Last Day, for now

Despite some of the worst weather seen this year, I rode my mountain bike to work through the snow, freezing rain and sleet-slicked streets. I did this partly because I like to ride, but also because if I took the subway today I would've gotten massively depressed -- today is my last day at the restaurant for the time being.

On Wednesday, Chef R told me that due to the drop in biz caused by our cratering economy, they didn't need me any more. On the other hand, she mentioned hiring someone new for a part time shift who has pizza experience, because they need someone who can run the shop both in back and front of house.

I understood what she was saying, as it was all true. What surprised me was that when my externship ended, I was clear with her that I wanted to learn more, and volunteered to do unpaid shifts on top of the paid shifts to give her the opportunity to teach me what she does -- like run both back and front of house. I'm disappointed that she didn't have enough faith in me to simply give me the chance to see if I could rock those responsibilities. I know I could have, I have management experience, and just being a prep and assistant cook felt like only part of what I could have done there.

I hoped to see Chef R this evening but it was just me and Chef C. The owner's wife took me aside and was very, very nice to me, reminding me that their decision wasn't personal, and that she'd like to stay in touch in case things change. I thanked her, and told her that I appreciated the chance to learn, but confessed that I was disappointed I wasn't given the chance to step up the game. She said she'd pass my feelings along to Chef R, but I think I'm going to send her an email in any case. I guess Chef R either didn't have the imagination to see a dude go from c-school student and prep newbie to executive chef-in-training in such a short period, OR she truly saw some inadequacy in my performance. If the latter, I really hope she's straight with me so I don't repeat my mistakes at the next cooking gig.

The night was pleasantly busy, though I did burn a couple of pies due to my mind wandering about what was happening. Still, clowning around with Chef C and the rest of the crew made me realize that I really enjoyed being there and enjoyed the work, and won't let the economy (or potential depression) slow me down from getting to a professional spot where B (and future Norbet/Norbetta Jr) will be proud of me. Plans are in the works for 2009.

BREAKFAST: 11:30am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Would have eaten more but nothing around.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, cheesecake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 5:30pm, slice with onion and sausage, soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:30pm, pizza, seltzer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The last dinner, so to speak. Made my own pie, started with a base of fresh moz, and went forward from there, caramelized onion, mushroom, pancetta, a little parm, fresh cherry tomatoes, finished with oil and salt. I hit the ratios right on the head, very little of a lot of toppings and got a little bit of everything in each bite. It made me feel better about things -- it tasted like a truly professional pizza.


EVENING SNORTS AND SNACKS: 12:30-2am, 3 scotch and lemonades on ice (all light on the scotch), a couple of mushroom tortes, a terrible carob vegan cookie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to a holiday party in Williamsburg to see a friend and blow off a little steam. Drunk chicks dig fuzzy cashmere sweaters -- I told them that pregnant wives like my own like to wear them, too!

Bleah

Feeling down, didn't leave the house except to go to the dentist to have the permanent crown put in. B came home and made me feel better!

BREAKFAST: noon, apple, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, caprese salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, samosa, veg dumpling, scallion pancake, half a singapore mai fun, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B-n-me ordered in from a vegan place.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, other half of the noodles, half a soda, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Undercover Eggs

Today at the restaurant, we hosted a large group from a local college. Chef R made something that looked like potato kugel, and while she was in the back, I popped a bite in my mouth and really enjoyed it. When she got back, I asked her what it was, and she told me it was frittata made with leftover potatoes from the weekend brunch. Eggs! I hate eggs. So I ate another bite, one with less potato and more other stuff, and indeed, I had a hard time not spitting it out, as it tasted like a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

BREAKFAST: 1pm, good yogurt with honey, vanilla, raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING: 3pm-9:30pm, 2 sodas, some caprese salad, a few bites of frittata, a few croutes with chevre, 1 bowl hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:30pm, pizza with vegetable topping, chocolate cake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: midnight, quart

Temple of Culinary Retardation

After yesterday's warm day of exercise, today was a cold, snowy day of feeling unwell. Woke up early to make it to B's checkup, everything is good with the Norbetto/Norbetta Jr. I was going to go to yoga, but just went home and collapsed.

