Yeah, we pretty much rock. Our Practical Exercise meal went superbly on Wednesday with all aspects being judged by Chef Sigi as excellent. And it WAS excellent, garnering a score of 89 out of a possible 90. Our end of phase test was also completed and passed easily by everyone, so we are now officially done with two-thirds of our course. Second Rotation is history. We now have a week of work for the late-summer version of the Grand Buffet and unlike the last one, no one has given us a clue about what we will be working on. So we will show up Monday morning with our gear and brilliance to pitch in and help the evening classes that have been practicing and prepping for a week now. I feel safe in saying it will likely be a lot of veggie cutting and dressing preparation, maybe even some mass-produced crepes or, since it's a Pacific Fusion theme, it may be won tons, egg rolls, and poke. Poke (pronounced PO-KEE) is one of my favorite Hawaiian foods. Cut up raw seafood (I prefer the ahi tuna) seasoned lightly or heavily depending on the fish, with onions, seaweed, sesame oil and seeds, some spices and Hawaiian salt. Dee-lish!
Tuesday was a little hectic with Chef Sigi out on an unscheduled doctors visit so the class had a pretty easy time with our one project, to produce a big batch of large muffins for the bake sale. It was an easy task, and with most of us sitting around bored, we wanted to get permission to bag the day and head home at 11 am. Trouble was we had no chef or administrator to ask, so we checked with Jim, the guy that does all the ordering and receiving for the school. I had always just assumed that he was a lower member of the staff, but when Jessica asked "Can you make the call on something like this? We really don't know where you stand in the scheme of things." Jim says "Well I think I can make that call, I own the school." HA! Joke's on us - the guy who is always around and no doubt hears all of our bitching and venting is The Boss! Enju and I (who, let's face it, don't have anything better to do) volunteered to stay and finish up the muffins while Jessica (who's mom was visiting) and Sandy were able to get out and make some use of the rest of the day.
By the way, those muffins were delectable but a little too moist because we were told to substitute mango puree for the dried sweet mango pieces...they took forever to cook and never really finished in the middle. I brought this up on Thursday when we were asked on the spur of the moment to make another batch. Chef Sigi made adjustments by eliminating 3/4 of the orange juice and over 1/2 of the mango puree, thereby solving the excess moisture problem but producing a muffin whose flavor was totally average. I'd have kept the flavor ingredients the same (since everyone agreed they tasted awesome) and increased the flour a bit to dry them out...just sayin.
Understanding that we were a little disappointed with the hit or miss supervision these last two weeks, school officials let us know that Chef Sigi is going back to the hospital Monday for an operation. This was sad news, as we've come to like Chef Sigi and his quirks very much. Get healthy, Chef, we'll see you in Third Rotation.
“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy, and to make plans.”- Ernest Hemingway
Friday, August 26, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Onions and thumbs...Making the cut.
Not a stellar week for the dedicated students in the Gros Bonnet class of December 2011. Oh, we made some very good dishes, got to have a little fun in the kitchen, and had some laughs, but Chef Sigi in the hospital and Sandy having a terrible personal week seemed to cast a pall over our activities. We were all saddened to hear that Sandy had lost a close family member last weekend and another was hospitalized, and we are sending what prayers and positive energy we can to her and her family.
Chef Klaus was our interim instructor for the week, and for the most part he was very helpful, pleasant, and in good spirits. His only brief piece of meanness was a biting comment that he inexplicably aimed at Sandy on Wednesday, when she was emotionally vulnerable. Maybe he wasn't fully aware of her family situation, or maybe he was trying to draw her focus to her kitchen work...whatever, it was pretty damned mean to make that his only sour comment for the week. The comments were followed a couple minutes later by Sandy cutting her thumb badly (I suppose no one ever cuts their thumb well) while cutting cabbage. She survived thanks to a quick response from Jessica and an expedient dressing applied by Chef Klaus. The doctor gave her five stitches on Thursday (thereby disproving Chef's observation that it "wasn't too bad") and with that slice she stole my class record for most blood lost on a single cut.
I don't mean to criticize other people's misfortune, but when Sandy's cut occurred, instead of heading (logically) for the sink, she strolled out of the kitchen and into the dining area where she sat on the floor and bled. A fine and colorful puddle of blood that impressed me with it's healthy shine and mopped up easily.
