From glaze to caramel

On Saturday, Chef R asked me to make glaze for the scones she was baking. I took equal parts sugar and butter and stirred them in a sauce pot over heat. When the sugar finally dissolved in the butter, it started to brown. I turned off the heat and walked away. About twenty minutes later, Chef R asked me, is it supposed to be that brown? I went back and looked, and the whole thing congealed into one blob with clarified butter floating on top, and it turned a deep dark mahogany brown. I stuck a spoon in and tasted it -- it was thick, viscous, nutty, a delicious but poorly made caramel. As I learned in c-school, if I hadn't stirred it so much and dosed it with a drop of corn syrup, it would have been silky smooth caramel. Mine had lots of gritty sugar crystal in it.

So I made it again, with 2x more butter than sugar, and whisked it on a lower heat until the sugar crystals dissolved. All was well with the scone world.

ADDENDA:
My apprenticeship ended on Saturday. I came in on Sunday for a token payment, and Chef R will be talking to the owner this week about future arrangements. We'll see.

B was feeling frisky this morning and made french toast. I have some horrible memories of my mom making french toast. Thin dense crumbly Arnold white bread dipped in some roughly beaten eggs then fried at a high temperature in margarine in a non-stick pan. Deeeesgusting. So I arm-chair quarterbacked B as she cooked.

B's instinct was to go for the whole wheat bread in the freezer, but I insisted on her using the spare challah rolls from Thanksgiving. We happen to have the PERFECT french toast bread on hand, why not use it? Take eggs, whisk equal parts milk (because we didn't have cream), sweeten with sugar (we used brown sugar), dash of salt, cinnamon. Preheat heavy bottomed skillet, butter generously, preheat oven. Dip thick-sliced challah in batter, cook on medium heat. At the flip, I told her to place the whole pan in the oven, but she didn't believe me. So she cooked the 2nd side, and liked it just fine. Out of annoyance, I got up, cooked a second batch, then finished them in the oven; they came out crisper on the outside, firmer and more custard-like in the middle, and despite my life-long aversion to french toast, really enjoyed it (and the cranky process of cooking with my sweet wife).

In a good mood after the shop, I swung by the market on the way home and made B a faux-Mexican meal. First step, made sofrito - sauteed minced onion, green pepper, garlic, and a little jalapeno to soft in olive oil. Threw in chicken stock, brown rice, black beans, and half the sofrito in the rice cooker. The other half of the sofrito I mixed with lemon juice and sauteed fresh butterflied shrimp in. B made a crude guacamole today, which I finished with lemon and salt, and spread it on a whole wheat tortilla wedge with jack cheese, and put in the broiler on an oiled sheet pan.

While all this was happening, I knocked out a batch of chocolate chip cookies, this time using three vanilla beans instead of extract -- oh man, these cookies just hit the next level of cookiedom.

SATURDAY
BREAKFAST: 5:30am, 2 waffles, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, donut from donut plant, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had the 'creme brulee' donut, a new thing that is more of a small cream puff, vanilla custard and a slightly crunchy top, really good.

AM-PM SNACK: 11-1pm, equivalent of 1.5 donuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Brought donuts in to the shop, just in case this was my last day -- one of those things that were talked about, would of been a shame if I never followed through, I hate insincere people.

DINNER: 5:30pm, pad see ew, thai salad, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Crappy Thai food with the B.

EVENING SNACK: 6:15pm, oversalted popcorn, some peanut m&ms, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

SUNDAY
BREAKFAST: 9:45pm, B-made french toast, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, slice with caramelized onion, mushroom and parm, root beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, chocolate chip scone, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:15pm, chocolate chip cookie dough batter, half a cookie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:15pm, sofrito shrimp with guacamole quesadilla and rice & beans, ginger ale, chocolate chip cookies with B&J organic vanilla ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pita Pizza

The 5 trays of dough held over to age were made two days ago (instead of one, since the restaurant was closed over Thanksgiving). To test the flavor, Chef R and I stretched a dough partially and popped it in the oven. Because there was no topping on it at all, and no docking or pricking, the thing swelled up just like a pita -- after all, the word 'pizza' is a derivative of that much older word. Funny to see such a direct illustration. The bread was more tangy and yeasty, but still very appealing.

According to Chef R, the day after Thanksgiving was very busy, but by 8pm (usually the beginning of the rush), business trickled to a halt and Chef R even called the house phone just to test to make sure it was working. I left three hours early.

ADDENDA:
I still haven't been given a straight answer if I'll be continuing after tomorrow. I'm definitely not feeling like a particularly valued member of the team -- I guess the future will be written tomorrow, as my externship hours for c-school will be complete.

