cubes
over an iced SS bowl
2-add all seasoning and mix thouroughly until elastic
3-regrind again thru a 3/16 plate
4-stuff into beef middles casings in about 18” long sticks
Prick casings
5_tie ends and hang carefully on smoke sticks
6-let air dry for 24 h in the sausage room
7 smoke for about 6 hours at 120 degrees
8- remove from smoke house and dip in hot water to plump the casing
9 _ cool at room temp for a few hours
Then chill overnight.

Note : this is considered a “summer sausage” of the uncooked variety so we are using only frozen pork to manufacture this product and avoid contamination with trichinae

Cajun Andouille Sausage

Cajun Andouille Sausage
Cured and Smoked

Yield : 10 lbs of bulk forcemeat
(2 days preparation)

Ingredients:

10 Lbs boneless pork butts ( 25% fat contents) or 8 lbs lean pork butts and 2 lbs fat back
8 tbs salt
2 tbs dry thyme
1 cup fresh garlic ,finely chopped
½ cup cracked black peppercorn
2 tbs cayenne pepper
2 cups iced water ( for spice slurry)
1 tsp Prague #1

Procedures

Ist day:
1 - grind pork butt and fat on a ¼ “ plate over iced SS mixing bowl
2 - add spice slurry and mix well until elastic.
3 - stuff into beef middles or beef rounds
4 - air dry overnight in sausage curing room on smoke sticks

Next day :
5 - smoke for 4 hours until internal temp of 152.
6 - rinse , then let rest( bloom) at room temp for 2 hours
7 - chill overnight before use

Corned Beef Making! Yum!

I made Corned Beef Brisket and Pastrami (they have to brine for a few days before they're ready for further cooking)

Corned Beef and Pastrami

Yield: 2 whole beef briskets

2 whole briskets, trimmed of some of the excess fat (approx 75%)
Then cut in halves ( chef will demo)

BRINE:
2 gal. Water
21 oz. Salt
4 oz Prague #1 powder
7 oz. dextrose
8 ea cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs pickling spice
1-½ Tbs . whole black peppercorns

RUB:
4 oz. Freshly ground black pepper – medium grind
3 oz. Freshly ground coriander – medium grind
3 t. powdered thyme
3 t. quatre epices

- Puree garlic in several cups of water using a blender.
- Add remaining brine ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
- Inject briskets to 10-15 % weight. Vacuum tumble, 55 minutes, 18 psi, high speed.
- After tumbling, place in remaining brine and cure 3-4 days in cooler.

After 3 to 4 days

- Wash excess brine off briskets.
-Rub with the mixture:
- Place briskets on a rack and smoke for 5 hours, smoker temperature 170-190 F

Until internal temp reach 152

Smoker setting :pork butts (specifics to follow)

--------------------------------

Corned beef:
Yield 2 full brisket.

Use the same brine recipe and the same curing time.

Place all 4 briskets in a large stock pot and cover with cold water.
Add 1 cup of pickling spice
1 lbs large cut carrots
½ head of large cut celery
2 large onion cut in large dice.
1 head of garlic cut in half
Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer.
It should cook approx 2 hours or until the meat is tender.

Let cool in the cooking liquid overnight.

I Love Pork

I had fun making sausages today. Sausage making is simpler than I thought. And requires a lot more FAT than I thought. Fat makes sausages really good though! Pork Fat rules!

It was just really tiring because we did a huge production of various sausages from pork we freshly butchered out of whole hogs! That was A LOT of fun!

It was too busy I didn't get to take pictures of the sausage production (not to mention my hands were buried mixing 30 lbs of ground meat, too messy to pick up my camera to take pictures)

Some basic recipes from Chef Pierre Chechi to follow

Back to School, Post Internship

Some of the things that I look forward too back when I was young(er) were the scent of my new books, the smooth feel of fresh sheets of paper and the sharp edge of my new pencils...

Now that I'm a little old(er) and going back to school, I get excited with the thought of being able to play with the rest of my toys. I left most of my tools in Chicago when I flew to San Francisco for my internship. All I brought with me are the essentials: knives.

Going back to school also allows me to spend more time with a few of my favorite things.

I really need to catch up on reading
(most of Melissa's books before she ships them to her new location)

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

8AM Chez Panisse Intern Schedule

8:00 AM CUSTARDS AND COOKIES

- If custards are on the menu, gather ramekins and hotel pans for custards, put aside ramekins for 2nd custard bake. Taste and Adjust custard as needed. Consult with Chef or Cook

- Custards should be in the oven by 8:10-8:15 for first bake

- Set timer for 55 minutes; check when timer goes off (with chef/cook if necessary) and reset timer appropriately.

Note: Creme caramels bake for less time than the creme brulee custards. If serving panna cotta, use the first part of the morning when you would normally be baking custards to carefully cut the pannas and cover them with plastic individually

- Check with cafe assistant as to which cookies are on the day’s menu. Count cookies left over from day before prior to production

- Re-crisp them in oven for 5 minutes. Put away once cooled

- Cut and place all cookies and half sheets, place prepped sheets back into freezer until custards are out of the oven

- Once custards are out, cool them place on perforated sheets

- Creme caramels should be carefully cut while warm then placed in walk-in (the cutting should be done only by cooks or interns that has previously been trained to do this)

- Caramels and Chocolate custards remain at room temperature; all other custards should go to the walk-in

Begin baking cookies. Place cookies in airtight containers once cooled

9:30-11:00 AM

- Get Prep list from cafe assistant and/or assist with knife work for tarts or condiments for cafe

-Set-up all condiments for cafe (fruits, dates, etc, chocolate sauce, cookie tray, custard tray, chopped peel, nuts etc)

11:15-11:30 AM
- Help set-up dessert display for cafe

- Check display/tasting with Chef - THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART! TASTING EVERYTHING ON A PLATE! We play with the plating and see how everything taste and look together and make adjustments as necessary... and the best part is... I get to do this EVERYDAY!!! YUM!

