Thursday, December 4, 2008

Monster Mega-Post: Beware!

I want to apologize in advance of this long post. But enjoy, nevertheless.

Monday and Tuesday of this week were not all that busy at TR. However, due to the down time and the slow post-Thanksgiving weekend, I was pretty productive. This weekend I rolled around 150 springrolls and nearly 200 potstickers. I also got to try my hand at making the Marionberry Crostadas. D. made the filling, but I made the crust and formed the crostadas, which Chef. J. said were "beautiful". Then the owner A. said the "look good and small even better!" This was after I had pulled them from the oven, the Marionberry filling bubbling slightly and the edges of the crust a nice golden hue. So that made me feel pretty good, to be sure.

In other food news, I tried my hand at cooking with the wok Tuesday night. I made myself Mongolian Scallion Beef. Delicious! I mean, it's not ready to be served to paying guests, but it's far from awful. I didn't quite get all the sauce distributed properly, but that's okay for the first time. I learned that it is a lot harder to flip food in a wok than in a saute pan. Here's a quick step-by-step on how we make this dish:
1) Heat 3 spoonfulls of oil in wok (btw, the spoons probably measure a cup each). While heating, get 10 oz. of pre-dredged beef and a large handful of scallions, cut 1" long.
2) Oil velvet (i.e. fry in the wok) beef. Use the wok spoon (maybe more of a shovel) to keep beef separated while cooking.
3) Drain wok, keeping beef on the side. Saute garlic, dried chilis, and chili flakes.
4) Add in about half a spoon of Dark Sauce (our house sauce which I make), and 3 T sugar. Stir until caramelized.
5) Toss in beef and scallions. Toss to coat beef in sauce.
6) Serve over or beside rice.

This dish doesn't have a lot of complexity to it; rather, it's the speed at which all this occurs that makes this a tough dish to cook. I think I did okay for my first time though. And I'm getting better at cleaning the wok too. Baby steps.

Something else I learned this week, not TR menu related, is about snakes in China. Chef M. (who pronounces snake "snaket") was telling me that the majority of snakes in China prefer the southern (more tropical) regions of China, especially cobras. Yikes! Did you know that snakes HATE the smell of mint?! They will not slither through mint plants, they would rather go around. Also, for non-venomous snake bites Chinese medicine dictates making a dressing out of mint leaves to apply to the bite. Supposed to be very helpful and curative. Also, cobra soup is supposed to be extremely healthy in Chinese medicine, even to the point of healing osteoporosis (sp?) and arthritis. Chef M. said that's why cobra soup is so expensive...

When there is a lot of down time in the kitchen and there isn't a whole lot of prep to do, I clean. Tuesday I cleaned the freezer, walk-in refrigerator, butcher table, front line, pantry area, and then some. But I would like to remind you that I don't do windows. Or dogs. Sorry.

And a final not, we got a new beer on tap this week, for those that are interested. It is Mac & Jack's African Amber. This is one of my personal favorite beers. So I'm excited about that...

Hope you enjoyed and/or learned something from this rather large post. Happy December!

-K.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

TR Catering

Last night we had our first catering gig in our reception area upstairs. It was for a wedding reception with around 130 guests. We made linguine with roasted chicken and pesto, pork spring rolls, our house salad, and braised chicken with roasted parsnips. All the food went really quickly and there weren't any complaints that I heard. The wedding party was very grateful. It was pretty hectic and crazy for a while (they wanted the food to be served right around the dinner rush in the main dining area of the restaurant). Crazy busy! But we made it through with relatively few setbacks. I now have a small sense of how catering an event may work. I think next time we cater an event, we'll do better because we'll have more details and methods worked out. I'm kind of excited to do it again!

And a group of my friends came in for dinner last night. It was fun to see them, though I didn't get to chat too much because of how busy we were. But it was still nice to see them. Kind of made my day.

Peace.

-K.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Kinda gross...

This week I learned how to clean out the deep fryer. Wow, gross.

First I drained all the old oil into a huge stockpot, then had to push and scrape all the sunken bits through the drain too. I had to use a bent-up clothes hanger to reach all the way down into the bottom of the fryer.