Went out with a friend to see Neil Young at Madison Square Garden in the evening. $7.25 for a hotdog! A not very good hotdog! All through the night, every ten seconds or so, someone would come by with a crate of bud or budlight on their heads pitching beer. Yick. Stadiums are temples built to honor culinary retardation. Well, at least this one.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, chocolate donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, brioche french toast, bacon, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, apple, small piece of jack cheese, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, tablespoon of peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 4:30pm, 2 slices of pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Straight outta the freezer, from the restaurant.

DINNER: 8:15pm, boar ragu tagliatelle, 1 small piece of bread, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EARLY MORNING SINNING: 2am, 2 small cheeseburgers, a 'medium' fries and a 'medium' sprite, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I guess the culinary retardation rubbed off on me, because I was in a rare mood when I got off a very long subway ride in my 'hood. Not much going on on at 2am on Wednesday, and I was in the mood for cheap, greasy, unhealthy....evil. McDonald's was considered a treat when I was a kid, and I remember going there once in a blue moon, usually when my mom took my brother and me to visit our grandmother in Peter Cooper Village. I got basically what I would of got as a kid, except it would of been one burger, not 2, and the medium fries would of been easily 1/2 the size. According to the calorie listings, I just wolfed down 1,200 calories or so. Imagine if I supersized it, or had a Big Mac or something.

It was a long, high-strung day, thinking about the future and not feeling well. I definitely will not be feeding my kid McDonald's. When they get to my point in their life, hopefully they'll reach for a fresh knish or a properly made pancake.

I Am...Norbert Fierce!

Woke up after 10am today due to the late restaurant holiday party -- was hoping to make an 8:15 am ferry to the Jersey shore to go riding due to the unseasonably warm weather. Got out and road out over the 59th St Bridge to Little Neck Bay in Queens, but ditched when I got back to Flushing Meadows due to rain. Still, got 40 miles in and felt really good, the body and the bike were both responding well despite not being used this way in a month or two, and probably won't be again until the winter passes, mid to late March. This yoga thing is doing well for me, my back was not really bothering me this morning or on the bike.

My eating was ok, kinda light on the bike, small amount of high-energy food, felt right. A brick of Chinese was a nice filling reward, rounded out with the remainder of the salad from the salad pizzas I made and broccoli in the actual dish. For a stupid-unhealthy meal, not as bad as it could of been.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, good yogurt with honey, raw cashews, vanilla., .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE WATERING: 11am-3pm, 24 oz

BIKE LUNCH: 2pm, gatorade, small bag of corn ships, 3 small chocolate chip cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 4:45pm, small green salad, Chinese food including pork egg roll, pork fried rice and shrimp with broccoli, small amount of apple cider, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 7pm, quart

My B is the Best B who ever B'd a B

Isn't she lovely? I spent Sunday morning rolling, cutting and baking gingerbread while she was in the bedroom baking Norbert/Norbertetta Jr. By the time I had to go to E's house to help her get her party ready, B wanted to frost the cookies she was bringing to the party we were to meet at later. So I helped her get through a simple royal icing recipe (3 cups sifted confectioner's sugar into 2 stiff-whipped egg whites with a big dose of fresh lemon juice), getting it into a piping bag and then let her rip. She's so great! I was really under the gun for time and feeling frazzled and she just....made me happy to be there with her.

The chopped liver was a surprising hit at E's party, all of it being consumed well before the end of the party -- I thought I had made too much. It's gratifying to know that I can make something well that I don't personally care for.

In the late evening, B and I went to the restaurant for their holiday party, was a lot of fun with drinks abounding and Japanese food, but I could see B was fading fast and took her (and her baked good) home soon after midnight.

SATURDAY
BREAKFAST: 10:30am, good granola with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, glass of apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, homemade scallop and chicken parsley pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had left over ingredients for another pie. Funny, took just as long as if I was making a crappy frozen pie. This was a bit crappy because I didn't have to to let the oven properly warm up, oh well.