11:45 AM
- Prep additional fruits and nuts if needed

- Begin 2nd Custard Bake

- Get list of afternoon projects from the Chef

12:15 - 12:30
- LUNCH BREAK

- 12:30 PM Onwards

- Afternoon Projects

1:15 PM (Wed, Thurs) 1:45 (Mon, Tues, Fri, Sat)

- Clean and organize station, relolcat station, take out trash and recycling, sweep

3:50 PM
- Finish and put-away all projects

- Clean and Organize Station

- Fill out ‘you have’ list for the following day (projects completed today for tomorrow)

Unforgettable Flavors

There were a lot of flavors that I encountered for the first time at Chez Panisse and I will truely never forget them:

Fraise des bois or wild strawberries from the woods - tiny white strawberries! They're so sweet and creamy! I only used to read about them.

Mulberries - I’ve never seen them before. They burst like little pieces of jam in your mouth. So intense!

Noyao - Apricot Pits, one of my projects in the afternoon was to crack the pits and get the core in it. I had no idea what it was for, until I was instructed to steep them in the ice cream base! It's a whole new dimension of nuttiness!

Honey and Moscato - one of my favorite combos!

Creme Fraiche - I can’t believe how good creme fraiche ice cream is. I can never have enough of it!

Mayer Lemons - the best lemons I’ve ever tasted. Tart yet has a round finish in the mouth.

Lemon Verbena - Citrusy and spicy! I usually encounter them in desserts. I can't forget that day when they roasted a whole fillet of halibut on branches of lemon verbena! Delicious!

Fresh Figs - I’ve only seen dried figs until my internship at Chez Panisse. They’re the sweetest things.

Olive Oil - they probably use the best and most flavorful olive oil I’ve ever tasted! So fresh and fruity!

Pork - It was grilled and seasoned with only salt and pepper but it was really good. The meat was sweet and tender!

Green Rhubarb - I only knew of red rhubarb. The green ones tasted like green apples!

Matsumoto Peaches - they’re perfect! no bruises. Deep in color and the flavor was just so intensely peachy. I guess it does make a difference when they're picked at their perfect ripeness. I remember a peach picking field trip being organized, but unfortunately, I was on the schedule to work. I got to eat some though!

Bing Cherries - the darkest, they’re almost black but the most intense. I’ve never enjoyed fresh cherries as much as I enjoyed Bings! These bowls contained hand picked perfect cherries!

Sta. Rosa Plums - I can almost taste them from the way they smell. They’re almost perfumy!

I was seduced by these flavors. Hopefully I'll get to go back and work in California. In the summer too!

The Fruit Book

It was an unpaid internship but what I learned was priceless. They sent me a signed copy of Chez Panisse Fruits book though as a present, signed by Alice Waters and the chef team too. It’s now one of my treasured books.

I've always been curious about figs since I've never really had fresh ones before. At the peak of the season, a butch of them were delivered and we used them for fruit display. Now I understand the artist's inspiration for the book cover. The figs are beautiful! And they were really good too!

Hopping On The Other Side

When I finish my tasks early, I get to hop on the other side of the kitchen, where they butcher whole animals for roasting or braising the next day. Butchering is pretty fun. I learned a lot about animal anatomy and which parts works best for specific cooking methods!

Chez Panisse gets their animals whole. They get the chicken with head and feet on! They make really good stocks and sauces!

Some parts are turned into Proscuitto and Pancetta. The Prosciutto Shed is another one of my favorite spots in the restaurant. It just smells so good!

PM Projects

Most of the dessert production I do is for Lunch (AM) service at the Chez Panisse Cafe upstairs. In the afternoon though, I help out with some projects from juicing citruses, making cookies and candies and pitting cherries... A lot of dark and delicious bings!

Some of the PM projects I got to work with are:

Cherry Pitting (for roasting, for pies and other desserts)

Cookie Making (rolled cookies from puff pastry, butter cookies, chocolate wafer cookies, ginger snaps, biscotti, ossi de morti, marzipans and other bonbons, langues de chat, tuiles, Pain d’amandes)

Fruit Slicing as condiments for dinner desserts

Dessert Sauce Making (Chocolate Sauces for downstairs and upstairs desserts, Glazes, Syrups,

Puree, Caramel Sauces, Chocolate Frosting)

Fruit Puree (It can be very time consuming especially when we have to produce gallons and gallons of it)

Chocolate Truffles (Pierre Herme’s and Alice Meidrich’s)

Custard Making (for Ice Cream bases and Custards)

Ice Cream Spinning (this was something I was allowed to do after a couple weeks of training. the cream must be spun to perfect consistency without turning into butter). For the longest time, I've been curious why the little room where we spin the ice cream is called Otto's room. Later I realized that Otto was the ice cream machine... and it ran down before the end of my internship. It was one of my favorite machines too so I was a little sad when I came in one day and there's a new modern ice cream machine. I got attached to old school Otto.

Prepare kits for cakes and biscuits and cobblers for next day’s bake

More fruit prep (including breaking noyao or apricot pits for ice cream flavorings, they are very intense, like charry-almond but there’s a dimension to it)

Quick Puff Dough making - the chefs usually do this themselves. It’s the quickest puff dough production I’ve ever seen but I must say it’s really good.

Typical Family Meal at Chez Panisse is Not Very Typical

Typical family meal is not very typical. I’ve worked and staged at other restaurants and so far, Chez Panisse fed me the best family meal I’ve ever had. I don’t blame other people for volunteering to work at Chez to get a taste of their family meal.

Soup: Tomato Bisque

Salad: Baby Arugula with Pine Nuts and Yogurt Vinaigrette

Fish: Baked Halibut on Lemon Verbena

Meat: Sautéed Duck Breasts with Peanut Sauce

Dessert: Chocolate Pave Cake with Cognac Cream, Fresh Fruits

Ice Cream/Sorbet: Mayber Lemon Sorbet, Vanilla Bean, Honey Muscat, Mulberry

Beverage: Sparkling or Still bottled water from Italy, Fresh ground and brewed coffee, (on
somedays, we even have wine).

On some better days, the cooks will even bring some of their prepared dishes from home or something extra cooked from their station. Emily, one of the friends I’ve made there would make cinnamon sugar rolls from left over pizza dough. They’re awesome too!

Typical Day at Chez Panisse

My typical day would consist of doing Cafe work in the morning. (See 8am Intern Position Schedule). I try to finish as fast as I can because even if projects are targeted to begin in the afternoon, it will be great to have a head start before lunch. That way, my custards, which take about 50 minutes or so to bake are already in the oven while we’re doing the tasters and eating lunch.