After emptying the stockpot into a HUGE oil drum outside (with help from my boss because the stockpot was way too heavy for one person), next came the buckets of hot soapy water, metal scrubber, and long Homer-Simpson-ish gloves. Scrubbing all the little bits off the sides of the fryer was gross, especially when one particularly stubborn piece came up and hit me in the face. Jerk of a tidbit!

After washing all the soapy water out and emptying the stockpot again, it was time to fill the fryer back up with fresh oil. The jugs of oil probably weigh around 25 lbs each, and it takes two full jugs to fill the fryer. Hooray!

But on the bright side, Chef J said that's the cleanest he's ever seen the deep fryer since we opened almost four months ago. On the other hand, he's been so impressed with my cleaning that sometimes I fear I'll become more of the cleaner/dish washer and less of the prep cook. Nah, I don't really think that'll happen...or at least I hope not...

And just in case you're wondering, I don't clean windows or bathrooms.

Have a happy holiday season!

-K.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

TR has a website!

www.terracottaredbistro.com

My cousin found this before I did! Thanks!

Just letting you know.

K.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Woah Lamb Shank

That's what I had for dinner tonight. A curry spiced lamb shank, with cannelini (sp?) beans and sauted kale. It was super good. It is one of the new items on our menu that came out yesterday. It's also one of the more expensive items... Still delicious, though.

Some of the other items looked really interesting as well. We have some items I've never worked with before, like swordfish, mahi mahi, scallops, muscles (insert no-muscles-for-me joke here), lamb, kale, swiss chard, tempora batter, marionberry compote, and other things that I can't think of right now.

Today I made the new crostada dessert (little pastries with a marionberry and apple topping) from start to finish. I also made the deep fried ice cream (tempora ice cream). Showing some faith in me, Chef J told me to make the springroll filling and the peanut sauce (for the chicken skewers); he never even came back to check up on me, and then he said "nice." That's a winner in my book. Oh, and I made the bread pudding yet again, and today's was probably the best one I've made. It looked soooooo good. Yum.

Anywho, I just wanted to share a few things, especially about our new menu items. Come on in and check it out!

K.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Just Real Quick

This weekend was super busy. We're in the process of changing our menu to keep it fresh and interesting. Goodbye are the chocolate espresso tarts, the pan roasted chicken, and the pork tenderloin; say hello to the marionberry and roasted apple tartlettes, a new breaded chicken dish (I haven't seen this one yet), and a lamb shank. I got to try the tartlette tonight, and it was so good! We've got a few disagreements on the presentation, but it was so tasty! Oh, and we've changed our house salad dressing from a coconut-anise vinegrette to a new Japanese-style miso dressing. Very tasty. I'm a fan.

Quick recap of the last couple week or so:

On Monday Chef J was in a great mood, which makes working with him a LOT easier. He was in such a good mood that we played a bit of frisbee with a prep plate (smallish metal pans similar to pie plates)! So funny. He's not too good at throwing, but he's passable at catching. It was a good time.

Tuesday, election day, my parents and some close family friends came in for dinner. Chef J of course sent them an extra appetizer, just because he knew it was my mom's favorite. And later, to help celebrate my dad's upcoming birthday, Chef J sent out a little treat he's been thinking about adding to the menu. It was a kind of deep-fried ice cream, wrapped in leftover bread pudding crust and served with a fresh strawberry puree. Absolutely fantastic. I'm not sure if it'll be part of the menu, but I sure hope it is!

Thursday was supposed to be an off day for me, but I got called in to prep for the new menu. I didn't learn much about the new menu, but that's okay. It was also really busy for dinner, so it was good that I was there to help support the other three cooks.

Friday was insanely busy! Lunch, happy hour(s), and dinner were all really crazy. We seemed to be running out of things right and left, and I felt as slow as a sloth, barely able to keep up with the others. In some cases, one of the cooks had to come back, muscle me out of the way, and finish my project because I wasn't getting it done fast enough. Yikes! But later Chef J said that I cleaned up really well after the dinner rush(es). So bring on the grains of salt!