PM SNICKLE SNACK: 5:30pm, vegan chocolate chip cookie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7pm, popcorn, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:30pm, vegan kimchi udon noodles, a few spoonfuls of peanutbutter chocolate thingy, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11:45pm, pint of water

SUNDAY
AM SNACKING: 9am-noon, bits of gingerbread cookie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LATE BREAKFAST: noon, good cornflakes with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
When I finished baking, realized I didn't feel well because didn't really eat anything proper and felt like I was running on fumes.

PARTY FOOD: 1pm-11:30pm, 6 perogies, gingerbread cookies, brownies, 2 alcoholic drinks, water, bits of sushi roll, spring roll, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Attended three parties, including one late one at the restaurant.

Yes, I AM chopped liver!

I spent the day cooking, with an interruption to pick up a pale yellow roller blind and install it in our slowly-emerging nursery. My mood was a bit intense and down -- I spoke to Chef R at the restaurant, it seems I still have 2 shifts, but they are on more of a floating basis than a regular schedule (a change from what I was originally told). It's another element of insecurity that comes out of our recessed economy. Thinking about my next move, how to position myself in the future. Got some small plans of action, but I think I better talk to the wifey about them before I share it with you, you sexy undifferentiated internet cloud!

Cooking, like bike riding (too cold) and yoga (maybe tomorrow), is a form of meditation that makes me happy. So cook I did. My friend E is having a holiday housewarming party tomorrow, and I'll be helping to direct the food. Wifey is going to a friend's holiday party which I'll be meeting her at. (My wife just LOVES dangling prepositions, yo.) And in the evening, one of B's closest friends and her new love were coming over for a cavalcade of pizza.

So first I whipped up a big batch of gingerbread cookie dough, brown sugar, molasses, the good butter, lemon zest, fresh ginger, all sorts of spicy pie spices, baking soda and powder, real vanilla bean, organic flour -- just trying to make it as fool-proof as possible with high quality ingredients. I baked off a small batch and rolling and cutting, they came out dry and cracker-like, but in a good way.

While that was going on, I made chopped liver based on the 2nd Ave. Deli recipe. Hard-boiled a couple of eggs. A pound of chicken livers were spread on a sheet after I removed weird membranes and random bits, coated in oil then broiled until cooked. While they chilled in the fridge, I sauteed mire poix in a large pot, browned a whole chicken in there, then covered with water and simmered for 45 minutes. The 'scum' that I skimmed off I reserved -- a key ingredient in chopped liver is 'schmaltz': rendered chicken fat.

I ate a boobie and reserved the other for tonight's pizzas. 45 minutes was too long, the meat was dry despite being cooked in a liquid medium. I made parsley oil (parsley, olive oil, and salt in a blender) and sliced the chicken thinly, put it all together to marinate for the evening. I also sliced some scallops and put in the oil.

I started caramelizing onions, one batch for pizzas and one batch for the liver. As this takes a few hours, I installed the shade while this was happening. One the liver's onions were cooled, I got out the food processor, put in the livers, shmaltz, hard boiled eggs, onions, some salt and pepper, and blended until chopped liver magically appeared. This is for E's party, a good crostini topper, from a technical point of view. Still, I just don't like the gamey-ness. I do like the natural browned sweetness the onions bring, and the hardboiled egg blended in lends a lightness, but still...

By this point, it was time to prep the mise for the pizza. The dough was made last night and developing in the fridge. Here are photos of each pie; descriptions will illustrate what mise had to be made:

Salad pie: crust baked with just olive oil and salt, finished with a salad of romaine, grated carrot, diced cucumber and shallot, dressed with olive oil, balsamic and salt. The crust was snappy, but too pale.

Classic margherita, with raw tomato sauce, buffala moz, and finished with basil. Went a bit too far with the crust here, very snappy, not enough chew. Tasted good, though. Nice and thin.

