"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.