Today (Saturday) was not quite as busy as the previous night, but still constant. And this time, though I felt more tired than Friday, I was able to keep up much better with the demands and requests of the others, from the dishwasher to the head chef. The sous chef, D, even told me that I did great tonight. That certainly felt good. As did one of Chef J's former coworkers, also owner of his own restaurant, who stopped by for dinner. He said that he didn't want to eat anywhere but at TR with Chef J cooking. And knowing that I helped prep Chef J for his success was encouraging.

Today also marked the three month mark of TR being open and my employment at my first job after college. Good times.

Peace and healthy appetites,

K.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Took me long enough, eh?

Below are a few pictures of the restaurant and my workspace. Some of my readers have been requesting these for quite a while, and so finally, here they are.

The first is the prep and storage area of the kitchen. You can see the huge butcher (and really all-purpose) table that I work at most often, the huge freezer, and in the way back is the pantry area. To the right is our walk-in refrigerator; I try to stay out of there because, well, it's cold.
Next is the actual cooking area. My station is the grill, stove, and deep fryer area, along with the cooler looking thing on the near-right side. The wok stations are farther down. Usually there are only three of us in that small space, though on busy nights, there are often all four of us cooks in there.

The final two are the dining rooms: the Chef Room and the main Dining Room. Those are bamboo tables which are very sturdy and very easy to clean. Great combo!

Okay, enough words, on the the pictures:



There you have it, a quick snapshot of my workplace (well, four snapshots I suppose...).

Thanks again for reading. Hope to see you at one of those tables soon!

K.

Happy Birthday! Let's Eat!

Today I celebrated 4 birthdays, all around a full table. In the morning we celebrated birthdays for two of the men in my family. I made the coconut creme caramels that I also make at TR. They were delicious. Mom made amazing cinnamon rolls. Yum! Add to that a crisp fruit salad, bacon, sausage, and a fabulous egg and ham dish, and you've got a great meal, topped off with an orange julius drink and freshly brewed coffee. Delightful. Celebrating family around food, I can think of very few things I would rather be doing. Great.

Then at work in the afternoon, we celebrated two of the cooks' birthdays, Chef M and D. The owners had bought Chef M a cake, and I brought lemoncello for the family/staff to try. So we ate, sang, and toasted to our two birthday boys. Happy happy birthday, to the max.

Since it is fall now, and squash are in great supply, it was decided to decorate TR with a few squashes and fall colors. Chef J and one of the managers, B, schemed together to make artistic representations of the kitchen staff via four small squash and my Sharpie pen. So I, D, Chef J, and Chef M have our likenesses depicted on squash. How funny. Below is a photo of these examples of the fun and family that TR has.


I'm the one of the far right, the angry looking pumpkin. Chef J said that the pumpkin persona is my alter ego, because he's never seen me angry at work. Phew!

That's especially good news since I have my 3-month review coming up next weekend. I'm a bit nervous and anxious about it, but I'm also quite optimistic. I have been blessed to be a part of the TR family and community. When I consider how my degree didn't land me this job, and my vast (?) experience didn't land me this job, and with the economy in such a tough time, and the job market being scarce, I wonder what it is that allowed me to land this job. Luck? Perhaps. Timing? Possibly. Something bigger than myself? I sure feel that way sometimes. Take that as you will.

Speaking of celebrating with family, some family friends came in to the restaurant tonight. I hadn't seen two of them in quite some time; I hadn't even met some of the others they brought along. They had the Calamari (one of their favorites), Spring rolls (one of my favorites), and the Walnut Prawns (now one of our shared favorites, though I have to try to avoid the walnuts due to allergy concerns...). Yet another example of food and family being shared and enjoyed.

Finally, I want to share about an article that was in my former school's weekly newspaper. The article I'm refering to was about a Mexican restaurant very near campus, one which I have come to love and adore over my four years at the university. Family owned and operated, this restaurant invites you in, cooks for you, often sings for you, and cares for you like you were visiting their home. Again, food and family, being shared and celebrated.

Thanks for reading my blob, as someone near and dear to my heart called it. Love you.

Go, Eat, and Celebrate,

K.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Like Woah!

