A Day In The Life Of A Chef - Part 1

So I was thinking it would be fun to really inform everyone what it is like to experience my day-to-day activities being a chef. For me personally, not everything you see on T.V. is accurate; but I can definitely relate to a lot of what goes on. So I'm going to start this list; this being part one of an ongoing "series" if you will.

*Note* Let me clarify that these items may or may not have occurred to me personally, but I "may" have witnessed some of these items. Names have been removed to protect the innocent!

1. Why didn't the morning shift do any prep today?

2. Explain to me how the menu says you can have a side of fries, onion rings, or a side salad with sandwiches and I just got an order for mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, and a baked potato? All of which, I don't have. *See #10*

3. If this med rare sits under the heat lamp any longer it's gonna be well done! I'm callin' *insert slow, clueless waitress name here*!

4. One, two, three, ahhhh five second rule, that chicken is still good buddy!

5. Why are we always out of something. Don't we have someone here everyday doing the food orders?

6. Damn man, you just chopped off your finger tip. Nasty. Now sear it on the flat top and throw a glove on.

7. How did you cut yourself? Go get stitched up and be back by eight, we have a 10 top. Oh, and I'm gonna need you to work tomorrow, a party just popped up.

8. It's 11:30 pm, I'm out in 30 minutes, and you are asking me to do an order of chocolate covered strawberries for an amenity that you knew about since 2 pm. Ha!

9. Not PM Dinner Menu again!

10. WTF!!!

11. It's 9 pm and I just got an omelet order. Does this look like IHOP?

12. 11:45 on a Saturday night, get off in 15 minutes, have tomorrow off, and I just got an order for a well done filet. Why God, why?

13. If that phone rings one more time, I might do something stupid...

14. Platos Por Favor!!

15. Caliente amigo!

16. Injury list: Broken right foot (walking boot, 16 weeks, ice each foot twice a day for 20 minutes at a time), torn ligament in both arches of feet (ace straps on feet at work, cannot walk barefoot for rest of my life), strained right rotator cuff (MRI, two separate physical therapy sessions about a year apart, sleeping on side is fun, still hurts like hell), sore back, sore knees, burns, cuts, arthritis in both middle fingers.

17. My thermometer just hit 105 degrees up here on the line.

18. I drank 16 half liter water bottles tonight. You?

19. Walkin' in!

20. Black and blue huh? 10 bucks says this idiot has no idea what this means and it comes back within 3 minutes.

21. Lets see. Olives, bell peppers, mushrooms, bacon, onions, and extra cheese. I didn't know that I started working at Pizza Hut (not that there's anything wrong with working at Pizza Hut). Oh, and no extra charge.

Weekly Specials 8/17/09

A few updates this week. It's been awhile since I've done any kind of updates; the hotel has been pretty slow so we haven't really changed the specials at all since I came back from vacation. I'm excited to get things going again!




The first special this week is Shiner Bock Beer Battered Fish Tacos, Jicama Coleslaw, and Mango-Habanero Coulis. The sauce certainly has a nice little kick to it!



Second, I made Tequila-Lime Chicken Penne Pasta. The sauce is a Roasted Red Bell Pepper Cream with Wilted Baby Spinach, Toasted Pine Nuts, and Garlic Confit.



Finally, there's the Salmon Niçoise Salad. Classically, Niçoise Salad is made with Tuna, Haricot Verts (green beans), Potatoes, Tomatoes, Hard Boiled Eggs and Niçoise Olives. I changed it up a bit and am using Salmon instead of tuna and instead of the olives I decided to made a Tapenade Vinaigrette to tie it all together. (My salmon broke during the tasting. Better during the employee tasting than when it's being sent out to a guest!)