Monday, January 14, 2008  | The South Pole
Current mood:  cold The Sous Chef at one of the many places that I freelance with and I have one main thing in common. We both have traveled around the country as chefs, which is sort of an unusual thing to run across. Upon occasion we talk about the experiences that we've had, and he has told me of other people that he knows that follow a similar path. One tale was of a friend of his that at one point in time worked on an oil rig. As he continued with his story, suddenly he got the bright idea that working on an oil rig would be something that I would enjoy. Uh, probably not. The thought of being stuck out in the middle of the ocean with a bunch of burly oil riggers just isn't that appealing to me, regardless of how much money they pay. Call me crazy...Anyway, his oil rig tale continued, then suddenly another lightbulb went off in his head. He turns to me and says, "You know what you should do? You should get a chef job at Amundson-Scott Station on the South Pole!" Wow! Why didn't I think of that? That sounds like a great plan! I'll pack my bags as soon as I get home tonight!
See you on the South Pole!
  | Currently listening :
I Am the South Pole
By Mars Accelorator
Release date: 20 August, 1996  | 12:35 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Saturday, January 12, 2008 | North Six Penitentiary
Current mood:  impatient At one point in time, as I'm sure many of you know, there was a club in Brooklyn called North Six. As one might imagine, it was on North Sixth in Williamsburg. Clever, arent they? Some good and some not so good shows took place on that stage, mostly of the indie rock ilk, and at one point our band rented a rehearsal space from the owners. Ah, memories. Memories of seeing your breath because of a total lack of heat. Memories of the power completely cutting out because you had the audacity to turn on the PA. Memories of showing up to find that your equipment had been broken or had been taken by the people that you share the space with. All this for a mere $350.00 a month. I actually hadn't been to the club within the past couple of years, not so much for the reason that I found that particular space loathsome, but more for the reason that I just don't really go out to see the rock shows so much anymore. At least not the bigger shows. There just isn't so much that pulls me in these days. I'm open to suggestions, though.
Within the past year or so, North Six closed their doors and sold the space to the owners of the Bowery Ballroom. It has since been renamed the Williamsburg Music Hall, a name that well...a name that I really don't find compelling in the least bit. It's pretentious, and frankly it makes me want to gag. There. I said it. Seeing as Porkchop was playing there last night, I reluctantly entered their doors with Linda as my partner in crime for the evening. As we walked towards the river down North Six, I sensed impending doom as we approached the velvet roped premises, that had not one, but four door guys looming in front. Here's to efficiency, I guess. Not only that, but they had an actual ticket booth. To get through the doors, I had to present my I.D. two times, and then was presented with a lovely wristband, with a sort of red, tribal tatoo design happening. A wristband of the variety that you can't take off unless you cut it off -- which reminds me, where are my scissors? I thought I was going to see Excepter play music, but in the end, it felt more like I was going to visit Excepter in prison. Excepter? Johnny Cash?
We finally made our way through the security check points to find that the Williamsburg Music Hall was very much like the Bowery Ballroom in design. Upon entering both establishments, you're more or less forced to go into a basement space where there is a large bar and various seating areas. You have to make your way through that space and then go back upstairs via a different staircase to go to the stage area. It sort of makes you feel like a rat in a maze - or at least it makes me feel that way. At one point we were invited by LaLa to the backstage area, which in actuality was two flights up from the stage. Despite the fact that the band rooms were pretty much where our old practice space was, nothing seemed familiar in the least bit. There was no construction material or garbage in the hallways, the halls had a fresh coat of paint on them, and they had bathrooms with showers in each room. This all sounds lovely, and hardly prisonesque, I know, but in the end, I still felt like a rat in a maze. Will I return? Hard to say, but at this juncture, I would have to say probably not.
 | Currently listening :
At Folsom Prison
By Johnny Cash
Release date: 19 October, 1999  | 4:24 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Thursday, January 10, 2008 | January Thunder
Current mood:  curious Here it is, 2:00 in the morning in the middle of January, and what do I hear in the distance, but thunder. Well, thunder and garbage trucks and an occasional "J" train passing by. Believe me, I love a good thunderstorm, but in the middle of January? I think my preference would be for a good old-fashioned blizzard, but alas, I get thunder and lightening. It's almost as if it were May! Maybe next we'll have tornadoes. Oh, how passe. And what am I doing up at 2:00 in the morning anyway? Hell if I know. All I know is that I can't go to sleep before 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning lately. Oh, who am I kidding? I've always been a complete and total night owl, and I will probably remain that way for the rest of my life. I'll be a little grey haired lady, sitting with the cats, reading cookbooks or some rock bio or another until the very wee hours of the morning. Now there's a picture.