Cauliflower pizza, totally ripped it off from the restaurant. Layer of fresh moz topped with cauliflower puree (cauliflower and garlic steamed in chicken stock and then blended with heavy cream), roasted cauliflower, caramelized onions, and rosemary. Got the crust right, just browned right and because I left it a little thicker, stood up to the heavy toppings. Probably the most winning pie of the night.

Two scallop and parsley pizzettes and two chicken and parsley pizzettes. Two people didn't do scallops, but one peep said it was her fave, and I think scallops work perfectly on pie from a texture point of view. So each pie got a piece of fresh moz, parsley-marinated protein, and finished with a more fresh parsley. Came out a lot better than I thought it would, thought it would need something to expand the flavor profile but simple was indeed the way to go.

The last pie was a bit of a punt, a margherita with bufala moz topped with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and pepperoni. The wifey's favorite, a crowd pleaser when everyone is trying to save room for dessert!

BREAKFAST: 10am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTING: 11:30am, a bit of dough, a couple of cookies, hunger 3/5
Gingerbread, not my thing.

PM SNACK: 1pm, a small braised chicken breast, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM TASTING: 3pm, spoonful of chopped liver, hunger 3/5
Really not my thing, very funky, tastes just like....chopped liver.

PM SNACK: 4pm, black cherry soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, slice of the restaurant's pizza, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snack on pizza before spending the night making pizza, funny. Freezes surprisingly well.

DINNER: 8pm, one quarter of a pie of all the pies described above, small bowl of vanilla ice cream and a gingerbread cookie, 2 glasses prosecco, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11pm, quart of water

Tested at the STD Clinic

I went to a municipal building up on 100th Street today to take the test for my Food Protection Certificate. The Department of Health mandates that a minimum of one person must be in an operational licenced kitchen with this certificate at all times, typically a supervisor. So if I hope to ever move beyond prep, it's a proforma matter that can't be overlooked. I took the online course, which was a ridiculously slow process (due to artificial roadblocks the designers put in the test-taker's way), but I wasn't quite prepared for how dumb the in-person experience would be, either.

I arrived 15 minutes to the run-down early 70s-era building. A surly rent-a-cop directed me to a room...within the STD clinic! A locked room. A random person in the hall told me the room doesn't openuntil 1pm, the time the test was scheduled for. So I sat on the row of chairs outside the room....and was told that is only for people going to the STD clinic. Ewwww. I sat on a seat reserved only for people with STDs... so I stood in the hall with 3 or 4 others. Stupid city.

Though the test was for 1, the proctor took attendance in a variety of ways, instructed us on the proper way to take a multiple choice test, and how to fill in an ID card (I also had to stand on a long line to take a picture). We didn't actually start the test close to 1:45pm. Fifty multiple choice questions, I finished at 1:57pm. I got a 90/100, passing was 70. I'm now certified to protect your food, and STD-free to boot!

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, apple pie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
No apples, gotta go shopping today

LUNCH: 2:30pm, lamb souvlaki with greek salad, fries, fried pita, water, herbal tea, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Surprisingly good food at a diner on the UWS. I was expecting processed gyro 'meat', got gamey flavorful hunks of marinated lamb.

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, 1 olive oil torta, .125 bowl, hunger 4/5
Found these at the market, nice round cracker-like sweet tortas flavored with anise from Spain, had these once when I was volunteering at the James Beard house...

DINNER: 8:15pm, spaghetti with chorizo, handful of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Was intending to make something totally different, but at the last second just didn't feel like it and just used the sausage. Boiled up some dry pasta, heated up some frozen mushroom tomato pasta sauce, sauteed the sausage in butter with shallots, then thin sliced it and dropped it in the sauce. It totally changed the sauce, made it taste all spicy and chorizoey. Really good, fun to see such a boring dish I've been cooking for myself for most of my life is totally transformed with some buttery spicy pork.

Can I change my order?

I recently rearranged the closets, and I now have a box of random 'desk stuff' that resides on a high shelf in the closet. I took it down to find a lip balm when a sight odor hit me like a canoe paddle on the side of the head -- it smelled slightly like the drawer of my father's desk in his home office when I was a kid...and that smell was a mixture of sunflower seed husks and a slight tinge of saliva.