It's been a busy time at TR. My hours have been expanded, and I'm feeling the physical and emotional aspects of that. I've worked about 43 hours in the last five days. And at least five more hours tomorrow. And then a day off. And then if starts over again. So that's good (money money money money) and bad (tired, sore, stressed, hungry). But mostly good. As a family friend told me recently, "Just be a duck." Meaning that I should just let the frustrations and stresses of my job roll off me like water off a duck. I think it's a good metaphor and good advice.

As some of you may have noticed, blogging isn't happening as often as I first thought it would. Part of that is because I'm lazy on my days off, and part of it is that I'm feeling pretty comfortable at TR in my position, so they huge exciting things aren't really there any more. They've become normal, every-week stuff. Like working double-digit shifts. Or playing peek-a-boo with the owners' infant son. Or messing up a dessert (usually over-baking or just plain spilling) just to make it again. Then there are other things, like having people come up to thank the cooks for a delicious meal, especially the appetizers and desserts (hey, that's what I do! Woohoo!). It's always nice to hear that my friends and family like my (and the restaurant's) food; likewise, it's just as nice to hear that from a complete and total stranger. Sweet deal.

Well, my energy is falling once again. I hope to blog more in the next few days. I took notes on some stories I wanted to share.

Quack quack,

K.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Quick Update(s)

Last week the county health inspector came by the restaurant for our quarterly review. We passed with 100%. Pretty good, me thinks.

Published today was our first newspaper review in the Herald! I encourage you to read it (http://heraldnet.com/article/20081010/ENT/710109984).

My coworkers continue to make me laugh. Chef M came up to me today and asked how much I weighed. He made a guess, and was only five pounds off. He said he was close and walked away. Completely random, but it made me laugh.

I made salmon cakes today. Fifty-nine of them.

Chef J shops at Central Market on Fridays. Little trivia fun for you.

The dishwasher (or DW as I call her) was singing today. She does that when she thinks no one else is in the back kitchen. But being the sneaky quasi-ninja that I am, I surprised her while she was singing to herself. She laughed. Good times.

Chef M's grandson joined us for staff meal today. He's about 4 and a half months old. He was crying a little bit, at least until I walked by. Then he started laughing. I'm not sure how to take that...

Chef J, over the last couple weeks, has been letting me take care of the deliveries, mainly produce and proteins. I get to sign their clipboard and then put everything away. Kinda fun, having so much responsibility. I take it as a good sign.

Chef M made Mongolian Beef for staff lunch today. It's one of my all time favorite dishes at TR. Yum!

Have a delicious day!

K.

PS. Oh, by the way, Mom and I tried to make our own fennel-yam mash like we do at TR. It turned out really well. Chef J was pleased that we tried to replicate one of his dishes and impressed that it turned out so well! It felt like a personal victory if nothing else. Sweet.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

"I'm not shy when it comes to pie. Or any other desserts, for that matter."

My boss said that. A friend of his brought by pie this weekend and J wanted to share it with his staff today. Strawberry rhubarb pie. Yum.

Speaking of this weekend, it was our Grand Opening! Wahoo! After today, I worked about 50 hours over the last 5 days. We had over 200 reservations this weekend. Wow. Yesterday and today we were playing catch-up. But we're getting back to normal after our produce and proteins arrived today. (I got to inventory and sign for those deliveries. Exciting! Of course, I did have to put them away too. Not as exciting)

For the Grand Opening we had a traditional Chinese Lion Dance (Similar to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svz-n3QRymI ). We had two dragons that danced and marched through our restaurant. Fortunately, they didn't eat all of our food before we served dinner. Whew. Really cool.

Yesterday I was making a lot of filling for our Springrolls and our Potstickers. I made around 105 Springrolls and almost 1oo Potstickers. I tried finding a youtube clip of someone using two butcher's cleavers to basically grind up meat like I did yesterday. Chef M was laughing at me a little bit, but at least I was trying!

Speaking of Chef M, he made french fries today, just to snack on. He told me that he had a craving for McDonald's, but this would do. I'll say!

