Busy Weeks

Been a little while since my last post. It seems like the quarter is just about over and like there is a long time left at the same time. On one hand there is only 3 more classes of Soup Sauce, but on the other we just made the switch to breakfast in Ala Carte which would imply we are only half done. In reality the quarter is getting fairly close to being over, just got May to get through.

Lunch at the Bistro went out like a lion, with our busiest 2 weeks easily being the last 2 weeks. By that time we had gotten a pretty good handle on how to make everything and there wasn't really any major issues at the end of each day. I closed out on the pantry station, which along with the grill are easily the two busiest stations. The week prior I made the suggestion that we put two people on pantry and consolidate middle/saute into one, since no one seems to want Mac & Cheese with bacon, bechemel, caramelized onions, and like 3 kinds of cheese when it's 80 degrees outside (who knew?).

As predicted Monday and Wednesday were quite busy, lots of salads, lots of clubs, and lots and lots of burgers.

The ticket situation (which only got worse before it got better) was finally solidified and we handled everything that was thrown at us. Time sure does move when you are busy the whole time, which is about the exact opposite of breakfast.

Yesterday was my first hellish morning up at 5:45, morning person I am not, but I survived, coffee in hand. The saving grace on Monday for this next month will be going home around 10 and getting to take a little nap and rest before having to be back at school for soup/sauce. Compared to lunch breakfast (at least yesterday) was basically a 2 hour prep session for lunch and breakfast the next day, which I am fine with (especially since I have a new toy to play with tomorrow, more on that in another post. Suspense!). I think we had 7 tickets all morning, most all for the potato rosti. Despite the fact that we were not busy I still thought the time went pretty quick, possibly because it was probably 8 by the time I actually had my hollandaise made, gonna need to get on that a little quicker tomorrow.

The Cholula hollandaise was merely a primer for the traditional hollandaise practical I had later in the day. In my opinion the Cholula hollandaise was the better of the two, which is unfortunate since I wasn't graded on that one. I also think that part of the reason there is a Cholula hollandaise on the menu for breakfast instead of a traditional one is because it is easier to fudge a specialty hollandaise than the real thing. The breakfast one tastes more of buttery Cholula goodness, while traditional is much harder to balance the flavors properly. I do definitely have the technique down, just got to work on flavor balance a little more.

I wish I had taken some pictures of the food last night in Soup/Sauce, it was a very good night. Warm Duck Breast Salad with Asian Spices and Orange Soy Vinagrette, Thai Melon Salad, German Potato Salad, Seviche, Tapenade, Marinated London Broil, Salad with Green Goddess Dressing and some tasty barbecue sauce over a ground and then reformed chicken log (really don't know what that was called. It was all as good as it sounds. The several experiments (brined vs. un-brined, marinated vs. un-marinated, emulsified vs. non-emulsified marinade) made quite a difference, the one that stuck out the most in my mind was the emulsified vs. non-emulsified marinades. The one that was emulsified first seemed to have so much more of the flavor, and that is such an easy step to do when you are prepping something. I'm working on a whole post just about marinades, specifically using alcohol, so stay tuned for that. More to come this week...maybe.