My dad habitually ate sunflower seeds. They were in the shell, so he'd have to crack open the seed with his teeth, spit out the husk, then chew and swallow the tiny little seed. The whole seeds and the slightly wet husks would find their way into the nooks and crannys of his desk, giving the whole affair a vegetal, slightly earthy, slightly tangy smell. I tried eating his seeds a few times, but the effort and work to eat one seed seemed oversized compared to the reward of the tiny, woodsy tasting kernel.

Looking back now, clearly it was the repetition and the business of his mouth and lips that gave him satisfaction, the eating of the seed was probably just a bonus afterthought. That smell was my dad in his own private work fortress of solitude.

I'm recording hunks of TV for HVS's professional reasons. I'm watching this corny reality program, "Bringing Home Baby," about the first few weeks of bringing home a new born. Oh my. Uhhhhhh. The dude is changing the diaper for the first time, and poo is running down the kid's leg. Uhhhhhh. Think I can place an order for a non-pooping model? Or some how convince B that it's my responsibility to make everything that goes in, and hers to take care of everything that comes out? Like doin' the dishes, but stinkier. This blog is Learning to Feed after all, not Learning to Poop. Though I guess that may be applicable at some point...

Don't worry B, when we have our arancini, I won't invite a film crew into our house for the first month....

Weight this morning was 224, two pounds over last week. I feel light and other than the excess soda yesterday, my eating has been good, so I'm going to chalk it up to normal variation.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, toasted onion bagel with good butter, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, homemade powerbar thingy, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 4:30pm, Caesar salad, 1/4 of a turkey club, handful of fries, 1 decadent brownie, a few spoonfuls of awful ice cream, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Late lunch with B and her momma on the upper east side. My first non-vegan Caesar since c-school, good, definitely taste the tang of the anchovies. The chocolate ice cream tasted oddly sour to me, but B kept eating it without complaint, so I didn't stop her. Should I have?

DINNER: 8pm, pork cutlet curry over rice, 1 pork dumpling, water, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
At the place I used to eat at all the time when I worked in Times Square, just lovely. Didn't eat most of the rice that came with it, just not hungry enough.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, homemade vanilla ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
One thing for sure, my ice cream is better than that restaurant's from this afternoon.

Learning to Top

Chef R was off doing managerial stuff, so it was Chef C and me in the kitchen. A few times during the night, Chef C took off to cut meat (because as we all know, the owner thinks I can not be trusted with his prosciutto), which allowed me to make about 6 pizzas on the main station. I've watched everyone top the pizzas, but doing it is another thing. I top it and it looks right, but when it comes out the oven I've clearly oversauced or overtopped, making a thick and potentially soggy eating experience. It's exciting, looking forward to more time topping the 'za.

Sunday is the shop's holiday party. It starts after work, meaning 10pm. Fancy dress, people have been writing songs (to pop tunes) about the people and restaurant. I believe the kitchen will be closed and the event will be catered.

ADDENDA:
Upon recounting what I at today, realized I drank 4 sugared sodas at work -- something that never would have happened if I was actually paying for them, I guess. That would explain the slight headache I had on the way home, which went away when I downed a quart of water.

Damn! Forgot to weight myself! Till tomorrow, then.

BREAKFAST: 10am, 1 apple, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
An apple a day keeps Ilsa at play. Can't think of a better rhyme.


LUNCH: 12:30pm, sauteed boneless pork chop with pan sauce, wok-seared broccoli, 2 peanut butter cookies, slice of apple pie, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some free time before work, swung by the market. For about $8, I had a large pork chop, finished with a pan sauce made with diced shallots, a shot of sake and veal stock out of a tetrapack. I seasoned the wok with some hunks of garlic and ginger sauteed in a small amount of peanut oil, removed the aromatics, tossed in the broccoli, then hit it with a shot of sake. Added a little veal stock then covered to get a little steaming action going, then seasoned it with a little soy sauce and that was it, still nice and bright green and crisp. Pork was a little overdone (though my c-school chefs would of approved, as it's supposed to be served well done) and the broccoli was good but needed some jazzing up with maybe some mushroom, cabbage, pepper -- I was trying to keep it simple, but probably didn't succeed in that part.