There's a right way and several wrong ways to dice an onion. The right way involves trimming the root end, slicing in half, and scoring to form even sized pieces before dicing. Working on a recipe, Jessica came across a partially-cut large onion. The end had been entirely cut off, and odd angle cuts had been made in several places. She showed it to us and we wondered what moron in the evening class had hacked that poor onion. Because it was so big, I used up the rest of the onion the next day, chopping it for a lamb braise. I pointed out again how terrible the cutting technique was, and Enju piped up that SHE had cut that onion. When Jessica laughed and said "YOU cut that onion?" Enju replied "Who else would cut it like that?"
On Thursday Chef Sigi stopped by the kitchen, and it was very good to see him up and getting around, even if a little gingerly. Seems his hospital procedure went well, and he'll be back with us next week. Chef Klaus left on Thursday for his big biker adventure, so we won't see him until our last rotation in his Hot Kitchen I. That left us supervised by Robin, our Kitchen Manager. He pretty much let us loose with a couple recipes that Chef Klaus had left us and kicked in a few really good pieces of advice, so the end of the week went pretty smoothly.
This weekend brings happiness as Wendy comes home from her six-week school and vacation trip to Washington D.C., Wisconsin, and Alaska. She suggested, and I was sorely tempted to play hooky for a week and join her up north but my total dedication to my school work (in addition to ridiculous airfares) kept me at home. We'll get in some vacation when the schooling is done.
Just got me thinking...for good or bad:
GOOD: Warren Buffett offers up the outrageous notion that the super-rich could pay a little more in taxes.
Ya think? His maid pays a higher tax rate than he does. Our system is just wrong.
BAD: "Whisker Wars" - A reality show about growing facial hair. Ho-ly shit. I met some of the contestants a couple years ago at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage.
The secret of their success? Don't shave.
GOOD: The just-released remake of one of my favorite movies of the 80s, Fright Night . The movie rocked, and I never thought I would be impressed with Colin Farrell, but he was excellent.
BAD: "Hunters" that I saw while channel-flipping. Here's the truth: If you are inside a fence, regardless how big the area is, it's a ranch...you might as well be shooting cattle. If a guide shows you where
to hunt, scouts the animals for you, or tells you what animal to take, you are not a hunter, you're a shooter. Oh yeah...Only an asshole goes to another continent to kill an animal.
“When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one’s ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.”- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Chef Klaus was our interim instructor for the week, and for the most part he was very helpful, pleasant, and in good spirits. His only brief piece of meanness was a biting comment that he inexplicably aimed at Sandy on Wednesday, when she was emotionally vulnerable. Maybe he wasn't fully aware of her family situation, or maybe he was trying to draw her focus to her kitchen work...whatever, it was pretty damned mean to make that his only sour comment for the week. The comments were followed a couple minutes later by Sandy cutting her thumb badly (I suppose no one ever cuts their thumb well) while cutting cabbage. She survived thanks to a quick response from Jessica and an expedient dressing applied by Chef Klaus. The doctor gave her five stitches on Thursday (thereby disproving Chef's observation that it "wasn't too bad") and with that slice she stole my class record for most blood lost on a single cut.
I don't mean to criticize other people's misfortune, but when Sandy's cut occurred, instead of heading (logically) for the sink, she strolled out of the kitchen and into the dining area where she sat on the floor and bled. A fine and colorful puddle of blood that impressed me with it's healthy shine and mopped up easily.
There's a right way and several wrong ways to dice an onion. The right way involves trimming the root end, slicing in half, and scoring to form even sized pieces before dicing. Working on a recipe, Jessica came across a partially-cut large onion. The end had been entirely cut off, and odd angle cuts had been made in several places. She showed it to us and we wondered what moron in the evening class had hacked that poor onion. Because it was so big, I used up the rest of the onion the next day, chopping it for a lamb braise. I pointed out again how terrible the cutting technique was, and Enju piped up that SHE had cut that onion. When Jessica laughed and said "YOU cut that onion?" Enju replied "Who else would cut it like that?"
On Thursday Chef Sigi stopped by the kitchen, and it was very good to see him up and getting around, even if a little gingerly. Seems his hospital procedure went well, and he'll be back with us next week. Chef Klaus left on Thursday for his big biker adventure, so we won't see him until our last rotation in his Hot Kitchen I. That left us supervised by Robin, our Kitchen Manager. He pretty much let us loose with a couple recipes that Chef Klaus had left us and kicked in a few really good pieces of advice, so the end of the week went pretty smoothly.
