Just a short blog...

too tired to write much. After a long day's work at my real job, then another 4 hours at Perche No, i'm bushed. More chopping and dicing tomatoes, cheese, carrots and celery, got to use the "robocoupe" to puree up zucchini for Chef's panna cotta experiment and also the 'deli' slicer to sliced a brick of mozzarella cheese. Lessons learned today, be open to help, it is better to be ignorant than to play the role of a "hotshot". You'll get plenty of help from your co-workers. So next time, think twice before you say "I know", just zip the lip and watch with your eyes and learn.

Today, Chef Abdul, took time to teach me how to slice mushrooms at lightning speed. He stressed the importance of working fast and getting things done under pressure. The customers are waiting for their food. I was listening to Chef David barking out the orders to Jose last night. I wanted to help, but didn't know how except to stay out of his way. Chef Hess and Chef Herman was right about getting the sense of urgency in all that we do in the kitchen.

A word about kitchen equipment, Chef Mullins does a great job getting us the best equipment, tools and ingredients to use at school. Be thankful for what we have in school and to take extra good care of it, when we're out in the real world, you make due with what they have, even if their mise cups are recycled used plastic food containers. Another emphasis on portion control and food ingredients. Everything is used, nothing is wasted, even the peels to the carrots and celery scraps are used for stock. The majority of the fresh herbs come from the garden outside the restaurant. I was cleaning and picking through the fresh sage and mint. Herbs with a short shelf life like basil, when it visually can not be served as a salad, it is put into the giant stock pot of marinara sauce. We did have to throw out some cantaloupe melon because it smelled like sour pickles. So it's a good thing to know, customers will not be served spoiled food.