PM SNACK: 4pm, ricotta cheese cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKS: 5-8pm, 1 slice, 3 sodas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Craving sugar.

DINNER: 9:30pm, spaghetti & meatballs, soda, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11:30pm, quart of water

French toast for Wifey

I woke up early to preheat the oven and pan. Last night I brought home 9 small slices of the restaurant's focaccia. I whipped some heavy cream, beat 2 eggs into it, seasoned it generously with cinnamon, powdered sugar and salt, then placed the bread to soak in it in a plastic container over night. The liquid was kind of viscous from the whipping, but still loose enough to be soaked up.

This morning not much liquid was left in the container, sponged up by the hearty pieces of bread. A generous lump of butter browned in the pan, and all 9 pieces crowded in. After 5 minutes, I flipped it (it was nice dark brown, not burnt at all) and placed the whole mess in the oven for another 5 minutes. When I took it out, it had firmed up nicely but barely brown on the flip side so I fried it for another 3 minutes to a nice golden color. Plated with a dash of powdered sugar. Wifey claims it was the best breakfast of all time, but I think that was just her baby bump speaking (and if that were to be it speaking, not a bad thing to say!) I think I could have gone sweeter with the batter, the whipping was unnecessary and made it too viscous and maybe more salt, too.

Being that the focaccia is the pizza dough baked in a slightly different method, I guess this is the closest I'll be getting to pizza french toast...

ADDENDA:
Spent the morning finishing the closets and shifting a lot of stuff to deep storage in the hall storage room. Last time I cleaned out my closets was the week after my father passed. Now I'm cleaning them out in anticipation of his grandchild. Closets are weird metaphysical spaces that hold our stuff for the benefit of our parents and our children.

Lower back is achy. Went to yoga to work it out.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, focaccia french toast, apple cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, 2 homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, left over rice & beans, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Still good, must make this again and freeze a few batches. Very filling.

SNICKLESNACK: 4pm, portobello panino, vegan ceasar salad, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, scallion pancake, bulgogi, a few spoonfuls of white rice, kimchi, toasted rice tea, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, slice of apple pie and vanilla ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Professional Pizza Pie

I worked a prep shift today at the restaurant, my first as an employee rather than an extern. Didn't feel much different, except for the tiny wad of cash that was slipped to me before I left. Still, it is an important step -- I am no longer just an enthusiast. I am a pizza professional.

ADDENDA:
Went to dinner at a higher-end pizza joint in Brooklyn on Saturday night with the wifey. After spending a day there working a trail a while ago, it was interesting to check out the proceedings with my new perspective. Bottom line, there product is superior -- the crust is simply flavored exquisitely by their wood-burning oven -- light and pillowy, with nice spots of flavorful char. What I really didn't like is how they serve the pies -- on plates too small for the pie, uncut. The customer has to struggle with a steak knife while it shimmies along the lip of the plate, it's just silly.

SATURDAY:
BREAKFAST: noon, meatball sandwich on thin focaccia-like bread, string beans with preserved garlic, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Relaxed brunch out with B, woke up hungry but saved my appetite for this restaurant, Frankies, where we went the night before our wedding.

PM TASTING: 3pm, shallow spoonful of warm creme anglais
After the farmers market, baked 2 apple pies using the rest of the vodka pie crust dough in the freezer. Partially cooked mutsu apples with a bit of fresh cider, brown sugar, sea salt, cinnamon, and the scrapings of a vanilla bean. But what is apple pie but a vehicle for vanilla ice cream? So I leaned on my c-school experience and made a batch of creme anglaise, which can simply be chilled and poured over sweet baked products, but really, makes a killer french vanilla ice cream.

