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