BREAKFAST: 11:15am, organic chex with good milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up late, with less than hour to get out to the restaurant.

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, flourless chocolate cake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 5:30pm, slice with onion and mushroom, rootbeer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, pizza with moz, thin sliced red potatoes, parm, caramelized onions, sausage, rosemary, black pepper, soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11pm, quart

Gahwil Gahwil

Thanksgiving, what a great holiday -- you're supposed to cook/eat a homemade feat, and be with your family and/or bestest friends. At B's aunt's house, we were closer to the second rule than the 1st rule, but what are ya gonna do. My pumpkin pie was finished, despite the presence of two other pies and a cake. I spent the morning making two trays of stuffing, based on the methodology of this recipe. When reheated, it got a little dry despite being covered in foil -- next time I'm going to up the stock-content, and throw in a good lump of butter, too. The challah stuffing went, and about half the sausage--Jews just ain't down with the pork sausage.

Growing up, the Jewish holidays were shared amongst the different aunts and uncles; but Thanksgiving was just ours. My mom was in charge, though it was up to my dad to do most of the cooking. Mom did a lot of prep, baking potatoes and other things difficult to mess up. My dad did the turkey, crudites, salad, steamed green beans and garlic, roasted chestnuts. And of course, my mom put me 'in charge' of the stuffing, which was dumping a box of Stouffer's turkey-flavored stuffing mix into hot water with butter melted in it. Even then, I was vaguely embarrassed when my mom would say that I 'made' the stuffing.

ADDENDA:
The South American pasta chef at the restaurant pronounces gobble gobble as "GAHwil GAHwil". I don't know why, it just sounded incredibly cool. I wonder if South American turkeys have crazy accents, too.

AM WATERING: 7:30am, pint of water

NOON SNACK: small plate of two stuffings, pint of black cherry and orange soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Can't serve something without tasting it first! Like the rye-sausage more than the challah, firmer texture and bolder pronounced flavor.

DINNER: 4:30pm, plate of sliced turkey breast and yellow gravy, steamed carrots, small green salad, sausage and challah stuffing, mashed potatoes, small piece of cake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Other than a larger portion of stuffing than usual, did not pig out at all. The mashed potatoes were excellent, the person who made them following a restaurant recipe involving stock, roasted garlic and butter.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, slice of pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Feeling nippy, brought home old slices from the shop.

Death by Chocolate, literally

It was just Chef R and me today, because despite expectations of a busy evening, Chefs A and C were out of town. I made the dough single-handedly for the first time today, and made the mistake of lifting and carrying 24kg of dough to my stations -- my back is not happy. No desserts to be made, helped Chef R process veg for a spinach-kale-polenta soup. And then there was the block of dark chocolate.

We use solid dark chocolate in a flourless chocolate cake and hot chocolate -- which becomes kick-ass chocolate pudding after a few days. The chocolate comes in an 11 pound block that needs to be broken up into small enough pieces to be scaled out with relative accuracy. The block goes on a cutting board, then you take a pointed wide metal thing (I think it's a repurposed cheese-board cutter) to wedge yourself in and jiggle back and forth until the chocolate snaps. After about half the block got broken up, I discovered that you can see the grain of the chocolate on its underside -- by going with the direction of the grain, the stuff breaks like slate. Before I discovered that, I was really forcing it to make it go quickly and slipped and jabbed myself pretty strongly in the gut. Despite getting myself with the point, only left a slight bruise, no breaking of the skin. 'Death by chocolate,' I snorted, and kept moving.

ADDENDA:
An intense day. Had an interview for a corporate job in my old career in graphics this morning, went well, but was exhausted from waking early. I brought up to Chef R that, come Saturday, I would have completed my hours for the externship. Her comment off the bat was, "I'll speak to the owner," not, "I love you Norbert, we'll pay you whatever you want per hour, just don't leave us!" Speak to the owner, the same owner who accused me of destroying his very expensive prosciutto yesterday. Oy. After the busy night, Chef R mentioned she'll be talking to Chef A soon, and at the least she'll try to get me a wage for weekend prep shifts....we'll see.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, organic chex with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 2/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, chocolate rugelah, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 6pm, 2 slices, root beer, 1.25 bowl, hunter 4.5

PM DRUGGING: 8pm, 2 Advil, water
Height of dinner service and I got a thumping headache, an aching back, a sore stretching arm. Still fun as hell, though.

PM SNACKS: 7-9pm, 2 slices of pizza, quart of water
Grabbing as the rush went along

DINNER: 9:30pm, spaghetti and meatballs, 2 sodas, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
The pastas are too large, and too salty. I could hear my c-school teacher Chef Allen moaning in my ear.