Well, thunderstorm or no thunderstorm, tomorrow the menu creating must continue. I have the hors d'oeuvres and the pastry side of things taken care of, now I just have to do a breakfast menu, a lunch menu, a winter dinner menu, and a spring dinner menu. Oh, is that all??? For some reason, I'm stumped on the dinner menus. I keep on reviewing past material of mine, and it just doesn't seem to fit into the grand scheme of things. Well, I have a bit of time -- not much, but a bit. I do have a pleasant diversion later tomorrow evening, though. Porkchop's band is playing, and this will be the first time that I've seen them. They're called Excepter, and from the recordings that I've heard, they're quite good. For some reason, though, whenever they play, I always seem to miss them. I'd advise you to check out their MySpace page. They're in my "top friends" somewhere, so take a peek.
A positive note on today was that I was able to cook at bit at home. There's something so relaxing about cooking at home, and now that I've done it professionally for so many years, it's really unbelievably easy. I don't do it nearly as much as I used to, because, well, because of the obvious reasons. When I do cook, though, I usually enjoy it quite a bit. Tonight I made stuffed manicotti. I stuffed it with minced mushrooms that I sauteed with garlic in olive oil, which I then added to ricotta and mozarella, with some parsley, sea salt and black pepper. Oh, I added an egg as well to bind it together. I also made a real simple marinara, which I used to cover the pasta. I also added some mozarella on top for good measure. I baked it for twenty-five minutes, and there it was -- mushroom and ricotta stuffed manicotti. Not exactly adventurous, but...
 | Currently reading :
Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making (2nd Edition)
By James Peterson
Release date: 13 January, 1998  | 7:18 PM - 3 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Wednesday, January 09, 2008 | Bubbling Cauldron of Hate
Current mood:  contemplative I tried to refrain from using the above title, but it had to be used. I go out, I enjoy the time that I spend with my friends for awhile, but now I'm seeing that I like the time that I spend at home by myself a little bit more. When I'm at home, there's no drama, no craziness, and no fear, or loathing. Well, maybe some fear and loathing, but not nearly as much as when I'm out and about. Is it a "bubbling cauldron of hate"? Perhaps this is something to address.
It's time for me to spend more time focusing in on work. Menus need to be made, record reviews have to be written, and some order needs to be found in life. This all sounds so heavy, but it really isn't. It's just reality for me, right now. I'm tired. It must be winter, but how can it be when it's sixty-five degrees outside, and I can run around with just a jean jacket to protect me from the elements. Right now I'm feeling the same way that I did the whole time that I lived in Los Angeles -- all three years. Here's to having May in January. I guess you could say that I long for the long and drawn out, cold, cold winter. The changing of the seasons - at least this makes sense in the end. I want cold, leafy green salads, but I should want hot soup at this time of the year. Did I mention that I'm tired?
 | Currently listening :
Dirty Laundry: the Soul of Black Country
By Various Artists
Release date: 07 March, 2005  | 7:56 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Monday, January 07, 2008 | My Roommate, the Lawnmower
Current mood:  jedi My roommate meditates for approximately two to three hours a day. I never really noticed it before, but lately I hear him chanting a lot more. Perhaps this is because I'm here a lot more. Hmm. Perhaps??? I've discovered that through the walls he sounds a bit like either a lawnmower from a long ways away, or perhaps a crop duster. It's part of the charm, I suppose.
After spending a whole day on Jon and Linda's couch watching SCTV, German documentaries and drinking tequila, I've decided to regroup, and camp out on my own couch. I have the cats, my Replacements book, a ton of blankets and a cup of tea. How could life get any better? If only I had some spaghetti, that would make the day perfect. Nothing like spaghetti at 9:00 a.m. Tis the breakfast of champions. Is it not?
 | Currently listening :
Enemy Hogs
By Oneida
Release date: 05 October, 1999  | 2:07 AM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Friday, December 28, 2007 | That Old Chestnut...
Current mood:  awake Last night, I dreamt that I was continuously walking around the periphery of some large park that looked like it was probably in Minnesota. That's just a guess, though, because it could have been New Jersey ta boot. I kept on circling the park until I came to a specific tree. I look up and see that someone is sitting way high up in the absolute highest of branches. I climbed the tree and the unidentifiable person and I started throwing roasted chestnuts at by-passers. I kid you not. Are the holidays over yet?
 | Currently reading :
The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History
By Jim Walsh
Release date: 15 November, 2007  | 4:57 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Thursday, December 27, 2007 | Triumvirate of Evil
Current mood:  froggy Bump on the head, stolen phone, money stolen from wallet. Is this a sign? Bring it on. Ah, but no time to worry about such matters. It's time to prepare for the new year. I'm not sure what sort of preparations are in order, but something needs to happen.
Our household Christmas party was a success. There were eight of us over for dinner, which was the perfect amount. I made the following dishes:
Standing Rib Roast
Potato and Cremini Mushroom Gratin with Truffle Oil
Butternut Squash Cakes with Cranberry Jalapeno Chutney
Red Leaf Lettuce Salad with Roasted Pears, Roasted Fennel, Radishes, Grape Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Goat Cheese with a Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette
Sauteed Collard Greens
Braised Lentil de Puy with Fennel
Oh, and for hors d'oeuvres:
Saint Andre and Bleu D'auvergne Cheese
Mixed Olives
Oil Cured Olives (all brought over by RV and Nick)
Potato Pancakes with Creme Fraiche, Hackelback Caviar and Dill
Greg brought over a mincemeat pie.
Linda made truffles and Russian tea cakes.
We have so much food leftover, and we can't fit anything in the fridge. Oh well, so be it. I guess we'll be eating a lot of meat this week.
 | Currently listening :
The Repulsion Box
By Sons and Daughters
Release date: 09 August, 2005  | 2:44 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Sunday, December 16, 2007 | I need numbers
Current mood:  aggravated If you're reading this, I more than likely need your number. Why? Well, the story goes like this. I was having a great time at Linda and Jon's party last night when suddenly I noticed that my phone was nowhere to be found. There were only a few people around at that point, and a couple of kids had just left. Well, they weren't really kids, but they were around twenty-one or so, which is a kid in my book. Apparently someone had met them on the street and invited them up. They seemed nice enough at first, but I did get sort of a shady vibe from one of them. In the end I would be willing to wager a large sum of money that those two were the perpetrators. Sad, but true.
6:19 PM - 4 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Saturday, December 15, 2007 | Mexican Mafia
Current mood: argumentative My latest adventure in the catering world includes people in the industry that are commonly refered to as the "Mexican Mafia". Mafia? Huh? What does this mean? Well, as you may or may not know, the food world employs a large number of Latin American people -- some legal immigrants, others, not so much. In the end, unfortunately it all boils down to economics. That, and usually, Latin Americans are really good cooks and super hard workers. The restaurants and catering companies get cheap labor, and the employees have a better way of life. Happiness all around.
The kitchen that I've been working in has about twenty-five to thirty people working in it at one time. Of these twenty-five - and with the exception of the pastry side - I am the only "white" person working. The rest of the cooks are Mexican, with the exception of one Peurto Rican guy, and another guy is from Brazil. The last catering place that I worked in mostly employed Dominicans. There never seems to be too much of a mix at one individual place. I wonder why this is. Is it a form of nepotism? During the summer when I travel and work at the music festivals, it's an entirely different story all together. I work with a lot of white hippy chicks that are neither hard workers, or good cooks. Well, maybe I'm generalizing, but that's mostly the case. Unfortunate, but true.
Occasionally, I'll pick up the odd party with another company that's out of Philly. There are two things that are weird about this place. First thing is that they don't admit and actually actively cover up the fact that they are out of Philly. I guess they think that there is more "cache" behind a Manhattan address??? Second thing about them is that they employ a lot of British people. Now this is a first for me. In addition, oddly enough, most of the people running the show are women. This is strange only because of the usual predominance of male chefs, and especially in the leadership roles. Ignoring this fact, though, let's just say I can't stand working for these people. Okay, maybe I'm not ignoring this fact. I admit that yes, sometimes I have trouble working for or with women. I've never been much of a gals gal, which is putting it mildly. Regardless of the estrogen factor, in the end I have never encountered so much micro-management in all of my life, something for which I have little or no tolerance for. Let's just say that last night's party will be my final meeting with them. So be it. No love lost. Another thing about the Philadelphia company is that their food kind of sucks. It is dated and kind of lame. I have never seen such limitations with menus, and especially with their hors d'oeuvres. I anxiously await the day that there are no more mini hamburgers served. I mean really, come on. A meat wad on a tiny bun??? Ah, but alas, I don't think this company will be leading the way on this one.
10:29 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| Monday, December 10, 2007 | I’m No Longer a Line Cook.
Current mood:  impervious I've been offered more holiday work from one of the many New York City catering companies, so therefore my days as a line cook are no longer. At least for the time being. This is all fine, but frankly, at the end of the day, I'm not really sure how I feel about all of this. The company that I was hired by for this holiday season is much like one of the last companies that I worked for in the way that they not only do parties, but they do them for hundreds to thousands of people. To put things in perspective, today, during my twelve hours at work, I handled exactly two and one-eighth food items. In other words, calabasa squash no longer looks like squash after you dice seventy-five of them. Wild mushrooms don't look so wild after you slice ten cases of them. It's a living, but damn, I can't wait to get on the road again. February is how many months away???
 | Currently reading :
The Professional Chef, Seventh Edition
By Culinary Institute of America
Release date: 05 September, 2001  | 12:48 PM - 1 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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