A Special Entry

Folks, I know it's Sunday, but so much has happened in the last couple of days that I must capture my feelings about events before they fade into the long term data storage of my brain.

On Wednesday someone named Cathy tried out for the pastry position. She's a CIA grad, has worked with Martha Stewart's company, and definitely has some serious talent in the pastillage scheme. I wasn't into everything she made, but I also didn't taste everything either. I wasn't impressed with her technique of using imitation strawberry extract in her whipped cream for strawberry shortcake, but she also gave me a few tips on things I could be doing better. I was super friendly to her and tried to make her feel comfy in the kitchen, as if things worked out with her, I'd be free sooner. It would probably mean one less paycheck for me, but it would be a good trade off. We left the restaurant at the same time, and she said she was a little sad because if she took the job, I wouldn't be there. She had enjoyed my company. That was nice.

I was also nervously anticipating Miguel's try for the job. He auditioned for the pastry position the next day. He had plenty of time to prep some dessert dishes for review on Thursday night. I tried to help him with panna cotta, which he wanted to use too much gelatin in, but also neglected to put the panna cotta into the forms he wanted it to set up in when he made the dish. He set it up, then had to whisk the hell out of it to be able to pour it into the forms. Whatever, it was real thick, not quite what you want out of panna cotta, but the berry sauces he made to accompany it were lovely and it worked out anyway. I actually left work earlier that day, and returned to do his tasting with the chef I wrote about last week who is his master. I introduced myself to the chef and his wife, who is also a pastry chef. Both were lovely people and I could see why Miguel would always look forward to working with them. The major quality we discussed about why we all loved Miguel, was the fact that he's very sincere and loyal. Such a sweetheart. As usual, Miguel had been a dishwasher that the chef had promoted. While many people who work in kitchens are work very hard, Miguel stood out from the rest. Anyway he also made four other dishes for the tasting: Ice Cream Cake (with peppermint candies crushed on top, lovely), Checkerboard Cake, (plain, but it's just sponge cake really), Tiramisu (delicious, spectacular. I usually hate tiramisu), and Molten Chocolate Cake. The MCC was quite good. I never make it, as it's kind of played out for me, but I really enjoyed his version, which had something white in the middle, and he served it with a grapefruit and orange salad. I couldn't stop eating the salad either.

Mig's tasting went so well that I was now stuck, I wasn't sure whom to root for. If Cathy took it, she'd be very prepared for the job, and all of the work Miguel and I had done would be for naught. If Miguel got it, then he would be thrown deep into the belly of the beast, not knowing everything, and still trying to understand seemingly simple concepts, such as the breads and Fatima. He would have to buy some books and tools, which though I had most of already when I'd started, I'd still had to invest over $200 in when I began. Should he have to spend money like that? Should the restaurant take a chance like that? I wasn't sure.

Mig and I worked together the next day like nothing was different. By the end of the day, we found out the he was going to "float" around the kitchen. He'd be learning both in the pastry kitchen and the regular one. I sat down with the chef and asked about "the poop." He said they were bringing Cathy on as the main pastry chef, and she was starting tomorrow night. I asked when he needed me to clear my stuff out and he said that day would be good, and sorry to see me leave so soon, but the payroll was getting huge. I told him no worries, I was expecting this. I diligently packed up all my stuff, from my cuisinart and books, to the stereo, and of course a cup of Fatima. Mig's master had suggested I change her name to one that Miguel could relate to better to understand her, so we changed her name to Guadelupe. We laughed and I told him not to kill her just because I was gone. I was not as happy as I thought I would be to leave. Even though I am stepping into my new role as Vice President at the inn, I am sad I will not be working with the people I have grown to love in a very short time. Luckily, I had to return the next day for my second to last paycheck and I was amazed by the hugs that came from many people in the place. Miguel and Joe both played it pretty cool, but let me know their sadness for my absence. I'll be stopping there next week to pick up the rest of my pay, and I think it will be strange, but nice to see them one more time. I did manage to hand out some brochures about the inn to the people who mattered, so we wouldn't lose touch, so that was good.

And now, I embark on moving all my things slowly, but taking a little time off from working hard before I have to juice it all the time! It was a terrific learning experience, and I now know how much I still have to learn to be an accomplished baker, A LOT.

