Johnny Angel and Those Eggs

Today started much more smoothly than did yesterday.

Now that my eyes have learned how to quickly skim an order sheet, I know what those Devilishly [Good] Deviled Eggs were for:

Johnny Angel and the Swingin' Demons
at one of Birmingham's more beautiful locations, where DCT exclusively caters.

Before the cooking and prepping began, SC apologized for and explained yesterday.

SC asked if I was much of a pastry person.
"No... I passed the required pastry class with an A, but I don't care so much for it."
"Well, we're going to dip our toes in it today."
So, we made Gougeres.

Cooking the flour, water and butter.

Once we mixed in the Parmesan, we piped 120 of them with a star tip. Wrap. Label. Color. Freezer.

The next task was to prepare all the fixings for a mashed potato bar for 375 guests and another mashed potato and grits bar for a total of 250 guests.

My job: slice the green onion.

1.5 (post-slice) gallons later, I was finished.
Cover. Label. Color. Cooler.

Mashed potato bars need mashed potatoes....so we peeled and cut up (estimating) 200lbs of potatoes.

Cover. Label. Color. Cooler.


PC was swamped, so we went to assist her where possible.
I cut 85 rounds of German chocolate cake out of a sheet pan for her to decorate.

Do not let this picture deceive you. This is not the final product. When they go to a wedding at the event house I wanted to "some day" get married at (until I saw the price tag), they will be decorated very elegantly.

Finally, we took the leftovers from the German chocolate cake and mixed those with buttercream frosting and rolled those into 90 gooey balls to be dipped chocolate and made to look even prettier and cuter than the ones below. (We followed the same method with white cake)

"Okay, this is going to get old for you," said SC.
"Would you like to help us cater a dinner Saturday night? See it all put together? Help with the art of it all?"

YES!

The internship begins...

Today I began the internship of my dreams...

(location and staff names will not be disclosed, for their privacy)

I will call it Dream Come True (DCT, for short).

To only slightly preface my story, when I last spoke with the sous chef (SC)at DCT, she asked me to show up this morning at 9 o'clock. I thought I would shadow her at the company's primary kitchen.

This morning, the sun seemed to be shining especially bright and beautiful. All dressed up with my favorite ski resort (Deer Valley) t-shirt, classic hounds tooth chef pants and hair meticulously pulled all the way up in a bun so not a hair could be accused of falling today, I grabbed my fully equipped knife roll, my key and my phone and started on my way.

I was nervous. Scared I would not be enough for them, I prayed for peace. Fearing they would throw me on a task without clear instruction, I caused my stomach to make knots.

"There has been an accident on I-20/59 this morning. Traffic is backed up. If you were planning to take this route to work, you may want to go an alternate way."

That was my route... There was an alternate, but I was not sure it would have me to work in time. I called my hero (Dad), "Help...please...Which way will be faster? Is the traffic going to be so bad?" Dad told me the way I planned to go would probably still be faster, "let me check the weather-cam and just check the interstate."

With only a few seconds remaining to make an ultimate route decision, he called and assured me the traffic had cleared.

*sigh of relief*

I was not wishing to be late. Not today... Especially not after all the nice things bosses and chefs said on paper about my punctuality for work and school. (I wish I were so punctual in everything else.)

I made it to DCT with time to spare. With 15 minutes to make the most of, I received a text message from a dear telling me prayers had been made for me that morning and then I talked with my Redeemer. Five minutes before 9, I stepped out of the car and walked inside.

It was pretty quiet, with only one person in sight, the pastry chef. "Hi! I'm the new intern, Laura. Should I just go on into the kitchen?"

Pastry Chef (PC) told me nobody else was there, but SC should be there soon and I would be following her, most likely. Sweet. PC showed me where I could pour myself some of the strongest coffee I have ever tasted, aka: the sludge.

Within 20 minutes, people began showing up and beginning tasks without anyone telling them what to do. I was amazed. I grabbed a cutting board to make myself feel useful and it sat unused for over an hour as I awaited clear direction and SC. SC still had not showed, but Chef (C) placed me with another cook (a classmate) for the time-being , A.

A showed me the process. "Orders are color-coded and tacked on this board. As we fill it, we highlight. Once we finish an item, we place a sticker of the matching order color on it and take it to the cooler over there and place it on the shelf for that color."

Once the system was explained, I was told to make Devilishly Deviled Eggs. "We have not made these in years," C told me as he was printing off the recipe.

I grabbed all the ingredients (except the eggs) and set them at my work station. The eggs had yet to arrive. Sysco was making their ridiculously huge delivery even as I was giving my class schedule to C.

The eggs finally came off the truck and I helped to properly place all the other ingredients, once everything was in.

As I was putting food away, I got a text message. I was busy, so did not look. It was encouraging to know I was thought of while I felt so very out of place because of how things were beginning.

My shadowess was still not there...I was beginning to feel like I had gotten myself mixed up.

After all the groceries were in their assigned places, I got to work on my "little devils." A told me he wished he had brought his iPod. "We can have those here???" "Yeah." I made proper mental notes.

I began singing while working. After some time passed, the owner of the company's son walked by and asked me how I was doing and gave me a welcoming hug. Moments later, his mother walked by and gave me a hug and told me how glad she was to see me.

I felt more welcome, but somehow still very nervous - to the point of feeling faint. I tried talking to A, to see if that helped...but I just got more light-headed... I asked for some water and PC showed me where they keep all the drinks for staff and she handed me water. While I guzzled, I pulled my phone out and called it a 1-minute break. "Smile! =D" said the text from a long time before. I took a deep breath and got back to work. Time to shake the nerves and be strong. SC would not be there, that was clear. Everyone else was very kind and welcoming, even those who primarily spoke Spanish; no excuse for being nervous.

After cutting in half 81 eggs and making a new filling for them, I arranged each half on a sheet pan and piped the new filling into the halves. After approval from C, I moved some to another pan and placed upside-down deli-tainers in the corners of the pan, to create height so the plastic wrap would not smash the new filling. Label. Color sticker. Place in cooler on color rack. Project #1 complete.



"What next?"

Cocktail sauce.
Find this....find that...mix it up...label it, sticker, cooler. Project #2 complete.

"Next?"

Roll 200 frozen blobs of goat cheese into balls and then roll those in poppy seeds, tomato powder and pistachios.



Rolled, rolled again, wrap, label, sticker color, freezer. Project #3 complete.

Take the stems out of 500 mushrooms, using a melon-baller.



I had way too much fun with this project... I don't even know how to describe the fun of it to you. But I got into it. While I worked away, everyone else started leaving. With an "adios" to A and nearly everyone else, I began singing to keep myself company. My hands were progressively smothered in blackness of the 'shrooms and it soon looked like I had been making mud pies. Nope. Just getting ready to stuff mushrooms.

Once I filled six sheet pans with mushroom caps, I covered, labeled, color stickered and put them away, as per instructions. Project #4 complete.

C came out of the front office and thanked me for today's work.
"Oh - Am I already done for the day?"
"Yeah, but can you come back in tomorrow?"
"Yes. Same time? Cool."
"Have a good one."
"Thanks."

I walked out without any ceremony or angels singing in my head.

It was a day. A good day. :)

So, I do not write to tell "WOW! What an awesome first day! AH! I love my internship! It's going to be awesome!" in so many words, and for the "blah"-ness of this, I do apologize. I think today was more about me getting comfortable in this new world. Finally, I did. :) I look forward to the rest of my time at DCT - truly. Until I get completely comfortable, I won't be doing the "big stuff." So, I think today was a huge stepping stone.

Yay! :D