This weekend brings happiness as Wendy comes home from her six-week school and vacation trip to Washington D.C., Wisconsin, and Alaska. She suggested, and I was sorely tempted to play hooky for a week and join her up north but my total dedication to my school work (in addition to ridiculous airfares) kept me at home. We'll get in some vacation when the schooling is done.
Just got me thinking...for good or bad:
GOOD: Warren Buffett offers up the outrageous notion that the super-rich could pay a little more in taxes.
Ya think? His maid pays a higher tax rate than he does. Our system is just wrong.
BAD: "Whisker Wars" - A reality show about growing facial hair. Ho-ly shit. I met some of the contestants a couple years ago at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage.
The secret of their success? Don't shave.
GOOD: The just-released remake of one of my favorite movies of the 80s, Fright Night . The movie rocked, and I never thought I would be impressed with Colin Farrell, but he was excellent.
BAD: "Hunters" that I saw while channel-flipping. Here's the truth: If you are inside a fence, regardless how big the area is, it's a ranch...you might as well be shooting cattle. If a guide shows you where
to hunt, scouts the animals for you, or tells you what animal to take, you are not a hunter, you're a shooter. Oh yeah...Only an asshole goes to another continent to kill an animal.
“When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one’s ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.”- Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Get Well, Chef Sigi!
This was a week that started slow and ended that way too. Monday our class consisted of Enju and Myself, with Sandy and Jessica returning to Hawaii that afternoon from a long weekend in Chicago working in the VIP hospitality tent at the Lollapalooza Rock Concert. They worked a lot of hours, made a little money, and didn't get much time off for partying at the big event. But they got to get off-Island for a few days and enjoy the heat and humidity of the Midwest, so that's something. Back in class on Tuesday, Sandy let it be known that a Food Network Star (host of a very popular travelling food-related show) had approached her with a possible job offer in California, with his manager following up over the next few days. She's very excited about the possibilities and has been in touch with them through this week...more details as they develop.
So Monday was sort of a bust with only Enju and I there and Chef Sigi running late for class. We were to find out that the doctors appointment he attended to that morning resulted in his being admitted to the hospital for tests on Wednesday and lasting into next week. We certainly hope things turn out OK for him, he's a nice guy and keeps our kitchen time fun.
So some shifts were made in the staffing, with Kitchen Manager Robin taking over Chef Klaus' classroom duties while Chef Klaus came downstairs to supervise our Hot Kitchen II. The week ended well, with a focus on English foods like beef pie and some oddly-cooked green beans. We roasted up red and yellow bell peppers for a delicious roasted pepper cream soup, and onion-smothered a traditional Salisbury steak.
Although there were a few uneasy comments when we found out that Chef Klaus was going to run our kitchen for a couple weeks (remember the discord he sometimes brings on), the week went well and he and the class seemed in pretty good spirits. I know the reason Chef was feeling pretty good, he's heading to Florida next week to pick up his new Harley-Davidson three-wheel motorcycle and make a 4,000 mile journey across the U.S. with his wife. He's pretty much bursting with excitement and quick to chat about his trip and his motorcycle and his biker history in California, where he (quote) "Had a loose affiliation with the Hell's Angels many years ago." He wasn't in the Club, but he hung out with them. An Old School biker, he's been riding since the early 1960s, mostly on the West Coast.
A new class has started, again reminding us that we are inching closer to the end of our time here. A large class of 13 that will no doubt be smaller in the coming months, they hustle in to class and take up a lot of parking at the school. Best of luck to them.
So Chef Sigi sat with us for some test study on Tuesday before he left, then Chef Klaus went over the same study material on Wednesday and came up with different answers to most of the questions, leaving us in a state of WTF? about the test for this phase that we will be taking next week. The big thing is that it's Chef Sigi's test, and he's supposed to be back this week, but Chef Klaus' answers made more sense...I guess we'll have to wait and see. Here's a weird thought: A standard test based on our book and instruction that we can all agree is correct, and not subject to the opinion of one or another chef. Radical notion, eh? I'm wacky that way.
Wishing the best for Chef Sigi and hoping his hospital time gets him back into good health. Also sending out good vibes for Jessica's cat that underwent surgery last week and is recovering now. Get Better!
