Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Need for Speed

This is to try to bring things all back up to speed before my next post -

Let me be undeniably clear in saying - I love my internship.

With coworkers and bosses who all treat me like family, an environment that is almost entirely free of drama (yay!) and food that will blow you away with its goodness in flavor and appearance, Dream Come True is indeed my dream come true.

After teaching me "the ropes," as the old saying goes, and testing my ability to keep up, I was given my first list! For the first few days, I was tacked onto someone else's to-do list.

When I walked in and said good morning last week to find C writing my name on the white board without any other name before it, I was tickled pink.
It was a wimpy list (blanch three cases of asparagus, prep five hotel pans of green beans and prep a dozen vegetarian plates), to be sure, but...it was mine. I still had to ask questions... Heh. But(!) I had my list.

Blanching asparagus was a no-brainer.

I had to ensure I kept it perfectly organized for later counting. Salt, pepper, butter: finished.

I filled five pans with frozen green beans, salt, pepper, butter and was finished.

Then came the more difficult part: gut and stuff tomatoes with couscous. It was not terribly difficult, as it was only 12. With the tomatoes, I had to ensure they each had blanched carrots and asparagus on the side, to complete the vegetarian plates.

With much instruction and patience from A, my day was complete.


The following day, I had a real list! I still had all simplistic tasks, not making too many recipes, but working with some ready-made foods, but it was longer and required a little more labor on my part…

The brownies were already made. The most difficult part was in not eating the rest. The ruler was helpful when I needed to ensure proper measurements.


The muffins were from a frozen mix – thank goodness – I still don’t care for pastry…most of the time. Since I over-mixed my lemon-basil pound cake during my “foundations of baking” class final (losing five points), I know I have much room for improvement when it comes to mixing pastry. It is a science I will leave to those who truly love it.

The biscuits had been frozen as dough and stuck entirely together. I think my knife has forgiven me for using it as an ice pick… After setting them out on the pans, the real trial was in not overcooking. These and the muffins had to be watched closely.

BACON!!!! I love bacon. To those in this world who purposefully do not eat bacon (for whatever reason)…I am sorry. But more bacon for meeeee. So, keep on with your diet. My pity for you does not equal my generosity. ;-) I quickly get off course.

I filled a few sheet pans with bacon and placed them in the oven. After it finished cooking, C (who is on a “no sugar or red meat” diet with A and EC) accused me of taunting him with the bacon. “She is trying to kill me here! I go on a diet and what do you know? I have 85 pieces of hot bacon shoved under my nose!” The poor man… If only he knew that pork was "the other white meat."

The butter merely needed softening, whipping and smushing into a bowl and topped with a piped star decoration.

The orange marmalade and strawberry jam were placed in separate bowls, covered and ready to go.

The quiches were pre-made and delicious. Usually, DCM makes their own quiches, but with their pastry chef of many years taking a fabulous opportunity, it was kind to help out the new chef with some assistance.


That day, after prepping food for the next day, I finished my tasks and then went to cater at Birmingham Children's Hospital for a pediatric graduation of sorts. Plated, seated dinner. Much work that will wear one out, but still...so incredibly enjoyable.

Once we arrived on the scene, we rolled out plastic to protect the carpet underneath our tables then we lined a wall with several tables. SC and I set out and plated up each of the 160 Caesar salads while two others topped each of the 160 crème brulees.

(Actual torch that we use. It is at least 16 inches tall.)

I was supposed to be topping the crème brulees, but I am apparently very afraid of fire. We use a large torch to flame the tops of our ramekins while we rotate the ramekins in our hands. I use “we” loosely. I kept a safe 15 inch distance between my hand and the flame, and no matter how hard I tried to make them do it, my hands refused to bring the flame any closer. This made the whole concept pointless, so SC enjoyed her good laugh and swapped me out with someone else. That is how I ended up on salad construction.

Once they were topped, we all placed chocolate-dipped wafer rolls and strawberries on top of the desserts and carried those out to the tables for later eating.

Last, but definitely not least: the assembly line of plating the main course. My job: garnish and wipe any messy plate edges. I was slow… I will get faster with experience, I hope. After we served all the plates, we cleaned up our mess and left. The sun was still up – good day…

The next day, I worked at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens to help out with two wedding-related luncheons

and one UAB optometry dinner.

Luncheons - Chop lettuce for and serve 117 green salads. On that same plate: the amazing pasta salad, chicken salad and fruit salad. Plated, served, cleaned. Finished.

That kitchen was a bit smaller and more difficult to maneuver through.

When it was time to burn the tops of crème brulee, C asked me to do that. Immediately, SC laughed and said, “ No. She is terrified of that job. I will do it. Put her on something else.”

When it was time for our assembly of the plates, I was the placer of green beans. “Laura, if you could go about 20 million times faster, then you will be good.” C always knew the right thing to say… Haha. Sarcasm runs deep in his blood. I did speed up. “Well, that’s only about 10 thousand times faster, but it will do.” Such a goofy man. It was proper motivation and because I knew what he meant, I was able to take the criticism with laughter.

Speed. That’s what I need.

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