When I get back, I can get the custards to begin cooling and free up the oven early for the dinner shift. In the afternoon, I work on fruit projects. There’s a tip and a trick to preparing each one so it really helped me that I’ve read their fruit book (Chez Panisse Fruits) too. I’ll end the day by cleaning up my station or moving to another station when I decide to stay in the afternoon (where I get another set of tasters from the dinner menu), take the garbage and recycling items out. When there’s not a lot to do and I can take off early, I go up to the bar for a shot of espresso or a glass of rose.

Chez Panisse provides us with office supplies too. It was the only restaurant I’ve worked at where I find sharpies and pens and note pads lying around. There’s an assigned locker for interns too. They are very generous. In return, it just expected that we consume what we’re given in moderation.

They also hold Chez Shopping every so often where we can buy some of their dry goods and ingredients at a discount.

Interning at Chez Panisse

The internship proper was a lot of fun! It was great to be working at Chez Panisse during Summer where fruits and vegetables are at they’re peak of perfect ripeness. It was the busiest time of the year too. I learned so much!

My internship was a very enriching experience. The readings that I did, the knowledge exchanged with Chez Panisse staff, the principles on which the restaurant operates, their firm advocacy for sustainability and delicious revolution... became a good education for me, more than just teaching me how to become a better cook, the experience taught me how to become a better person.

Stagerie

I moved to the Bay Area in Spring. I wanted to do all of 6 months internship at Chez Panisse but unfortunately, they have interns lined up for the next 9 months and they can no longer accommodate me. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise anyhow because I found another 3 month internship in the area where I learned so much too.

Staging at Chez Panisse was the first on my agenda so I prepared for it. I came early so I can get my tools and and be ready to go. I arrived nearly in my whites with my hair pulled back. It was
a busy day.

My tasks were:
1-Bake the Custards
2-Cut and Bake-off cookies
3-Slice or Chop food condiments
4-Help the Cafe Cook for other projects
5-Juice 5 Gal Bucket of Mayer Lemons and Pit 18 lbs of Cherries in the afternoon

It didn’t seem like a lot but the challenge was finding my way around, making sure I was grabbing and using the right containers and doing the right thing. Space was a huge constraint too. It was a very small kitchen. At some point, I had to put a tray on top of a garbage bin so I can set up my workstation.

I had a great time and learned so much just from staging. I just have to pick up on speed that hopefully with more familiarity, I will be able to improve on it. I worked for Aqua since April while waiting for my turn to work at Chez Panisse in June.

Oh and I had the best family meal I ever had! Oven roasted Salmon, Rocket Salad, Roasted Beet Soup, Pasta and Sardines and Honey Ice Cream. We made our own coffee on french press pots and had sparkling water the whole day.

At the end of our shift, we were offered to get a drink from the bar too!

Logistical Issue

The other issue that I encountered was logistics. I’m an international student with a very limited budget. How will I survive living in the Bay Area with an unpaid internship? I raised this issue with Chef Mia and she said she’ll see what she can do.

The management turned her down when she asked if I can get an allowance even just for transportation. A lot of people are willing to work for them for free so, it'll be difficult to get a compensation for working there. I asked for 2 weeks before finally deciding to take the job. I was looking for a distant cousin or a friend who lives in the area that maybe I can stay with them and offer housekeeping services or cooking services while I’m there. No luck

One weekend, a friend of mine I haven’t seen in 5 years flew to Chicago for a surprise visit. It was so great to see her. We caught up with each other’s stories. I told her about my career shift and my internship opportunity in the Bay Area and she was so excited for me. I told her though that I won’t be able to take the internship at Chez Panisse because I didn’t have a place to stay.

And then she said, ‘what are you talking about? I live in Oakland!’ That was an answered prayer. She offered me her place for free. She lives in Lake Merrit which was only a 15 minute BART ride to Berkeley. I called Chez Panisse immediately and notified them that I’ll be coming in the summer. It’s like a dream come true!

Getting The Internship

After I sent my resume, I got a call from their pastry chef Mia Ponce. I was looking for a culinary internship but they only had an opening in pastry. Their pastry however was more than just baking... they celebrate fruits! Mia was open to hiring a non pastry major as long as
I’m willing to try and learn from them.

I went thru an interview with Mia Ponce and then on a panel interview with her co-chef Mary Canales. I was really nervous. I thought they will ask me technical baking questions and fruit preparations of which I don’t have very extensive knowledge.

They asked questions like: What time do you get up for work? How do you prepare for work? Who are your favorite chefs? What cookbooks do you read? Have you read any of our books? Why are you interested in working for Chez Panisse? Are you aware that we don’t pay interns? Are you willing to work on pastry even if your background is culinary?

I answered every question in detail. It helped that I knew what my goals are. It helped me too that I’m a fanatic when it comes to chef, chef stories and cookbooks. I didn’t realize such habit will say a lot about ones dedication to food preparation.

After the interview, they offered me the job! I was relieved. Whew!

I had one more step to take though. I have to stage. I decided to head over to California and do my stage. This is my only shot at a job that I really want so it’ll be well worth it. I’ll make it well worth it.

Finding Chez Panisse

I decided that I want to work at a restaurant because I would like to own one someday. I decided I wanted to work in California so I can extend my knowledge on American produce. But where in California?

I follow chefs more than I follow hollywood stars. In fact, to me, they are my celebrities. I’m not a big fan of foodnetwork though. I respect them as much as I admire each of the tv chefs, but for my purposes, I would like to learn how to cook and how to run a kitchen, more than just to entertain.

I read up quite a bit about my favorite chefs and most of them have their roots of experience in California.

I’ve always admired Alice Waters. I’ve read up so much about her and I really look up to her for her principles in eating and cooking and sustainable sourcing. If ever I go back to my roots in the Philippines, this is one thing I’d like to take with me.

I decided that the best way to learn from someone I really look up to, is to work in her kitchen.
So, though I thought it was a long shot (since so many people are lining up to get a slot at Chez Panisse), I gave it a try. I thought to myself, if I don’t get it, at least I know that I tried.

Finding California

The most difficult step in finding an internship is not even step 1, it’s getting to step 1. I initially did not know where to go for my internship. I had to force myself to sit on it and literally write down my thoughts about it.

First and foremost, aside from having an internship as a requirement for my course, I don’t know what my other objectives are. All I know is I have to make the most out of it. But how do I do that? When I did not know yet what else I was doing it for. Writing it down was a tedious process. It was hard to begin.