Going back a couple of weeks, TR was a part of a wine festival at the nearby Event Center. We brought three dishes to offer guests who were walking around visiting wine, food, and dessert booths. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a couple wine sellers, other cooks and chefs from various local restaurants, and a lot of the people who've come in to the restaurant. Between the two owners and I, we served over 500 people! We were told that we had the longest line at the event. We heard nothing but good reviews from many people. Some people even came back for seconds!

Between that event and preparing hors d'oeuvres for Grand Opening weekend, Chef J told me that I might have a bright future in catering. An interesting thought, to be sure. An idea to put on the back burner, as it were. Or even a Sterno (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterno).

A final thought.
You know you're a chef when:
You can peel a potato with a chef's knife;
You can invent a delicious dish on the spot, using basically leftovers; or
You can work in a kitchen for 16+ years without cutting yourself but once.

I'm not there yet, but I've got some goals to shoot for.

Peace, Love, and Good Food,

K.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

"What's the Portebella of your argument?" or My idea to be the Next Foodnetwork Star (C): Vicarious Living, a Day in the Life of a Prep Cook

Hello faithful readers!

Welcome back to Vicarious Living, my own reality blog show. In this episode, follow me through dinner with the head chef, adventures with desserts, and more delicious food, as I work (and eat!) my way through one Modern Asian Bistro's menu.

My Writing 101 professor at PLU was a vegetarian. She would often ask what the meat of our argument was. Then we reminded her that she probably doesn't have meat to her argument, but rather veggies of some sort. She decided that since she liked Portebella burgers. There you go. I was slicing mushrooms today and was reminded of that. Funny. To me at least.

In the next few days or weeks, I will hopefully be covering the following:
-New spices
-Experimenting with donuts
-Asian currys and Latino moles (basically the same throughout the respective cultures, but vary on recipe/cook/region/etc...)
-My favorite color of today: Red. Curry Red. (Bond. James Bond. Well, I think I'm clever...)
-Andy is to Billy as Kevin is to Kendall
-Moon Cake, with an egg yolk baked into the middle!
-Things that my boss said were beautiful: salmon cakes, corn fritter batter, dumplings, sliced mushrooms (Oh, and by the way, don't wash mushrooms with water. Rather, wipe them clean with a clean towel.)
-Whatever else comes to mind.

Often when my shift ends in the evenings, my boss makes me dinner. Tonight I had Beef Panaeng, a delicious beef dish made with the red curry. Yum! Since it was a slow evening, after cooking for me, he came and sat down to join me. We chatted, told a couple stories, and I told him about my favorite Mexican restaurant near campus. Fun times.

I messed up two batches of Creme Caramels this week. But it's all okay now. And I made the Passion Fruit Curl that goes along with the donuts. Fun. Oh, by the way, a curl, in this sense, is uncooked custard. Crazy.

Food is good. And food with friends and family is even better. I think you'd agree. Until next time, this is Vicarious Living, with Kendall your new, learning, hungry Prep Cook.

-K.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

"Kendall, go say hi to your friends."

That's what my boss says. A lot. Nearly every time I'm at work someone I know is coming in to try out my restaurant. The General Manager says I'm the best customer. Still. As a prep cook. And that's because of my friends and family, my support and encouragement. So thank you to all who have come to my restaurant. And an extra big THANK YOU to those who keep coming back.

Delicious.

Funny story. One of the servers this evening made a little mistake and order the same entree twice without realizing it. This turned out to be one of the best tasting mistakes the server could have made. At least for me. Although I probably would never have ordered it myself, I ate the mistakenly ordered dish: the Pan Roasted King Salmon with baby bok-choy and potato hash, served with a wasabi pepper sauce. So so so good! There is a reason it's one of the pricier items on the dinner menu. So far I've had two of the more expensive dinner items, all in the name of fixing mistakes and learning how to cook something for myself. Not for myself as in I get to eat it, but for myself as in learning how to make it on my own.

Delicious.

I'm full. Polishing off a mistake entree followed by staff dinner means that my tummy is full. Full of delicious. Wow. Some days I love working in a highish end restaurant!

With a full tummy and tired everything else,

K.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Oh yum!