Stupid Stuff:
The country just got through the first part of this 'Debt Ceiling" Bullshit, the economy can't seem to get out of the crapper, and oh yeah, we're still at war...but the biggest headlines are about millionaire football players that don't want to practice more than once a week during the 1/2 year that they "work". AND THEY WON!
Some big-butted reality TV whore's fake marriage to some ex-millionaire ballplayer is not one, but THREE episodes of television.
"Hillbilly Handfishing" - I'm not even joking here...a TV show about pot-gutted, backward, southern clods that look like the road crew from "Deliverance-The Musical" take tourists wading in the pristine mud and slime of polluted southern rivers to grope for catfish.
Guess what, tourists? Catfish not only eat a lot of dead things, but they also eat the shit those dead things shat before they died. Coat THAT in cornmeal and fry it up, Junior.
I feel a rant coming on, so I'll stop here. Have a good week, everybody!
“Anybody can make you enjoy the first bite of a dish, but only a real chef can make you enjoy the last.”Francois Minot
So Monday was sort of a bust with only Enju and I there and Chef Sigi running late for class. We were to find out that the doctors appointment he attended to that morning resulted in his being admitted to the hospital for tests on Wednesday and lasting into next week. We certainly hope things turn out OK for him, he's a nice guy and keeps our kitchen time fun.
So some shifts were made in the staffing, with Kitchen Manager Robin taking over Chef Klaus' classroom duties while Chef Klaus came downstairs to supervise our Hot Kitchen II. The week ended well, with a focus on English foods like beef pie and some oddly-cooked green beans. We roasted up red and yellow bell peppers for a delicious roasted pepper cream soup, and onion-smothered a traditional Salisbury steak.
Although there were a few uneasy comments when we found out that Chef Klaus was going to run our kitchen for a couple weeks (remember the discord he sometimes brings on), the week went well and he and the class seemed in pretty good spirits. I know the reason Chef was feeling pretty good, he's heading to Florida next week to pick up his new Harley-Davidson three-wheel motorcycle and make a 4,000 mile journey across the U.S. with his wife. He's pretty much bursting with excitement and quick to chat about his trip and his motorcycle and his biker history in California, where he (quote) "Had a loose affiliation with the Hell's Angels many years ago." He wasn't in the Club, but he hung out with them. An Old School biker, he's been riding since the early 1960s, mostly on the West Coast.
A new class has started, again reminding us that we are inching closer to the end of our time here. A large class of 13 that will no doubt be smaller in the coming months, they hustle in to class and take up a lot of parking at the school. Best of luck to them.
So Chef Sigi sat with us for some test study on Tuesday before he left, then Chef Klaus went over the same study material on Wednesday and came up with different answers to most of the questions, leaving us in a state of WTF? about the test for this phase that we will be taking next week. The big thing is that it's Chef Sigi's test, and he's supposed to be back this week, but Chef Klaus' answers made more sense...I guess we'll have to wait and see. Here's a weird thought: A standard test based on our book and instruction that we can all agree is correct, and not subject to the opinion of one or another chef. Radical notion, eh? I'm wacky that way.
Wishing the best for Chef Sigi and hoping his hospital time gets him back into good health. Also sending out good vibes for Jessica's cat that underwent surgery last week and is recovering now. Get Better!
Stupid Stuff:
The country just got through the first part of this 'Debt Ceiling" Bullshit, the economy can't seem to get out of the crapper, and oh yeah, we're still at war...but the biggest headlines are about millionaire football players that don't want to practice more than once a week during the 1/2 year that they "work". AND THEY WON!
Some big-butted reality TV whore's fake marriage to some ex-millionaire ballplayer is not one, but THREE episodes of television.
"Hillbilly Handfishing" - I'm not even joking here...a TV show about pot-gutted, backward, southern clods that look like the road crew from "Deliverance-The Musical" take tourists wading in the pristine mud and slime of polluted southern rivers to grope for catfish.
Guess what, tourists? Catfish not only eat a lot of dead things, but they also eat the shit those dead things shat before they died. Coat THAT in cornmeal and fry it up, Junior.
I feel a rant coming on, so I'll stop here. Have a good week, everybody!