I assessed my performance in culinary school and determined my challenges. I’m an international student so my concerns are quite unique compared to those of my classmates. I realized that I have 2 major obstacles to deal with: limited information on the US Food Service Industry and limited knowledge on products and produce.

The orientation from Career Services really helped. The sessions opened me to the vast number of opportunities in the industry, a lot of which, I never heard of. The course on product ID made me curious about what else is out there. A lot of the things that we use in the kitchen, I touched and tasted for the very first time. That makes it really difficult for me to work with them because I had no idea how they react to temperature, how they should be stored, what they go with well, what works and what does not.

Aside from being an international student, I’m a career changer as well. I gave up so much and invested time and money to make it to America, to Kendall College at that so I seriously have to make the most out of my internship.

I’ve decided that my goals would be:

1 - Read up more about the US food service industry and decide on where I really want to go. This didn’t end up becoming too difficult. I want to work in the kitchen. I want to work in a restaurant. So that narrows down my internship sites to Restaurants.

2 - Educate myself on American products and produce. This helped me determine the general area of my internship site: California

California however is huge. Where in California? I had to consider my logistical issues. Most if not all reputable restaurants in California do not pay interns, much less house them.

This is another big challenge, but I decided to worry about it later and prioritize finding an internship site and then figure out how I can work around my logistical issue. But somehow I had to work fast so I can switch plans in case my housing options (which are mainly staying with friends in the area and offering housekeeping and cooking services) does not work with the internship site that I’ve chosen.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Going Back To My Culinary Internships in 2006

a journey thru my culinary internships in california, 2006

I feel very foturnate to learn from the chefs of two great restaurants in the region

Aqua
252 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111
April - September 2006

Chez Panisse

1517 Shattuck Ave., Berkely CA 94709
June - September 2006

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

08/29/2006 Tuesday at Chez

It doesn't seem like it'll be a good day for me.

I missed my train to the east bay last night so I had to stay with my cousins in the south city. The earliest train will get me to Berkely at 6:57 which will get me to work at 7:07 at the earliest i.e. I'll be late for my 7am call time.

I was 8 minutes late and I was reprimanded for it. Of course it's habit forming so it's good to be reminded to always come on time so I appreciate every reminder. To compensate for it, I stayed till 6pm on a 7am-3pm shift. I was able to finish more projects plus I was able to join the tasters at 5:30 which is really the biggest reward since I get to try the products of our prep work for the day.

Prep work was a bit busy. There was a lot of sauce making and knife work. To start with, I peeled and chopped onions for mirepoixe. We had to make 2 5-gallon buckets to last us thru the day.

I roasted beets for sald. I roasted tomatoes for sauce then trimmed white bread for bread crumbs. I think I just made up my 8minutes tardiness. By 8am, I was ready to join the rest of the prep crew for daily morning brief.

The menu changes everyday at Chez Panisse which makes it really exciting. I don't really know what to prep until we sit together shucking black-eyed Peas of Fava beans while discussing the menu.

We usually just prep for dinner but we also extend help to the lunch line cooks whenever necessary.

Today's Menu includes:

Soup: Celery and Tomato Bisque (Lunch), Corn and Summer Squash (dinner)

Salad1: Garden Lettuce Salad

Salad2: Baked Sonoma Goat Chees with Viki's

Salad3: Escarole Salad with Green Godess Dressing and Beets

Salad4: Rocket and Chervil Salad with Radish, Cucumbers and bottarge di muggine

Salad5: Heirloom and Cherry Tomato Salad wiht Grilled Bread and Fresh Ricotta

Salad6: Figs, Creme FRaiche and Prosciutto with Mint

Pizza: Heirloom tomato and Pancetta

Pizzetta1: Fontina Cheese, Summer Truffles and Eggs

Wood Oven Roasting: (Lunch) Sardines Toasts roasted in the wood oven with Fennel Salad and Fennel Oil, (Dinner) California white Sea Bass roasted with the wood ovenw ith peperonata, potatoes and savory

Pasta: (Lunch)Spaghettin alla Norma: pasta wiht Roasted Eggplants, Tomato, Basil and Ricotta Salata, (Dinner) Pasta con le sarde: Spaghetti with Sardines, Heriloom tomatoes, Hot Peppers, Pinenuts and Currants

Saute: (Lunch)Pan Fried Northern Halibut with Pickled Okra and Tartar Sauce, (dinner) Pan fried Chicken breast with gypsy pepper salad and tartar sauce

Grill: (Lunch)James Ranch Lamb Leg with Green Beans, Warm Potato Salad and Olive Salsa Verde, (Dinner)Marin Sun Farm Grass-fed beef with fried green tomatoes, anchovy and green beans

Others: (Lunch)Braised Chicken and Andoulle Sausage wiht Peperonata, potatoes and pounded celery with wild rocket, (Dinner) Saffron Rice with Black-eyed Peas, Grilled Zucchini, eggplant, tomato and yogurt with scallions and blossons

I was flattered to be asked to fillet the sardines. Chef Leah said I have that expertes so the sardines project was automatically assigned to me. I was excited and confident and I can't wait to see the sardines on the toasts and on the pasta. When we had the tasters, they came out to be the best I've ever had! Yum!

My tasks for the day included:
-Picking Parsely for Pounded Parsely Sauce
-Scale and Fillet Sardines (prepped them for roasting with fennel tops, lemon slices, salt, hot pepper flakes and olive oil)
-Of course take out everything all that I had in the oven, process and store them accordingly
-Help prepare family meal

At noon we had a wonderful family meal. Everything was fresh and flavorful (baked halibut with fennel, roasted salmon with basil and lemon verbena, vegetarian gumbo with basmati rice, salad with yougurt vin, cold potato salad with lemon preserves, toasts with fish and mashed potatoes, gratinated veal with couscous, crayfish with bell pepper coulis, then for dessert we had honey, pistachio ice cream and pave cake )

After lunch, I grated and chopped horse radish for sauce then assisted butchering. We trimmed duck breast and fabricated 16 lamb shoulders for braising.

At day's end, all the prep crew went up to the line for the tasters. I liked everything, especially the sardines. They were nice, big and delicious. I didn't like the bass that was roasted in the oven though, I think it needed a little help.

I left Berkely around 6pm and got home to Oakland around 7pm. I did my chores such as my laundry immediately.

At 9pm I started getting ready to join my cuzins for a movie in the city.