Tonight I ate at my restaurant with my parents and some good friends. We had my favorite dish, the pork tenderloin with fennel-yam mash, and my new favorite dessert, the bread pudding with amaretto-caramel sauce. Delicious. I am so glad that I can eat at an establishment that I also can see what happens in the kitchen. Super cool.

As we were leaving the restaurant, there was another couple leaving as well. In passing, they kind of mumbled something about how the food was so good. I smiled. Really big.

One of the owners told me tonight that I am their (our) most reliable customer so far.

Basically, what that means is that I'm getting to eat a lot of the delicious, fantastic food that I help create. Sweet deal.

On a full stomach,

K.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

"Look out! Who gave the prep cook a knife?!"

That's what the server/bartender said today when I was walking around the kitchen with a knife. The head chef had previously told me to announce when a knife is moving around the room. The waitstaff thinks that's really funny, apparently. Oh well. I supposed I deserved a little ribbing from her. After all, I had refused to let her collect some citrus for the bar earlier in the day. That's what I get for being ornery. I get teased back. Who knew.

Anywho, last week I took a big step in the direction of continuing my practice of being a cook. I bought my own knife set! Gah! I bought a seven piece set for just under $300. Pretty good, considering I was expecting to pay $500-600 for a seven piece set. I love big sales at cutlery stores in the local mall. So, one may ask, what is included in this fabulous seven piece knife set? Well, I'll tell you. For just under $300 I purchased the following:

A carrying bag for my set, and room for expansion!,
Kitchen shears,
An 8" chef knife,
A 7" filet knife,
A 4" paring knife,
A 5" utility knife, and
A 9" honing steel.

All except the bag are from JA Henckels, a highly regarded German manufacturer. Sweet.

I took my knives (that sounds a little wierd, my knives) to the restaurant today. My boss was quite impressed. At one point near the end of my nine-hour shift, he asked, "Can I borrow YOUR knife?" I know, crazy! I said, "Of course, chef." I'm not going to say no to a guy whose Dad was trained under Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi!!! For those of you that know what I'm talking about, congrats! For those who don't, sorry, I'm a sucker for poorly dubbed Japanese cooking shows. Well, just one, really.

Again, I digress. Moral of today's story (blog): My boss was impressed with my knives. The end. Oh, and I have funny coworkers. That's good too.

To recap what I made at the restaurant today:

Indonesian Corn Fritters
Chicken Satay marinade
Spicy Peanut Sauce
Golden Raisin Bread Pudding
Red Curry Paste
Cucumber Salad
Julienned veggie salad
Cinnamon and sugar topping for the Chinese Donuts

I also prepared and served:

Indonesian Corn Fritters with Spicy Sweet Soy
Chicken Satay skewers with Spicy Peanut sauce
Cucumber salads
Roasted Pork Tenderloin with fennel-yam mash, baby bok choy salad, and a tamerind ketchup sauce
Chinese Donuts with cinnamon and sugar, and Passion Fruit Curl
Potato hash, to accompany the King Salmon steak as well as the Terra Red Duck dish
Moo shu pancakes to serve the Moo shu pork dish
Coconut Creme Caramel with Jackfruit, to go

I don't remember what else. Nine hours is a long day. Especially being on my feet in a warm kitchen. Well, I guess that's not all bad. I could have been outside in the cold, wind, and rain with a big sign that says, "New Apartments ===>". Not that that job is bad, it's just that today's weather was not the happiest it could have been. That sentence was pretty messy. My apologies.

Hey! I have an idea! You should come to my restaurant and try something new and delicious-sounding. Just an idea...

Peace.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Highs and Lows After a Full Week

One of the most common icebreaker activities at a group or staff meeting is the High and Low game. This isn't really a meeting, but I figured it might be fun to give a few highs and lows of my time at the restaurant so far.

First the Lows:
Yesterday I burned some Pork and Chive dumplings.
The day before I overcooked the potato gnocchi I was making.
I'm too slow at chopping.
My hands are getting all sorts blisters, cuts, burns, and cramps.
I'm the least experienced member of the kitchen staff by about 12 years and I don't speak Chinese.