“Anybody can make you enjoy the first bite of a dish, but only a real chef can make you enjoy the last.”Francois Minot
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Sacher-To-Me Time
As the class worked on our Bake Shop projects today, we were treated to the expletive-laced commentary from Chef Klaus' hot kitchen as the students in the class ahead of ours produced their evaluation meal for their third and final rotation through his domain. Comforting to know that we aren't the only ones treated to Chef Klaus' "tough love". They seemed to be fine at the end of the day, and shared a big plate of their evaluation meal with us (I understand that they got the equivalent of a "C") that was very good. Our production for this week has been varied, with the highlights being a very satisfying cheesecake, a moist and tasty chocolate chiffon cake, and a very dense, heavy treat called a Sacher (pronounced soccer) Torte that is very popular throughout Europe. These combined with our practice in layer cake building and icing kept us just marginally busy so there was plenty of time to prepare our Bake Shop Recipe Books (yes, another A+ for yours truly) and to listen to Jessica and Sandy chat excitedly about their trip to Chicago this weekend to work in the VIP tent of the Lollapalooza Rock Festival (http://www.lollapalooza.com/). Seems Sandy is friends with the organizers of the event and arranged for Jessica to join her working the bar for the bands. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to get video of one of their hand-holding, jumping up and down, giggling and squealing "We're going to Chicago!" spells that overtook them off and on throughout the week.
They will not be back until Tuesday, and I've no doubt they will manage to have a good time.
That does mean, though, that Enju and I will be the only students in Chef Sigi's Hot Kitchen II on Monday, so I expect to be very busy if we try to produce an entire day of production. Hoping for the best.
A little change of pace in the Bake Shop this week, as a break from working in teams for most of our projects we were given the simple formula for pastry cream (that tasty vanilla pudding that goes into eclairs, cream puffs, etc...) and had to produce it with no input from Chef Chad. To add some interest, we had a competition wherein we all blind tasted the results and voted for the best batch. In some sort of crazy mis-alignment of the stars I did not win (it may have been the less-than-velvety-smoothness of my cream). Sandy had the hands-down winning pastry cream and as a prize gets full points for everything this week, which is good, since she lost a couple points for leaving a day early to run off to Chicago and work with the circus.
With my mom visiting this week it's been a WOO-HOO! sort of party atmosphere at home. We've had some fun and I've learned that with the proper research you can find an episode of NCIS at almost any time of the day. I feel very guilty about leaving her alone at the house as I go to class each day and that is odd, since it never seemed to bother me when I was in High School. I do appreciate her patience and will make it up to her this weekend as we get out and about for some tasty eats, an ATV tour, a trip to the beach, and probably a couple movies she wants to see. It's nice to have some company with Wendy still on the Mainland and the feeling of security I get from having someone awake in the house at 4 A.M. is nice. Here's a tip, Mom...if you stay up past 8:30 at night, you can sleep beyond 4 in the morning. Just sayin.
Tomorrow will see us parting ways with our Advanced Pastry students. Robert, Aurora, and Lei will be with Chef Chad for three more weeks and then move up to the advanced evening course for 36 weeks. They'll do fine and hopefully we'll be seeing them in the coming months.
I try my best to pass on the knowledge and wisdom I've accumulated over the many long years of my life. One of the best pieces of advice I can give is:
Carry a box.
On class days we stay pretty busy, but there are times that you just want to relax and get out of the kitchen flow for a few minutes. The most commonly used place for these unofficial breaks is the sink, where the pots, pans, and dishes are always being cleaned up. Trouble is, there's only room for one person to work at the sink, so there's a bit of competition to spend a little "clean up time" there. This is especially true when the Chef is angry or in a pissy mood...the sink is something of a refuge, even if the same pan gets cleaned several times. We were laughing about "sink time" yesterday and it prompted me to tell these young people about my days working the gun counter at Bass Pro Shop in Virginia. Here is the sum of my sage advice:
When it isn't always busy, workers tend to gather and shoot the breeze which isn't usually well thought of by the boss...so it's important to LOOK like you are busy. If you carry a box, you look busy. Big or small, empty or full, doesn't matter. A guy with a box...well, he's doing something. Or he's about to do something. Or he just got done doing something. Point is, he has a box, which is like a cloak of invisibility for slackers. Going to another work station to talk to a buddy? Carry a box. And don't saunter, walk smartly. A guy walking smartly with a box is on a mission and will pass unmolested. It's magical.
