Its my Birthday

Today is my 18th birthday time fly's by so fast.

Good day

I went to this thing called "Taste of Middlesex" different resturants and hotels go there and basically give away free food.  The place sold 600 tickets.  We served them spinach garlic Mash and Montreal coffee seasoned steak with our gravy sauce.  People loved it.  They had a camera crew there the mayor was there and a whole bunch of important people.  I also saw my Principal and some other teachers which was really weird.  She didnt know I worked for a hotel and she was shocked I could see in her face. 
   It was me and the lady sous chef and when the camera crew came over we stepped back and let the GM of the hotel speak hopefully this exposure will make us busier.  They had allot of good restaurants and food there.


When I got back I had to deal with the ass sous chef and he heard about last night
http://lifeofayoungcook.blogspot.com/2011/03/terrible-day.html



I told him I haven had an order sent back in a while and you learn from mistakes.


"He said I haven heard anything good about you since you came on the line  do you want ot got back to the pantry permanently"  I just said what ever because its all up to the chef .

Terrible day

I burned a tray of bread stick,Made salty mash potatoes and got an order sent back.  The guy ordered a Delmonico Steak and he wanted it Med Rare,but he said it was on the rare side.  One of the female sous chefs got upset with me because it,but then when she did an order her steak got sent back too so I dont feel so bad.  I will make mistakes I'm not perfect.


I'm going to a food convention with my Hotel tomorrow.  I have to clean my chef coat to make it nice and white and we will be serving people food with many other restaurants.  I have to smile too I hate smiling.

Student teacher

We  have this new student teacher that is doing her intern at my school and she teaches us or tried to teach us.  She went to Culinary School,but is majoring in nutrition.  She think she knows everything.  She knows I'm a cook at a hotel I told her and such and everything I do she always compares to my job.  She asked me how do I triple a recipe I said "Just multiply it by 3" Then she was like"no that's wrong when ever you work on the line you need to learn how to double and triple recipes and bla bla bla"  First off in a restaurant you make things in bulk and if you need more salt you add more salt if you need more liquid then you add more cream or water depending on what your making. I dont know how she can compare this silly class to a Restaurant. I'm thinking who the hell does this lady think she is?  First off she even told us she is only a waiter at a Diner some where and she isn't a cook or anything,but it seems like she is telling me how to do my job all the time.She has no experience on a line at all.  She was telling me when I go to work I should always use a a thermometer even for the burgers? WTF when its busy as hell I will definitely not have time to stick a thermometer in every damn burger.  I understand for steaks but for burgers?  She also tells me that steaks should never get cooked to rare and a whole bunch of other crap.  I get trained by a professional chef everyday I definitely dont need her to dictate to me when she has never worked in a restaurant kitchen ever as a cook.   Don't get me wrong she does know her stuff,but she needs to know that I have experience too.  I always say Just because you can fly an airplane on a computer it doesn't mean you can fly a real airplane.  Shes leaving next week and I'm really really happy about it. I work for a Hotel and am getting trained properly I know I'm still learning and will always learn,but she doesn't give me credit for that.

Smooth night!

Last night the owner of the hotel came in and had dinner with some of his dinner partners.  They had a 5 course meal. The chef and the sous made everything but I helped put it together. 
          
The chef made me try duck Liver and it was disgusting the taste isn't that bad,but the texture just makes me want to gag.  For there Appetizer they had Duck Liver and duck breast with a cranberry reduction sauce. 

          They then had  a beautifully decorated salad.  I dont remember want kind of soup they had,but they had Filet Mignon and Spinach mash potatoes with vegetables stuffed in a zucchini ring.  I wish I took pictures,but the night went smooth. 

               The chef said I had to eat the whole duck liver because that was my penalty for forgetting to turn on the steam table a while back,but hey it was a rookie mistake and I wont forget to turn it on again.

Co Workers

Some of the other cooks complain that I'm too messy.  During a busty service I'm at my worse.  I try to keep my side of the line clean and neat,but to others its messy.  Any way the other day me and the sous chef had an altercation with one of the banquet cooks.   We have a Corporate buffet menu and things needed to be prepped up for that.,but it was Friday and she wanted me to prep things up for Monday. She wanted me to cut the broccoli and chicken and we  were telling her that we could do all this Sunday night (Restaurants slow day),but shes the type that likes to have everything prepped up a week a head of time which makes no sense to me.  Shes also very rude she always yells at me and tells me to use my head and have common sense,but maybe its just her Asian  accent that makes it sound likes shes yelling.

I'm a hard worker

For the past few days I've been working my ass off at work.  Friday I worked 2 till 11 and we were busy until I got in all the way until about 9.  We have never been that busy before.  Than Saturday I worked from 11 to 11 and it was busy when I came in so I had no time to set up or anything I just hung up my coat and helped the cook that was there in the morning.
                   

          Since we are a hotel we do wedding tastings (When a couple comes in to taste a preview of the food at there wedding.)  The line cook thats usually there when they come in usually does this,and I was there so I prepared Miso Marinaded Salmon over a pilaf of rice and some vegetables,and after they ate the meal the chef went out and asked them how they liked it and they loved it.  They said the salmon was cooked perfectly and I smiled as he was telling me and the chef said   "Its because of me thats why it was good"  Even though I cooked the Salmon.   Well he tell me how to make the marinade and he did help me plate it up and stuff,but if I was a chef I would have said the same thing to the rookie cook.  The chef is a good teacher though and he is very patient so when ever he jumps on the line I learn allot.


                           Later on that day one of the other cooks came in and it was just him and I a two man line,and it got busy.  It got really busy everything went smooth.  The other cook was yelling at me and I yelled back at him.  The waiter got mad at use because as soon as we sent out the appetizer we made ther entree and we thought 15 minutes would be a perfect amount of time for that table to finish there App but they were still eating and the table complained saying they didnt want the entree because it had been sitting in the window a while so we had to make it fresh So I was like"What the fuck"  The waiter said" Do not say fuck bro its your guys faults"  Me an him always get in arguments and he pisses me off I have to keep my calm with him,but after everything was over we all apologized to each other and such. It was  a busy day and the bad part about it is there were only 2 cooks 2 dishwashers and 2 waiters.  All the Managers went home so there wasn't anyone expediting.