Same old

The past two weeks have pretty much been the same thing everyday. I arrive and spray and cut the cakes, then set up for lunch, then do lunch service.

Each day the cutting has gotten easier and less stressful, and although I enjoy letting my mind wander during the day, I am excited to get back to school (I'm sure some people may be in shock at this point). I'm excited for the regularity of the school day and the school week, instead of the tedium of standing on my feet everyday all day.

I've learned that I just want to be treated with respect. A most basic respect is all I really ask for. The people in the kitchen are generally rude towards me, even after I work so hard for them. It's frustrating to say the least, and I think it's taught me to be more respectful to those around me.

I know for certain that I will never become a pastry chef. It's too tedious, too stressful, and just not enough fun.

These last two days will probably (hopefully) go by quickly--I'll be interested to see what they have to say when I'm leaving. I seem to be an annoyance to them, but I also know they were talking about how when I'm gone they'll have much more work in the mornings.

T-minus 2 days.

Not much to report.

This week has been pretty much the same thing every day. I arrive and spray and cut the cakes; today I had to do 3. I started cutting at 9:30...and finished at 11:10. It's very time consuming and exact.

After that, I got to do service again. I've done it today and for the past 3 days, which is fun. Today I really had everything under control so that I wasn't so frantic.

Yesterday I was scolded by the executive chef of the regular kitchen for burning a creme brulee too dark. It was fairly scary, especially since I had just been told by someone else that I was doing it too lightly.

Another exciting thing was that Georges Perrier said hi to me. Well, that's how I like to say it.

I actually said "hello chef" to him, and he responded with "hi". Still, it was exciting.

Tomorrow is back to the regular menu for a day, so I'll get to make the tarts and the other cakes again.

Love/hate

Today was a day that I had a love/hate relationship with the pastry kitchen. When I got there there weren't any chef coats. Bad sign. Then I was assigned the task of cutting massive slabs of cake into precise 1"x3" rectangles. This usually would've been fine for me, but somehow my brain just wasn't working. Once I finished the cutting, I got to the part of my day that constituted the love part.

Stacey said she had to work on the creme brulee and lemon tarts, so she put me in charge of the line. The whole line! I was responsible for plating every single dessert that was ordered. This was a fun way to utilize my organizational skills--keeping track of everything that was going on. There are only 3 desserts available during Restaurant Week; they are lemon tart

creme brulee

le bec with vanilla ice cream

Amor at amada

In an attempt to try out some new restaurants during restaurant week, I went to Amada with Elizabeth today.

I was struck by the elegant design of the restaurant from the outside, and didn't even notice it was a restaurant at first. We shared the salchichón (thin salami) for an appetizer, then each had a pumpkin soup with toasted pumpkin seeds, and each got different sandwiches. It's not an overstatement when I say it was the best sandwich I've ever had. French bread. Chicken. Bacon. Thinly cut lettuce. Tomatoes. Finely grated cheese. Creamy cheese sauce on bread. Deliciousness.

Elizabeth had a vegetarian sandwich with eggplant and hummus, which was more like a panini; she said it was delicious too. Along with our sandwiches came spicy french fries with some of the cheese sauce on top. The sauce was sort of like an improved version of the nacho cheese sauce.

For dessert was a chocolate custard with berries and a raspberry sorbet. Equally as delicious.

Of course we had to document the occasion, so here are some pictures.

Cruel

is how I would describe my night last night. Everything seemed to be in vast quantities, and even before I finished one task I was given another.

Example: I had to unwrap 360 mini tarts and lay them out on cookie sheets.

Another example: I had to move 20 trays of full creme brulees without spilling them. Some were still spilled.

I moved on from just cracking dozens of eggs to now separating dozens of eggs-last night's count was 81.

I think the night was also bad because I was bitter. I was told that a celebrity was coming to the restaurant, and that I might get to see him. [Clues: he is in a movie with an object I love, and he is in another movie in which he is alone in a city]. I then found out that he had cancelled his reservation, and only his mother and sister were there.

Cedric then told me he wanted me to work Monday too. I think he could tell by my response that I was not too happy...so he changed his mind.

The night ended well though, with a delicious Friendly's lava cake ice cream extravaganza. My mother made the comment that it was bizarre that I was coming from Le Bec Fin to go to Friendly's for dessert...but Friendly's was great.

Restaurant week starts today, so the next two weeks should be very busy and not as much fun. And less pictures.

A picture's worth a thousand words...

so here are a bunch.

Wendy

White chocolate curls for Wendy

Chocolates in the chocolate room

Another apple-almond tart

St. Nizier (flourless chocolate cake)

View of the cart all put together

(even though I hate this picture I thought I had to include it)

Yesterday (Friday) I got to the kitchen and was shown how to check the numbers of people coming for lunch/dinner for the next few days. There are still reservations open! Come to Restaurant Week!

After that, Stacey asked me if I knew how to do everything and felt comfortable with everything. I thought she was just checking in, or wanted to quiz me on the things I'd learned. I said yes, and she then said, "Ok, well I'll be in the other room if you need me, so just give me a holler".

She let me do all the cakes by myself! I glazed, decorated and garnished all of the cakes for the cart: the Wendy, the Gateau Le Bec Fin, the Matilde, the Costa Rica, the Tart de fruit de moment (Fruit tart), the St. Nizier (the coffeecake was already finished).

It was fun to just work at my own pace, not really having a deadline other than finishing the cakes before dinner service. I certainly worked more slowly than she normally does, but I still got it all done.

I also made 60 mini tarts for the dessert buffet, and lined 5 tart shells for today's dinner service.

After watching Julie and Julia again last night, I've decided I'm going to do a modified version of that project. Not attempt to do one a day, or even one a week, but just to document how each recipe goes and how it turns out.

I've also decided that I am going to have mini cooking classes! I know that some of my friends enjoy eating what I make, and I bet they'd enjoy learning how to make it too. Possible topics are bread making, fresh pasta making, cake glazing and decorating, and ice cream making.

Frostbite, weird eggs and...

GEORGES PERRIER. Yep, I saw the man himself! He was so dressed down I didn't know who it was and tried to get by him...until I heard him address the other chefs and kiss them on the cheeks. He, of course, did not acknowledge my existence, but it was still fun to see him.

I got to the kitchen and first thing I got to glaze the cakes on my own (Wendy and Le Bec). Here are freshly glazed cakes. The glaze is heated up and then poured on the cake; some is then scraped off with an offset spatula.

I decorated the Wendy, Le Bec, and for the first time, the Matilde! This is a berry cake-mousse-gelatin thing. My job was just to pile the berries (in a specific order) and glaze it.

I then made my tart, apple-almond. [Today I was told that my tart looked 'very nice'. Before it was only 'nice'. I guess I am improving!] I never showed the machine that peels, cores and slices the apple, so here it is:

I had to pull many, many frozen cakes from the freezer, and I literally lost feeling in my fingers. It was not a fun experience.

I also had to measure out some eggs, and in the process ran into some bizarre eggs. The first was one with two yolks, which I compared to twin chickens that didn't hatch? That's all that makes sense. The other egg I can across was fairly gross. It was a normal looking egg, but in the inside there was a blood spot. Apparently this was an egg that was fertilized but then killed. I guess with all the eggs I've cracked I was bound to run into something gross.

Remember to make reservations for Restaurant Week! Even if it's not at Le Bec Fin, there are so many fun restaurants on the list. I am hoping to go to one, if not all, of Jose Garces' restaurants. Any takers?