We watched The Illusionist with Edward Norton Jessica Biel. It was a nice romantic film to relax with at the end of a busy day. I feel like I just forgot how tired I was.

To cap the night, we had a huge midnight snack at Tommy's Joint. A local german joint in San Francisco that serves huge plates of steaks, ribs and pasta. Classic! Our beef ribs and mashed potatoes went well with our porters.

That was a great day! I think I'm ready for tomorrow work!

Monday, August 28, 2006

08/26/2006 Saturday at Aqua

I was just assigned to do they fry again today. I think I got this down already so I get to do it really fast. I'm proud of the progress I've made but of course, it can always be better. But the good news is, as long as I listen, pay attention and keep my mind open, I can only get better.

I don't mind doing fry. But I think I can do more than that. I'm working with Oscar to run the salad and the shall station. Oscar is an awesome person to work with. Not only is he very easy to teach and very pleasant, he has a good sense of ownership of work. He takes pride in his plates and he has some good foresight too. He always knows what to do next. He also reminds me of what we need to do when I forget. The thing with Oscar though, he doesn't come until 3pm. Which is not so bad actually.

After I got my stuff done, I started working on Oscar's task. Mike told me not to but I have nothing to do anymore. The projects he gave me are low priority too so I didn't do them. I did what I thought was more important, which is get the station ready for service. I remember the last time Mike said, let Oscar set up shell, Oscar decided not to shop up and I got in trouble for it. I should have known better.

Anyways, Saturday went by really fast. It was busy but we were well set up so things went well on our side of the kitchen.

I'm running the station tomorrow. I have a lot to do but I don't plan to come in early. I plan to come in on time and challenge myself to hussle.

I'll be running the show. I'm excited.

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I made my own list again of the shelf inventory. I may be a little too geeky but I have to look at that everyday anyway just so I know what I'm walking into the next day so I thought a standard form will help me with my CYA. I hate having to say, 'let me check or I don't know or I'll find out later. The list helps me be on top of my responsibilities.

Chef Peter asked for a copy. I was flattered when I saw the forms printed out for everybody's use. It made me feel that I made a valuable contribution.

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Lessons Learned:
1 - Organization is half the battle.
2 - When there's a lot to be done, you don't necessarily have to start early. You just have to work quick and efficiently

08/27/2006 Sunday at Aqua

Sundays aren't quite busy but tonight I think we served about 180 people.

Just as I said yesterday, I'm coming in on time and I did. And yes, there was a lot to do but I trust the people that I work with. Nick can pretty much work on his own so I don't have to worry about him. Zak has picked up speed on his knife work and has proactively took note of how to set up the station so I just had to do the major cooking stuff.

Normally if I'm running the station, I have to do the knife work. But Zak wants to practice so I let him do all the beautiful knife work that we do at the station. But I think he's ready to learn the rest of it so I'll start training him on that pretty soon.

We were pretty efficient. We were pretty set 25 minutes before our 4:30 deadline. Not only were we set up for service today, we also got some prep work and projects done for tomorrow.

I was the last person to leave the kitchen though since I had to do my shelf inventory. We cleaned up and organized our shelf too. Chef Peter liked it. He said the shelf looks a lot better since I took over. That was really sweet of him... although, I haven't really taken over. Mike still runs the station 5 days a week. I'm just stepping up a little bit. And I'm glad it's being acknowledged.

Tomorrow will be a long day for me. I'll work at Chez Panisse in the morning and at Aqua in the evening. It's quite tight but I wanna be able to manage.

I already did the prep list for my team today. I delegated the tasks and prioritized them too so I'm not at all worried.

Whew! I love the challenges of work. I must really have the heart for it.

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Lessons Learned:

Fixing the Yellow Tomato Gazpacho
This is one thing I was challenged to do today. The gazpacho tasted old so it has to be fixed so we can use it for service.

Yellow Tomato Gazpacho
2# of Yellow Tomatoes
1pt of Tomato Water
1T Champage Vinegar
1pt of Olive Oil (blend)
2 Shallots
A pinch of chopped garlic
A pinch of Salt

- macerate tomatoes, garlic and shallots in tomato water and champagne vinegar. Process in a blender, emulsify with oil, and strain thru fine chinois.

What I do though is to strain out tomatoes and process them. I add liquid as needed since the sweetness and the tartness of the tomatoes may vary. I taste it too before I add the oil. Sometimes it may need help. I add a pinch of sugar too, not to sweeten it but to bring out the fruity-ness of the tomatoes. I add oil in increments to make sure it doesn't taste greasy. Too much oil and too much vinegar makes it taste old.

So to fix the old tasting gazpacho, I threw in a couple of fresh tomatoes. It didn't fix it. I added a splash of lemon juice to bring out the tartness. That did the trick!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

08/25/2006 Friday at Aqua

I had the same task today except that not only did I have to do Fry. I had to run Shell too.

It wasn't too bad because I had Oscar to help me who's very reliable and so easy to teach. Tomorrow, I'm actually planning on teaching him how to do they fry stuff so we can switch roles every so often.

I made the tomato oil tonight. I never made it before but it turned out alright. My GM-teammate Mike was offended that I had to check with 3 other people how to make it. I didn't mean any offense though but I just wanted to make the standard one. I asked Chef Peter and he started talking about cooking tomato paste which wasn't in the other 2 recipes that I got from 2 other people.

Finally, I got a standard recipe:

TOMATO OIL
1 pt of chopped sun dried tomatoes (strain out the original oil from the bottle)
1 qt of canola oil
salt TT

Blend all ingredients then drain thru cheese cloth over fine chinois.

Yield was about 1 1/2 quarts.

I used to think Fridays at Aqua are crazy but it hasn't been too bad the past couple of Fridays. Some Sundays were actually busier. It was good that we weren't too busy though because we got some projects done which means the weekend prep won't be too bad.

I must admit I wasn't at my best mood today. I was a little exasperated and a little exhausted, a little recipe to a grumpy old namee.

As I process my day though, I'm beginning to realize that the world will not end if I take a few things with a some careless disregard. That way, I can spare some energy to give away a smile or two.

08/24/2006 Finally A Day Off!

I wasn't really intending on planning to do something today other than getting lost in the city and finding my way around. For me, it has been the best way to get to know the city.