DINNER: 6:15pm, sausage pizza, roasted octopus, chocolate sorbet, almond cake and praline gelato, 1 glass wine, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING DRINK: 8:30pm, cup of New Castle beer, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5 At the Brooklyn Museum.

EVENING SNACK: 10:45pm, slice of apple pie, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Curious how it turned out.

SUNDAY:
BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good granola with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKS: 12-3pm, 3 mini choco chip scones, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 4:30pm, 1 slice pizza with onion, mushroom, pecorino, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:30pm, fresh pasta with homemade tomato mushroom sauce, homemade french vanilla ice cream with 2 peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Funny, but this was totally a freezer-fishing meal. I made the pasta and sauce a month or so ago, zapped the sauce and boiled the pasta. The peanut butter cookies were made from a log of frozen dough from a few weeks ago, which I portioned on a scale and baked off, and the ice cream I made yesterday, and put it in the maker and placed in the freezer a few hours ago to set. Usually a freezer-fishing expedition would be a burrito or fish sticks...

Cooking with the Hungry Vegan Society

After yoga, I went to the HVS's house, who has been under the weather for a few days. We went to her local vegetable stand and got $12 worth of ingredients to make vegetable stock and blender soup. We featured sweet potato and parsnip, with a strong base of leek and ginger. We were limited, since we didn't have a real blender, and accidentally used a bit too much stock...but, overall, it came out pretty good. Instead of dairy, we used almond milk, which actually gave a nice nutty note to the proceedings; I might use it as a secret ingredient along with dairy in the future. It was nice to be able to cook with a friend, especially one who has been feeling crappy.

Went to a housewarming party c/o the new boyfriend of a close friend, a lot of young lawyerly types. My friend introduced me to a few people as a chef -- that's not quite true, as if anything I could call myself a cook -- a chef is boss of cooks, and I'm at the bottom rung. Still, everybody likes to talk about food and the fact that I cook professionally some how made me more legit in the eyes of these strangers. I think my self-perception just shifted a little.

ADDENDA:
I don't think I ate enough today, but the food was pretty limited at the party, and the only restaurants available in the slight ghetto-hood of the party was chinese and bad pizza. At home, I wasn't drunk enough to gorge on what was available.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla, raw cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, frozen pizza, apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The last of the pile of different frozen pies in my freezer.

PM SNICKLESNACK: 6pm, sweet potato parsnip soup, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING PARTY FEED: 8-11pm, a couple of salmon cucumber finger sandwiches, a few corn chips and guac, 6 Italian cookies, 2 beers, 1 martini, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza over Berlin, 1949

As I was housebound yesterday, I got some long-gestating reading done, in Peter Rheinhart's American Pie and especially Moveable Feasts, by Sarah Murray. This book is a series of essays about the history of food and transportation, and how the two overlay each other. Ilsa was brainstorming with me the other day about how to do something entrepreneurial with food , maybe make and deliver lunches to people in offices. In India, this has been a booming business since the 1850s of people who would pick up homemade food in metal canisters called tiffin, take the later trains into town, and deliver the homemade meals to the spouses. The trains were so crowded in the morning that anyone bringing lunch with them would be in danger of a big mess...thus, a whole industry of people taking the later trains just to deliver lunch evolved.

Most interesting was the list of staples that were delivered to the barricaded citizens of West Berlin via airdrop:

• Flour
• Cereal
• Fat
• Meat & Fish
• Dehydrated Potatoes
• Sugar
• Coffee
• Powdered Milk
• Whole Milk
• Fresh Yeast
• Dehydrated Vegetables
• Cheese
• Salt

Hmmm...flour, yeast, cheese, salt....that's almost a pizza!! The British wanted to also airlift soil so that urban farmers could grow their own stuff, as they had their own 'Dig for Victory!' campaign during WWII, but the Americans squashed it. Hrumph. They needed to grow tomatoes to finish up that pizza...

ADDENDA:
So it looks like I'll be working (for pay) at the restaurant on Sunday afternoons and Monday evening. I guess I'm now too legit, too legit to quit...

