"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.