I met up with my friend Anna for lunch but we haven't seen each other in a long time so lunch was longer than usual. It was great catchinig up with her over Duck Fried Rice, Thai Skirt Steak and some fish cake with Kefir Lime. Kefir seems very distinctly Thai. It's sweet and tangy at the same time.

Later I met up with Jun Aquino at a cafe on top of Nordstrom in Union Square, Jun is my cousin's cousin and is so much like my cousin already. I was already full so I just had a goat cheese tart with leeks and bacon (which was too smokey so the tart tasted more bacony than goat-cheesey). I liked my dessert of Chocolate Mousse and Chocolate Cake though with Caramel Sauce and Toffee crumbles. Yum!

We just walked around town. We stepped into Chinatown but we stepped out of it after 2 minutes. We figured it's just like any other chinatown we've been to in other big cities. We went home and decided to make dinner instead.

I cooked some rib-eye with a side of roasted asparagus on the side. I also made some protabello mushroom steak that I topped with brie slices and drizzled with balsamic reduction.

It took us about 10 minutes to make our dinner. He had some good wine at home to complete the dinner.

We were both craving for a nice piece of steak for the longest time.

Hits the spot!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

08/23/2006 Wednesday at Aqua

There's always something to learn at work which really makes me look forward to every single day in the kitchen.

I get to lead Garde Mange at Aqua these days which is something not a lot of interns get to do. I'm lucky to have the opportunity to run my own station. Today though, my co-worker Mike is running it. He assigned me to run the Salad and Shell stations which means I have to do the Salad and Shell prep and do the fry work too which didn't use to be my favorite thing to do until lately.

There's not a lot to prep for Salads these days unlike when I first started when we had to prep for at least 2 or 3 salad specials. Now we only run 1 salad dish and one special tomato salad since tomatoes are currently in season.

Fry work keeps me by the deep fryer and the oven. I have to fry Basil Leaves, Leek Chiffonade (which we have to blanch first), carrot tops, eggplant chips and canolis. In the oven we need to crisp up lavosh which really only takes 3 minutes, cutting them into thin strips is the time consuming parts. They're served with Aqua's very popular Tartars

Canolis are really tricky but I finally got it down. It's made with asian spring roll wrapper (the one filipinos use for lumpia). We cut them into small squares (about 1 3/4 inch squares) roll them onto plastic wrapped wooden spoon and dip them in the fryer. During service they are filled with sturgeon mousse and served with a tasting of caviar. Yum!

A lot of interns or newbies struggle with it. But I learned a few TRICKS:
1 - Keep the wrappers moist by covering them with a damp paper towel, this keeps the corners from curling or cracking. They come out nice and sharp

2 - Fryer has to be at about 325 instead of 350 or 375. This keeps them from browning too much

3 - I only fry them till they are set then I pull them out of the mold (which really is just a spoon handle). They carry over and continue to brown even when they're out of the fryer.

These tricks allowed me to make the perfect canolis. I used to hate this task but I love it now =) I don't mind doing fry at all. Besides, working by the fryer allows me to watch everyone else doing their stuff on the line.

Service went my smoothly. We got a couple of projects for the next day done too. I came up with my own inventory of the stuff we don't make everyday. It's a little dorky to have my own organized list but it helps me remember what to count. I need to do an inventory everyday but sometimes I miss a few items so the list helps me remember what to keep track of. This way, I don't find out at the last minute that I'm running service without my staples.

I'm off tomorrow. I'm not scheduled for either Aqua or Chez Panisse. Maybe I'll make my own lonely planet tour of San Francisco. I haven't had a chance to do anything since I've been working 7 days a week.

Finally, a day off! I'm excited!

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LAHVOSH, LAVOSH

Lahvosh is an Middle Eastern yeast-raised, thin, crisp bread, also known as Armenian cracker bread. Lahvosh range in size from 6 to 14 inches in diameter, and are used as other crackers, and also to make Aram Sandwiches.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Chef Mia Ponce of Chez Panisse

I just wanted to share this article that came out today in the San Francisco Chronicle.

COOK'S NIGHT OUT: MIA PONCE

I must agree with her on the fruit plate. I'm very glad and honored to have the opportunity to work with her as an intern. One of the many many things she taught me is how to check fruits for perfect ripeness from color to taste to firmness to smell. If I were to eat at Chez, I will order a fruit plate (or maybe the entire dessert menu!). I've never seen such perfect fruits! The best part is, I get to taste them too!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

08/22/2006 Tuesday at Chez

I only slept for 3 hours. I got home from Aqua at 1230 am. Usually I'm up for 2 hours more processing my day, what I did, how I did it and how I should keep doing it. It's a good habit to keep because it makes me remember what NOT to do as well

I was up at 630 to get ready for my day at Chez Panisse. I already know my routine down to the last minute. Get up at 630 (or 645 at the latest), leave the apt at 710 at the latest to make the 718 or the 724 train. Any train later than those trips won't get me to work in time. I get to Berkely at 734 then I walk for 10 minutes. I get to Chez's kitchen at 10 before 8 to get settled, grab a cup of coffee or tea and at 8am I get started.

Chef Mia Ponce taught me a lot about time management. I used to offer to come to work earlier because I was doing everything for the first time and I had no concept of how long each task should take. She suggested that it's better if I make it a habit to come in on time and work within schedule which I think makes the most sense. I work on my tasks from 8am to 1115 and certainly, everything can be done. It's good training too because it teaches to hussle. If I keep coming earlier than scheduled, the moment I come in on time then I'll be lagging behind because I'm so used to always having some extra time

Today though, I worked with Jehnee, a co-chef on training and Stacey, the sous chef who's chefing for the day.

I learn so much from everybody and it's good to learn how to work with different people comfortably. To each his own, they have their own style and own method of doing things and at the end of the day, I get to pick which style works for me the best.

On my list of To-do's today are:
1 - Bake off Catalan Creme Caramel (mix dark and light pouring caramel to make the base of the ramekin, pour the custard base without disturbing the caramel, torch the top to get rid of bubbles, pour water for the waterbath and make all 2 hotel pans of custards). I'm proud to say that I haven't had a major booboo in baking custards. The worst was when I forgot to torch them but they were getting cream on top so that's ok. I haven't over baked them or rushed them in the oven without water.

