Not so bad.

Actually, I had a pretty good night tonight which was suprising.

Our Chef/Owner was expo'ing and freaking out like usual. As in, forgetting to fire shit and flipping out 10 minutes late cause it's not in the window. "I fucking needed table 60 5 minutes ago! Where the hell is it?" "Um, it's not fired yet." "Yes it is! Watch your goddamn tickets!" "Ok, Chef" M eanwhile, I know that he never fired it, because my station runs the tickets for the line and I'm pretty good about keeping up. He's a great business man and really knows what people like, but he's been off the line for so long that he's forgotten what it's like to cook. For example, I braise out these beans with bacon, herbs and aromats as garnish for a dish. I do this before service in large batches, because it takes a few hours. On pickup, I reheat a single serving of beans for each plate. Now, even thought the beans have lots of cooking liquid left, they still dry out when you heat them up. So, I was adding a little chicken stock (which is what they're cooked in) to the beans as they warmed up to keep them juicy. He freaked. "You're just watering them down!" "Um, I'm re-seasoning each batch, Chef. They still taste really good." "Don't do it any more. Just use the cooking liquid." "Ok, sorry." Of course, when the next batch comes up, "Your beans are too dry!" UM-Doh!!!!! That's what I was trying to tell you!

So, long story short, Chef was pissing me off.

So, I fought back. Every fucking plate was as tight as I could make it. My fish was spot on as i could make it. My station was clean and organized. Every plate that spun into the window was a fuck you. It was a "what, what? You talkin' to me?" And, you know what, he couldn't say shit about my food, although I know he wanted to.

Back from Sabatical....

Wow, it's been a year since I last posted...I've been pretty busy. I'm now cooking saute at a new restaurant. Chef X (aka my boyfriend) happens to be the acting Chef de Cuisine which is kinda embarassing, but i originally just took the job there as part time help while trailing around for a new situation. I ended up really liking the kitchen crew and as I'm painfully shy and hate trailing, i took the job they offered me after a few weeks.

Working with my boyfriend sounds pretty cheesy, but the last year has been really hard for me and being around supportive people has become important to me for the first time. See, after feeling bad for a few months last year, I was diagnosed with a very early stage cancer. Totally treatable with surgery, but scary as hell. Plus, as I don't have health insurance, the treatment took a good chunk (almost all) of my salary for while. The very same week that the doctors told me that they thought that they had removed all the malignant tissue and that things looked good for me, I found out that my grandpa had agressive stage three cancer. He is now in chemo and fighting this bastard like hell, but it's hard. Cancer is everywhere; I can't fucking pick up a magazine or newspaper without reading that some new celeb has it. I just want to forget that this disease exhists.

So, sorry about the sappy disclosure and all, but the above drama really made me want to work with my friends. Before this, i thought about trying to stage at El Bulli, French Laundry or L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, but I don't really feel the need now. I know that it would make me a much better cook, but i'm not sure how much i care...