In the kitchen we have towels that we carry to dry hands, wipe tables, pick up hot pans, etc... While not as effective as a box (I think because we all carry them), if properly used they can be very effective. The key is to USE the towel. As you walk from area to area, wipe your hands (whether they're wet or not), wipe the counter(whether it needs it or not), or just shake the towel out and re-fold it...you can walk around doing nothing for a long time (I've experimented) without catching any flack from the Chef.
So for God's sake don't just lean on the counter looking bored. Carry a box, use your towel, continually shuffle useless papers, adapt the concept to your own work environment. Take this insight my friends, and run with it. You're welcome.
Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better. Robert Redford
They will not be back until Tuesday, and I've no doubt they will manage to have a good time.
That does mean, though, that Enju and I will be the only students in Chef Sigi's Hot Kitchen II on Monday, so I expect to be very busy if we try to produce an entire day of production. Hoping for the best.
A little change of pace in the Bake Shop this week, as a break from working in teams for most of our projects we were given the simple formula for pastry cream (that tasty vanilla pudding that goes into eclairs, cream puffs, etc...) and had to produce it with no input from Chef Chad. To add some interest, we had a competition wherein we all blind tasted the results and voted for the best batch. In some sort of crazy mis-alignment of the stars I did not win (it may have been the less-than-velvety-smoothness of my cream). Sandy had the hands-down winning pastry cream and as a prize gets full points for everything this week, which is good, since she lost a couple points for leaving a day early to run off to Chicago and work with the circus.
With my mom visiting this week it's been a WOO-HOO! sort of party atmosphere at home. We've had some fun and I've learned that with the proper research you can find an episode of NCIS at almost any time of the day. I feel very guilty about leaving her alone at the house as I go to class each day and that is odd, since it never seemed to bother me when I was in High School. I do appreciate her patience and will make it up to her this weekend as we get out and about for some tasty eats, an ATV tour, a trip to the beach, and probably a couple movies she wants to see. It's nice to have some company with Wendy still on the Mainland and the feeling of security I get from having someone awake in the house at 4 A.M. is nice. Here's a tip, Mom...if you stay up past 8:30 at night, you can sleep beyond 4 in the morning. Just sayin.
Tomorrow will see us parting ways with our Advanced Pastry students. Robert, Aurora, and Lei will be with Chef Chad for three more weeks and then move up to the advanced evening course for 36 weeks. They'll do fine and hopefully we'll be seeing them in the coming months.
I try my best to pass on the knowledge and wisdom I've accumulated over the many long years of my life. One of the best pieces of advice I can give is:
Carry a box.
On class days we stay pretty busy, but there are times that you just want to relax and get out of the kitchen flow for a few minutes. The most commonly used place for these unofficial breaks is the sink, where the pots, pans, and dishes are always being cleaned up. Trouble is, there's only room for one person to work at the sink, so there's a bit of competition to spend a little "clean up time" there. This is especially true when the Chef is angry or in a pissy mood...the sink is something of a refuge, even if the same pan gets cleaned several times. We were laughing about "sink time" yesterday and it prompted me to tell these young people about my days working the gun counter at Bass Pro Shop in Virginia. Here is the sum of my sage advice:
When it isn't always busy, workers tend to gather and shoot the breeze which isn't usually well thought of by the boss...so it's important to LOOK like you are busy. If you carry a box, you look busy. Big or small, empty or full, doesn't matter. A guy with a box...well, he's doing something. Or he's about to do something. Or he just got done doing something. Point is, he has a box, which is like a cloak of invisibility for slackers. Going to another work station to talk to a buddy? Carry a box. And don't saunter, walk smartly. A guy walking smartly with a box is on a mission and will pass unmolested. It's magical.
In the kitchen we have towels that we carry to dry hands, wipe tables, pick up hot pans, etc... While not as effective as a box (I think because we all carry them), if properly used they can be very effective. The key is to USE the towel. As you walk from area to area, wipe your hands (whether they're wet or not), wipe the counter(whether it needs it or not), or just shake the towel out and re-fold it...you can walk around doing nothing for a long time (I've experimented) without catching any flack from the Chef.
So for God's sake don't just lean on the counter looking bored. Carry a box, use your towel, continually shuffle useless papers, adapt the concept to your own work environment. Take this insight my friends, and run with it. You're welcome.
Health food may be good for the conscience but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better. Robert Redford
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