Miguelito & Kitchen Politics

I am supremely comfident that Miguel, (now AKA Miguelito, which is what everyone seems to call him, since he's the youngest kitchen slave), is much more gifted than I in the department of spatial relations. The kid is already better at making a cake look very smooth than I am. I'm not saying I can't do it, I just don't have the patience for it. I also just don't see it sometimes, and that's where the spatial relations part comes in. When I was doing a lot of practice in the drawing realm, I read a lot about negative space, and it was an idea I understood and used more often in trying to capture the true image of something. While the main idea of negative space doesn't really apply to cake decor, let's just say I'm really good at telling Miguelito when his cake needs to be more perfect, but I just can't get the cake there myself in an efficient amount of time. He can! So I've told him that if he's remotely interested in this line of kitchen work, he should go for it. He's suited to it.

Alas, I believe he probably won't be taking over my spot. Even though he's starting to understand what goes into a lot of recipes that you need to do this job, and he's very good at making everything look the same, he has a vague future in front of him. He's been working in kitchens for at least the last three years. His last longstanding job was at a terrific place on the Hudson and more south of where he's working now. At that reataurant, he latched onto a chef, who subsequently left for a position in NYC. He invited Miguel to work there with him. Miguel went, getting a ride from the chef to and from work every day. The chef left the NYC job too. Miguel couldn't afford to go to NYC on his own without a ride, so he quit too, and since then he's been waiting for his master to get another job and take him there to work with him. I think if he didn't have this possible opportunity out there, he might take more to what we've been doing, at least with more zeal. I don't know if the owners here know this part of Miguel. Basically, I see training this kid as a waste of time, as he will eventually leave, and it could be as soon as 2 weeks from now. But whatever, that's not my problem! I get an assistant; I get to review almost everything I've leatned. It's a good situation for me, even if I end up staying the full four weeks I gave as possible notice, just to train someone who probably won't stick around. I'm very happy though, that Miguel is now taking care of all cake decoration, so as to get a good base in the hardest part of the job. He's also not bad with writing with chocolate.

The major shortcoming I think Miguel will have to overcome, should he decide to really take this on, is that he is not equipped for the job in the material sense. Now Jean, the previous chef, was so equipped, he didn't need tons of recipe books, but he had one that he had developed over the years. I have about 7 of them in the kitchen. I have knives, dough scrapers, peelers, pastry bag tips, spatulas, and a cuisinart in the kitchen. Everything has to be marked so that people don't think they can just use my stuff. Everything besides the cuisinart gets packed and locked up when I leave because I don't trust the dishwahers to bring my stuff back. Miguel has relatively little compared to my arsenal. I don't think he has money to buy books, but I could be wrong. If I get an assignment, and I don't know how to make certain things, I look them up. He won't be able to do that except on the internet, and you can't always trust that stuff. Even the book recipes I have, I have had to tweak in many instances. Miguel could certainly work without the cuisinart, but what will he do without any tools? I highly doubt the restaurant will buy enough for him to really have everything he needs. This part of it is what makes me think of the position as a sub-contracting type thing. Now working in a kitchen, you don't necessarily have to bring your own knives, but pastry is a responsibility where you have to be extremely creative if you have to make specific shapes, and not buy a product that just does it for you. Once again, not my problem.

Kitchen politics have remained basically the same since I gave my notice, but they are also putting more of a load on the pastry kitchen. The money guy hasn't really talked to me since I broke the news, except of course to give me more work and to wince when I ask him for my paycheck. I sort of like it that I'm taking money out of his hands now, for all that he's put me through and will never understand nor try to empathize with my situration.

When the chef first got back from vacation, where he had heard the news of my throwing in the towel, he was a little cold to me. I wouldn't evpect him to hug me or anything, but I was sort of expecting him to try to change my mind about my decision. There was nothing of the sort, and I believe he probably had stuff going on at home that made him sort of moody. After a few days, he returned to his normal self, and only mentioned my leaving once, in a "just making sure he understood the siituation" kind of way.

Chef: "So you're giving us four weeks notice huh?"
Me: "Yep."

That was it. After that, he's been less talkative, as why be friendly with someone you're probably kind of disappointed in? But he's been jovial sometimes, and overall alright. My favorite chef to talk to is the sous chef. His name is Joe, and he's funny as hell. He told me the rest of the people he works with are all douchebags compared to me. And yesterday he said he wanted to worship me for my bagels. Miguel has begun to call him Joselito, so I now go back and forth calling him that and Jo-Jo. He's sweet, and a terrific chef, though alternates putting too much salt and then not enough salt in things. I will miss him immensely. One thing about work environments that I've always found is that I would never become friends with people like Joe if we didn't work together. I treasure that stuff. Sorry to get mushy, but it's true. I know I will be happier at the inn, but I am already wistful of some of the things about this job.