2 - Blanch and Peel Edilberta Peaches (from Matsumoto farms) for the Peach Crisp (I didn't know how to peel peaches before, today I figured out that in order to find out that they're ready for peeling, I should touch the skin and feel it come off from the flesh. They need to be shocked to keep the peaches from cooking). I never saw such beautiful fresh peaches before. They were nice and bright and juicy with hardly any bruising or molding

3 - Bake off Cookies to complement the desserts (I baked ginger snaps, pain d'almonds and orange almond tuile). I like how Jenny tells me to only make enough cookies for lunch service. With other cooks, I get asked to make as many as I can so the afternoon cook is already set for service but that's when I end up falling behind for my other projects

4 - Pick and clean Fig Leaves to line plates and copper bowls for fresh fruit service. It took me an hour when I did this the first time because i really didn't know what I was doing. After I figured it out, it only takes me 5-10 minutes. Yei!

5 - Puree berries for compote sauce and pick the berries for compote - I only got as far as pureeing. I didn't get to do everything because I had to learn how to bake off and mold the tuiles too.

By 1100 I started plating my cookies and the rest of the condiments and I started bringing the desserts upstairs. I like it that Jehnee pushes me to speed up and watches how much time I need to catch up on. I was done with everything I had to do in the morning by noon and was ready to get started on afternoon projects.

For projects I made:
1 - Cafe Chocolate Sauce (8c water, 4c sugar, 2c corn syrup, 6c coco powder, 1# bittersweet) - this is only half a batch because we didn't have enough corn syrup to make the whole batch.

2 - Fruit Stuffing (12 oz butter, 3/4c sugar, 8 yolks, 3c chopped nuts, 3c crushed amaretti cookies, 1/4c flour, Kiersh to taste), we put this in roasted peaches and they look like the pit. It's so good though. I added a pinch of salt after I added the Kiersh, salt brought out all the flavors of butter, nuts and amaretti cookies. I love it!

3 - 36 batch plain Ice Cream Base (1 1/2qt half and half, 4c sugar, 36 yolks, 3qt cream) I just love the ice cream at Chez. With fresh fruit puree or infusion, it's just sooo heavenly.

4 - Roll 110 Black Currant Chocolate Truffles - I have yet to get the recipe for this. I used to make the caramel struffles but this is a new one which is really delicious too. They can get so soft so they're not that easy to roll but they're really good. A splash of kiershe brings out the flavor or currant.

At the day's end, I just have to clean up, organize my station for the next person who will take the spot and photocopy new recipes. I get to go up to the bar to get a drink too. That's one of the things I like about Chez. Aside from really good and healthy family meals, I get to ask for a drink, almost anything I like from beer to apertif. Sometimes I just settle for a nice Italian soda.

Tomorrow is another exciting day for me at Aqua.

The best thing about working in more than one restaurant is learning how to jump from one kitchen to another not to mention jumping from savory to pastry and still get comfortable to get the job done.

08/21/2006 Monday at Aqua

I woke up at 10am, got my stuff ready, went for a run then changed for work.

I was at work early but there's not a lot of prep work to do since we got ourselves caught up with our shared mise en place over the weekend.

I got to work at 1:30. I working with Zak, a newbie the last couple of weeks and I think it's my responsibility to train him. He's been doing most of the knife work but today I decided to to the knife work so I can teach him how to prep the stuff we need to cook.

Cooking for Garde Mange is quite a challenge because the line is always busy doing their own prep work so it's a strugge to get a stove top. It's handy that our station has a little butane burner for small volume prep cooking but it's not at all times available.

For the knife work, I did the ff:
- microbrunois of peppers (fresno, habanero, jalapeno) for the classic tartar
- microchiffonade of herbs (basil, mint and cilantro) for the regular and classic tartar
- chive rings that garnishes a lot of things so I needed a good pint of it almost

I can proudly say that I've gotten pretty quick with my knife work. What used to take me 2 hours to prepare now takes me about half an hour.

While doing the knife work, I was training Zak to do the rest of the cooking stuff such as:
- Blini - make the batter, proof it, fold in the whites and run a tester
- Yellow Tomato Gazpacho - macerate tomatoes, puree, emulsify and season it for service
- Onion Tarts - cut puff pastry dough, braise and caramelize cippolino onions, build the tarts and bake them off

By 430 which is our target set up time, we still had quite a bit to do. I ended up doing the tarts, the blini and the gazpacho.

Blini proofed the blini batter but he left it uncovered so skin formed on top rendering it unusable for service. He was lagging behind his prep list of cutting pears and yolking quail eggs so I had to do the tarts and the gazpacho.

I'm proud of being able to manage my time to get my prep list done and still be able to assist somebody lagging behind.

I feel bad though because I think I'm not succeeding in teaching somebody what I do. I remember Chef Peter would always repeat himself, 'Namee, make sure this happens even on your days off.' He likes my work products and sets them as standard. And I take pride in that, the challenge now is transitioning that to the rest of the team.

Service went by smoothly anyhow.

Lessons learned:
- Being busy is never an excuse for underperforming, we're always busy as everybody else in the kitchen.
- Take time to explain how things are done exactly. Begin from getting to step 1 and go step by step from there, this is the only way to ensure that things are done right.
- Don't hesitate to repeat yourself or raise your voice, in most cases, it's necessary

Best Practice:
- INVENTORY (regularly) - It helped me get ready for service today because Chef Peter pushed us to make an inventory of everything on our shelf last night. Now I don't even have to take a second look, I knew exactly what was on the shelf
- Leave a LIST always to whoever you're transitioning a task to. IT REALLY HELPS to be aware

I'm getting anal with my lists though, just what I did for GM's closing inventory, it looks like I'll end up making a form for GM Shelf Inventory which I think I'm going to do right now.

Whew!

I'm off at Aqua tomorrow but I'm working at Chez Panisse tomorrow to do pastry. It's something to look forward too.

