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.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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