Next the Highs:
Chinese Donuts with Passion Fruit Curl
Spring Rolls with Tamerind Ketchup
Julienned veggies
Fun and knowledgable co-workers
It is a great opportunity to begin my work as a cook in a high(ish) class restaurant.

Also:
This job has very long, tedious hours at competetive pay. I couldn't decide if that was a high or a low.

So here's the thing. My highs are great. I'm trusted to make the dough and batter for Chinese Donuts, Indonesian Corn Fritters, and now the fresh potato Gnocchi. I impressed my head chef with how I could finely cut (julienne) veggies, make a Thai basil oil, and understand the reasons and techniques of tart crust making and baking. Delicious.

As far as my lows go, they can be improved. I know not to leave my dumplings on the stove for too long. I know not to leave my potatoes in the oven too long. My chopping can be improved with practice and better techniques. This will also improve the number of cuts and blisters I've gathered, as will having a better understanding and more experience in a high paced kitchen. And my experience has to start somewhere. And if I can pick up some Chinese along the way, super. Essentially, my lows are most likely temporary. Sure, I'll cut my finger once in a while, but I'll also stub my toe walking around the house. It just happens. But it can happen less often if I be more careful.

I know this industry is difficult. I know I'll be stressed, challenged, and frustrated. But I can also tell that the more I learn, the better off I'll be. And this place, with these people, is supportive and encouraging me to learn by doing, to ask questions, and to fail so I can succeed. From what I understand of the industry and of the working world in general, I'm not going to find a better environment than this easily. So I'm going to learn what I can for as long as I can do it. At least that's the plan. Does it sound cliche? Maybe a little. But that's okay. It's my blog, I can cliche if I want to.

Two more items. One, the toilet paper at the restaurant is very soft. I wonder if it's 8-ply. Yeah, that soft. Two, in case you're wondering, I don't wear a chef jacket or a chef hat. I wear a cook coat. Someday maybe I'll graduate into a chef jacket. But at least my cook coat has short sleeves and is lighter weight, so I don't have to worry about burning my sleeves or wearing a blanket-jacket. And I like the buttons better. Easier to operate.

Finally, I want to share with you our goal and style, as taken from the insert of the dinner menu. Enjoy.

"Our goal is to not only thrive as a distinguished neighborhood restaurant, but also become a community-centered destination with food, family, and celebration as its driving force. . . . Our cooking style centers on traditional Asian dishes, married with fresh local ingredients and implemented with a European approach. We call it Modern Asian Cooking."

Monday, August 11, 2008

Opening Week at TR

For those who don't know, I've recently started working at a brand new restaurant in Everett. It is a modern Asian Bistro, meaning we have cuisine inspired from all parts of Asia, with traditional Asian flavors and some European influence as well. The restaurant is owned by a Chinese family, with a head chef from Thailand, a Sous Chef adopted from Korea, and a prep cook born and raised in Lynnwood, Washington. That would be me.

The M family, the owners, all speak Chinese, as does Head Chef J. The Sous Chef, D, catches on to the Chinese language pretty quickly. I speak Spanish and Point-ese. It's a good situation.

So what's it like, working in a restaurant? Especially a new restaurant that opened less than a week ago. Terrifing. Gratifying. Stressful. Educational. Foreign. Delicious.

For the last year or so I've had my heart set on going to Culinary School. Didn't happen. Instead, I'm a current student of the Culinary School of Hardknocks, Everett campus.

Today I was taught how to disassemble a chicken. And how to debone a salmon filet. And how to pan roast a pork tenderloin. And how to make 5 gallons of the house sauce. And how to make gnocchi from scratch. Will I use this newly acquired knowledge in 40 years? Maybe. If not, I suppose that'll be okay too.

For now, know this: I love food. I love community. Some of my favorite communities often organize around food, or at least include food. Food can facilitate discussion. Food can teach, can invite, can inspire, and can humble. This is what I get for blogging late(ish) at night after almost 11 hours in a restaurant.

More to follow. This blog is meant to keep you updated, and to help me remember. Enjoy.

In the spirit of trying new things,

K.