BREAKFAST: Noon, organic cheerios with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, fresh onion bagel with butter, black cherry soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, slug of apple cider, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, shrimp curry with basil fried rice, water, 3 freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

Ill

Not well today. Stayed indoors, cancelled all plans. I think last night's Indian food might have done a number on me.

BREAKFAST: 10am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, rice and beans, organic sports drink, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, 2 slices of shop pizza, whole wheat slice of bread with chocolate hazelnut spread, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Flavor of Dentistry

I had a permanent post and a temporary crown placed in mouth today. Between the molds taken of the tooth, local anesthetic, injected anesthetic, drilled and burning tooth matter, shavings of temporary enamel and the dentist's rubbery fingers, the flavor in my mouth was overwhelmingly nasty. And the mouthwash I got to rinse with wasn't so hot, either.

The day was spent mostly recovering and running around and about. Dinner was with B and 6 of some of my best friends and their significant others, a gathering for no particular reason other than we haven't seen each other in too long. We went to one of the non-gross Indian joints on 6th Street, but I can't help but think how much more fun and cheaper it would have been if I just invited everyone over and cooked up something interesting. But I think B appreciated not having a crowd of eaters in her living space for once!

BREAKFAST: 10am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I've missed the good yogurt. I wish salad was in season.

PM SNACK: 1pm, half pint of organic B&J's vanilla ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not allowed to eat anything for an hour after the dentist, and felt it wasn't wise to eat anything too solid.

LUNCH: 4pm, pork lomein, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hungry, needed something cheap and on the fly. Not the most ideal food before seeing Ilsa.

DINNER: 8pm, onion bahji, vegetable pakora, shrimp jalfrezi with jasmine rice, 1 beer, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

I tried to, but he was closed

B got me this book, and it's the first book in quite a while that from the moment I picked it up, I couldn't put it down until the last page -- not a typical response to a cook book, but this isn't just a cook book, more like a mash-up of cookbook, both memoir and screed of a very skewed but cool philosophy of food and life. Shopsin is a self-invented master cook and master of his small but soulful restaurant space; he personal cooked up a menu of over 900 items. He's famous for things like his pancakes, which he proudly states that he uses frozen Aunt Jemima pancake batter, because he used to make it from scratch...but this stuff is just as good so why bother?! He loves being a contrarian, something I can get with.

Some basic things I've extracted from culinary school he discovered for himself, and took that knowlege in very odd, creative directions. Part of the reason for his large menu, he claims, is that he doesn't measure anything, and no dish ever comes out the same twice -- he'd rather a customer order different things every time so he's not responsible for consistency.

In recent years he's moved operations to a stall in the Essex Market, which happens to be about a 10 minute walk from my front door. I zipped over there for lunch, but...he's closed Mondays, according to his website! Drat! He has 5 kids, now all adults, and wrote a lot about raising them in the restaurant. In the book, he also discussed why he had kids: it's an excuse to live your life a 2nd time with out the falseness of nostalgia.

ADDENDA
Weird, I'm losing weight, feel healthy and positive, and yet I'm worried that I'm eating way too many sweets lately. This morning I was 221.8 pounds, I don't think I've ever lost weight while not pro-actively trying to lose it. I'd say, baaaah, I'll probably gain it back in a week or something, but I'm seeing Ilsa tomorrow and don't want her to scold me for my fat-person way of thinking. My secret plan is to feed her lots of pumpkin pie until she weighs more than me.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, organic cornflakes with good milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30, spring rolls, mashed taro treasure boxes, mock shrimp in rice paper, mini steamed rice in lotus leaf, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Since Shopsins was not available, made it to Chinatown for some vegetarian dim sum.

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunge 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, boca burger on rye, small portion of rice and beans, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got hungry waiting for B to show up.

DINNER: 7:45pm, hot italian sausage cooked in homemade kraut and cider, 1 homemade chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 2/5
Sauteed onion and apple before searing the sausage. Still, didn't enjoy it that much because just wasn't hungry enough.

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