EVENING SNORT: 11:30pm, 1 beer

Pies at home, then Pies at work

Spent the evening with Chef C, as Chef A has taken off for break and Chef R couldn't come in. It was an uneventful and well-run time at the pizza station, except for when the owner came in and yelled at me for improperly slicing the prosciutto. Granted, I was a little sloppy, but only from inexperience -- not from not trying or not caring. He used a few harsh words and made me wonder if I really want to work for this person. He can't fire me, because he hasn't hired me, and my apprenticeship hours are up on Saturday.

Chef C assured me that no one can work at this place for any period of time without the owner freaking out at least once, and that I shouldn't worry about it. Everyone who slices the cured meats screws it up the first few times. Regardless, here I am doing the owner a favor by coming in to cover a shift with less than 24 hours notice -- for free -- because there is literally no one else to do it, and here he is treating me like a 'tard. Lucky for him, my years of dealing with a-holes at work has given me a thick skin. Rather than lashing out, I just moan about it on my blog!

After that, I chilled with Rufus. He's my wonder-cat:


ADDENDA:
Spent the early morning at the supermarket, stocking up for Thanksgiving cooking. Made oatmeal-peanut butter bars for B's tummy and a couple of pumpkin pies for the holiday. Rushed through it, forgot a few details, hope it comes out OK.

Went to the kosher bakery around the corner to pick up breads to make stuffing. The old Eastern European woman behind the counter unprompted suggested making stuffing from the challah rolls, and told me her recipe -- stale the bread, run through a meat grinder, throw in some diced onions and peppers, mix in a couple of eggs, stuff in the bird. If it's too dry, add some water. Bim bam boom. My stuffing won't be that different in theory, but with a mushroom-chicken stock, the vegetables roasted before mixing with the bread, and the bread toasted instead of staled. And I'm still contemplating the seasoning and herb mix....

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, one chocolate donut from donut plant, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Tired, the hunger that comes from too little sleep. On the way to the supermarket to pick up ingredients for assorted Thanksgiving things, thought it unwise to go on an empty stomach.

LUNCH: 2pm, vegan cesar salad, tempeh, quineoa and steamed kale with tahini, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snickle snacking with the HVS after yoga. Hadn't eaten this healthfully in a long time, and on the bike ride home my stomach was a bit queasy -- was it the crazy nutrients overwhelming my system, or just a lack of water?

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, 5 pieces of chocolate rugelah, quart of water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, 1 slice, root beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate pudding, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Real chocolate pudding, none of that from-a-mix nonsense. Milk, dark chocolate, cocoa, corn starch and a dash of salt. Dead simple, deep and lush. Mmmmmm.

EVENING WATERING: 11pm, quart of water

Watch them fingers

I had a lot of opportunities to slice off fingers this evening. I sliced up a bunch of waxy potatoes for the special pizza, and at one point in the evening was sent across the street to our sister restaurant (which is closed on Mondays) to use the slicer to make pepperoni and prosciutto. Making the sausage the proper shape and thickness was no big deal, but this was my first time cutting the prosciutto.

The thing is a large ham hock with dark red cured meat wrapped in fat and dry outer skin that needs to be hacked off before slicing. For purposes of laying on a pizza after it comes out of the oven, the meat needs to be paper thin, like a cell-worth of thickness. When it hits the pie, the fat needs to turn to jelly and the meat needs to loosen, almost like a meat-flavoring on the pie rather than a big textural wallop. I found this difficult to achieve until I was near the end. It seems you need to set the slicer to obscenely thin, then press the meat actively against it. Any other way will either come out clownishly thick or will deliver small, partial slices.

A lot of compliments on the soup from everyone today, including a few customers. Chef A chose the ingredients, but it was I who actually went to market to buy the ingredients (and choose the quantities), cooked the veg, processed the soup and seasoned it. So yeah, my ego is stroked, thank you very much!

Due to the upcoming vacation, I've been asked to come in Tuesday and Wednesday. Looks like my apprenticeship may be over as soon as Saturday. After that, they're going to either have to take me off the schedule or pay me the big bucks....

ADDENDA:
Weighed in at 223, about the same, a little less. I know Ilsa will be annoyed, but I can't help but be a little surprised that I'm maintaining my lower weight without trying, even in the least. It's not that I'm unhappy about it, I'm thrilled, I'm just used to yo-yo-ing a bit in my younger years and am used to the other shoe dropping by now.

B is like a space heater, radiating baby-heat and feeling warm despite turning off the heat, opening windows and sleeping without a blanket. It's kinda cool.

BREAKFAST: 12:30, toasted whole wheat bagel with good butter, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 4:30pm, 1 slice, ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK:7pm, 1 soda

DINNER: 9:30pm, mushroom rigatoni, soda, chocolate cake, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5