Monday, August 21, 2006

8/20/2006 Sunday at Aqua

Came in early, like noon, normally on weekends I come in at 130 but there's just so much to do today

Here's what I did between 1230 and 430, almost in this order
- blanch peas for pea soup
- make lemon oil
- make blini batter for caviar service
- macerate tomatoes for gazpacho
- cut and confit potatoes for terrine
- caramelize cippolini onions in gastrique
- make potato crisps for caviar service - this takes forever!
- make caramelized onion tarts for caviar amuse - cutout puff pastry dough and top it with onions and bake them to make the tarts
- make the gazpacho - process gazapacho in a blender, season and emulsify with EVOO
- proof the blini for 1 hour then beat the whites and fold them in then run a tester blini, Chef Peter liked it
- cook and pass eggs thru a tammy for caviar service
- supervise 2 other people working the station
- teach people the knife work that i've been taught
- make dill oil
- make small diced salmon for caviar service
- ice and set up station
- season corn and pea soup
- bring up proteins

* there seems to be so much to do today and I feel really bad not being able to catch up. I used to be able to do better and move faster. I'm just so off today and what really hurts me is that I feel like I was running below Chef Peter's expectations. I've proven myself before but I just seem to be under performing today and it hurts me.

I'll try my very best to be better tomorrow, passionate about what I do and indifferent with the people I may not like working with. After all, it shouldn't matter. I'll do whatever it takes to make Garde Mange work, it's my baby, who cares who's running it. Chef Peter already knows I can step up so I just have to live up to that expectation

It wasn't too busy today so we got some stuff done during service. Chef Peter made the Potato Terrine today. I normally make it but I just couldn't get it done, I had too much on my plate but, shouldn't I be able to manage?

Today, I feel like a competent cook but an incompetent leader. Zak and Nik are awesome people but they are at that stage where I was a few months ago, trying to perfect everything while trying to work within schedule. It's tough.

We were sort of set up by 430 but not as polished as I would like it, we were still running up and down the stairs for stuff we forgot to do. It's always my goal to get all set up and ready to fire by 430 even if service starts at 6pm. I used to be able to do it. We just didn't have enough stuff prepped to day so we pretty much had to do everything from scratch.

While running service we did some projects too like
- basil oil-blanched and processed with salad oil
- parsely oil-blanched and processed with salad oil
- macerate tomatoes for tomorrow- yellow tomatoes macerated in tomato water, champagne vinegar, with shallots, some garlic, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar
- onion chutney in port wine reduction
*it didnt come out as expected though because the onions were cut too small. Chef Peter wanted small dice and I didn't know too that onions had to be sweat first before being thrown into the port-redwine reduction
- shelf inventory
- make lemon peels for another batch of lemon oil

i think we could've done more, i was just really off today, i don't know why

i'm exhausted but somehow i'm looking forward to another challenging day tomorrow, the real challenge is working with someone i don't like. i think I can work with a moron OR an asshole but I can't work with one who's both... oh well... this is a true test of peopleskills. I can do this. I've dealt with worse situations before.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Homesick

It's a dream-come-true. I remember back when I was a little kid, my mom would always tell everybody how my dream was to become a waitress... while every other kid in my kindergarten class wanted to be a doctor, a laywer or an engineer... little did she know that what I really wanted to do was to work at a restaurant or have at least two of my own one day (one to make a name and another to make money (i mean, more money... *wink-wink*).

I've been fortunate to have been brought up in a conducive environment: Everybody's Cafe, the restaurant that my grandparents put up shortly after World War II. Our family history says that it was named as such because back in those days, there would be restaurants for the 'Allies' and the 'Non-Allies' so my grandparents decided to open one for everybody, thus the name Everybody's Cafe.

Everybody's Cafe has been my home. My parents said we lived elsewhere before moving to my grandparents' house which sits right on top of the restaurant but I vaguely remember those days.

I had little cooking pots and pans instead of barbies. I had little food scraps to play with instead of play dough. I played in a real kitchen. I could actually eat the food that I made.

I started working when I was about 6. My dad hired me as a sales person at his car accessories shop and paid me 20 pesos a day. I felt like I had a real job. I took it seriously. My grandmother pirated me to work as a cashier at her restaurant and paid me 50 pesos a day which was way more than my allowance so I get to buy myself some good stuff at a really young age. After a while, I wasn't exactly working as a cashier anymore. I would hangout at the restaurant, man my mom's little candy store, go with my uncle to the supermarket, help prep in the kitchen or simply make my own food.

A few years later, I went to college and almost forgot about my dream. I was pre-occupied completing my degree and getting the best job related to it. I took up MIS and got a job at Andersen Consulting, now called Accenture. It was then, and I think it still is one of the biggest and most prestigious international IT firms in the Philippines.

5 years later I decided to follow my heart. I left the firm in September of last year and flew to Chicago for culinary school. It may not be the most famous school but it was big enough to get my foot at the door. Of course it wasn't all that easy. I had to figure out funding, applied for any available scholarship and student loans including essay contests on the internet.

Finally, here I am, making my dream come true. I'm halfway thru school and interning at very good restaurants in California working with a few of my favorite things: Fish at Aqua and Desserts at Chez Panisse.

I've been working 7 days a week and rarely had time to think of missing home... but, now that I'm a little under the weather, it hit me hard, not only am I simply sick with a bad cold and a splitting headach, I'm actually homesick.

I'm missing the comforts of home. The corn soup that my mom makes out of white corn infused with leaves of chili, the dried herring that my dad fries and simmers in vinegar and sugar and the great home cooked stuff only found at Everybody's Cafe: Tsokolate Batirol made from freshly ground Cacao beans and peanuts, the Fiddlehead Fern salad with with red eggs and shrimp confit, the drippings collected from baking our original Morcon (a rich meatloaf made with my favorite Chorizo de Bilbao and other special seasoning), our very own Longganisa, sausage packed with lots of garlic and bits of pork fat, the ox tongue with white mushroom sauce, the bone marrow soup that my grandfather originally makes with corn and chickpeas (deadly!), the ox-tail stew with peanut sauce, the fried pork rind served with a cocktail of pickled garlic, carrots, shallots and bitter melons, the catfish with yellow ginger, the sweet and sour lapu-lapu filet (lapu-lapu is a red grouper with soft, white and delicate flesh), the fatty milkfish belly, the sour broth with 'ulang' (i don't know if there's a direct translation to those crustaceans, they look like a cross between a langoustine and a cray fish with a head bigger than the tail, but they come from fresh water), the taba ng talanka (crab fat that we squeeze, season and bottle for later use) that I simply eat with warm steamed milagrosa rice (small sweet grain that produces a very aromatic steam) or sometimes with angel hair pasta and sun dried tomatoes, the fried or steamed sweet fat blue crabs that we serve with green mango and tomato chutney...

I can't wait to eat them all again. Just thinking about them makes me feel better. Well, not really because now I'm getting hungry.

Some snapshots: