In Search of a Slice

On Saturday I did a 'prep' shift in the restaurant from 11:30-6, which was definitely more intense than everything I've done there up to this point. First thing, a group of 20 Swedish dentists came in for a private party -- C and I banged out 20 pizzas for them without a hitch, we had dough prepared yesterday and it was predetermined what they'd be getting.

However, everyone ordered dessert and all of a sudden the restaurant was out of all the desserts -- all of which are made on premises by the pizza chefs. We had to call in the owner's teenage son to help with pulling 20-odd espressos. And we needed to make dough for a Saturday night, which is a large double batch. And tonight's special pizza had pumpkin to be roasted.

I helped C measure out the dough stuff, then I got to work making a ricotta cheese cake, then the tiramisu again. Unlike with Chef R, there was a lot to do in little time and C couldn't really watch over my shoulder to direct me. After a few hours, the 3rd chef came in: A, a bearded fellow with a blunt manner. Chef R is the manager/chef de cuisine who does cook but is half out the door in management while Chef A seems to be the main cook, C the 2nd string, and now there's me: the semi-competent apprentice!

During the shift, ingredients ran out a few times. So I had to run to the nearby supermarket to stock up. It was constant turmoil until the minute I left. Fortunately, it was quiet for the first hour, and it was relatively easy to escape.

On the way home, biking from Prospect Heights to the Lower East Side, I blasted the Pixies on my iPod and let the waves of stimulus just work itself out of my head. It was a feeling similar to the combination of weariness and exhilaration after riding a hard 100 miles on a bike, minus the ass pain and angry shoulders. It's a good feeling. I dig it.

ADDENDA:
Sunday, I woke up early and rode about 54 miles on my bike, encompassing the ride up to the Bronx as well as the Tour de Bronx itself. It's a free ride, and the economy showed its effect -- no free t-shirts and miserable food at the rest stops. Some rest stops were giving away this newish 'fuze' beverage. The labels made all sorts of claims but the taste was just overly sweet, slightly syrupy. Whatever.

I pretty much skipped the rest stops and by the time I was in the northern end of the Bronx, I started looking for a slice joint to get something in my belly -- when riding distance, you should eat before you get hungry, and I was on the edge of losing my steam. The neighborhoods around Eastchester were pretty working class, and every trafficked intersection had lots of fast food and Chinese takeouts...but no pizza. How can a neighborhood not be sprinkled with slice joints? When I finally got to an elevated subway station, I knew instinctively there HAD to be a slice joint near the entrance. I looked around and indeed, a block away was pizza. Sometimes it's great to live in the city in which you grew up.

SATURDAY
BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic chex, good milk, quart of water, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 2pm, mini margarita with caramelized onions and mushrooms, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
No time to eat this, had to grab bites while measuring ingredients for dough and making assorted desserts.

DINNER: 8pm, Chinese brick, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
I've learned two things to handle the take-out brick -- be hungry enough, and don't get the carb combo. A lomein and fried rice, deadly; broccoli & protein and fried rice, much more manageable.

SUNDAY:
BREAKFAST: 7:30am, good yogurt with honey, raw cashews, vanilla, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:45am, 2 good donuts, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, 1 "granola" bar, bottle of fuze, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, slice pof pizza, bottle of gatorade, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 4:30pm, eggplant parm hero, bottle of cream soda, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, handful of hot eggy cakes from vendor in Chinatown, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, ear of corn from street fair, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, kimchi, kalbi, white rice, smore, vanilla ice cream, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
At a Japanese BBQ place with various HVSs.