It’s not the barley miso, but it is the brown rice miso. I really like this miso!

Masa from Granville Island Sake helped me get one of the last buckets. I felt honored when I picked it up. This is a picture of it in the window of the walkin at The Diamond.

On an unrelated note, why is line caught rock cod that is a by-catch of halibut fishing $10.50/lb and dragnet rock cod is $6.75/lb? It’s a by-catch, so they aren’t even trying to catch it. Isn’t it the same fish? They also say that they only get the line caught one about 25% of the time. So even if I paid the price for that one I might not be able to get it consistently. Am I bad if I get the cheaper one? I feel like it is my duty to get the ocean wise one to stand behind my beliefs. Either way, my hands are tied.

At alot of restaurants in the kitchen you are issued 3 rags for the day. It is doable but it sucks. You put a wet rag under your board, have another wet rag for wiping your board and station, and the last one you hang off your apron and try like hell to keep it dry for grabbing hot pans.
I mentioned to Bryan the importance of folding your kitchen rag and he went off on a rant.
“I’ve got it down to the perfect three rag rotation. I don’t fold my kitchen rag, I hang it off the side of my apron by looping it through and then again for the perfect hang. I use it for wiping my hands when I’m on garde-manger. I have one thrown over my shoulder, for grabbing hot stuff. Then I have one folded and hanging on my back for when I get in the shit and loose my rag so I always have a dry one on me, on stand by. When my hand wiping rag gets to gross, I rinse it and it becomes my station wiping rag, my over the shoulder rag which inevitably gets a little damp over service becomes my new hand wiping rag, and I grab a new dry rag to go over my shoulder.”
Holy Shit, Bryan! I was just talking about keeping your damp cutting board rag folded on your station. “Oh, well that’s just a given!” he says.
I’m thinking of adapting his system. I normally have just one rag in my back (it hangs down and covers my ass crack when I get things out of the oven), one dry in my hand (which I end up putting down and losing, over the shoulder would be better). One wet under my board and one, wet to wipe my station. At the end of the night I save a clean one for the next day if possible and use the rest to wipe down my station.

I think, some restaurant owners think, “if there is an abundance of rags the kitchen staff will use heaps, a new rag each hour until the linen bill is off the charts. If rags are scarce, they will treasure the rags, love and care for the rags, reuse them and turn wildly on each other when someone is accused of hoarding rags or taking more than their fair share.” I don’t know if this is a conscious decision or if some restaurants just have lots of rags and some don’t.

My first day at Feenie’s someone gave me 3 rags and said, “everyday you get 3 rags.” I only used three a day for the longest time, then I noticed other people taking more and I said, “I thought only 3 a day?”
“What, are you the rag police?” they said.
So I started taking more, and then other people started taking more, and they next thing you know Kyle is hiding stacks of rags in the ceiling tiles. Accusations are being made fingers are being pointed and no one will admit that they took more than 3 rags.

flys

This is Ben in his belly boat. He paddles around just like a duck.

We went to Alouette Lake for the day and it was fun but we didn’t catch anything. You could see the fish jumping.

I made small menu items off the menu for people tonight at a party in Gastown. It was smooth, which was nice.

At Chow I found myself becoming jealous of a young apprentice because everyday he learned so much. I decided that I should go somewhere that was a great challenge for me. I wanted to go to Boneta because they do the most covers, they change the menu the most, and the chef checks everything during service. They are full, but I had hope for one day a week while I am working at The Diamond. High hopes, but today I found out that since Chow closed the apprentice is working there two days a week. So for sure no room for me. While preparing my canapes I had such a feeling of jealousy, and misery that I vowed to drop everything and move anywhere I could to get a job at a Michelin star restaurant with an inspiring tough chef. I’m not ready to be my own boss. Before the party I walked around outside Boneta in the rain crying and shaking, questioning my life. I walked by the Irish Heather and Ben gave me a pep talk and bought me a John Powers, Krista a server made me laugh and I reluctantly went back to do my job.

My Crew of two are really nice and the dishwasher gave me some chocolate because she said she eats chocolate when she is sad. The people liked the canapes.

I know jealousy is wrong, but sometimes I have fits of it.

When I first arrive in a new kitchen it’s hard to know where to fit in. These are a few things that I do to try and make a good impression in the kitchen.

Number one, head down mouth shut. When I first start a new job I try and stay focused all day, and pound out my prep list as fast as I can. When ever I find myself getting distracted or wanting to jump into the conversation with my wordy opinion on whatever topic is going around. I say to myself over and over, “head down, mouth shut, head down, mouth shut.” It works great for me and helps me get a lot done in the first awkward days of a new job. It’s okay to ask how to do things but you should write down what the chef is saying so that you don’t have to ask twice.

Do it nice, or do it twice! Speed, accuracy and cleanliness. Focus on these three things. Each means nothing without the others. Do every job as fast as you can, as perfect as you can and as clean as you can. Speed is very important, but if your end product is shit, speed means nothing. You are either going to have to do it again or risk looking bad. Over time you will learn what jobs you can rush through (sofrito for a rustic pasta dish that is going to be cooked right down, doesn’t need to be a perfect brunoise, get’er done! fast fast!), and what jobs you should take the extra time to get the perfect product (cucumber brunoise for that oyster special, look at all those perfect little cubes). Always keep your work area as clean as possible. Cutting board clean, rag folded. It only takes a second to fold your rag and it makes all the difference in how clean your area looks. Keep your shoes, apron and whites clean to. Nobody likes a dirty cook.

If you cut or burn yourself don’t cry! If you cut yourself grab a band-aid, some masking tape or some super glue (I keep super glue in my knife roll for the ones that just won’t stop bleeding), discreetly stop the bleeding and keep on cutting. If you burn yourself don’t flinch just keep going.

Be a team player, when the order arrives jump on that shit to help get it in the walk in fast. Look for opportunities to help out co-workers. For example, the meat guy is always going to need help dumping his steaming pot of spent stock bones into the dumpster. Be at his side with a dry rag ready to go. Always downsize, label and date everything! Downsizing helps when it comes time to do the orders, if everything in the walk in is labeled and downsized the Sous just needs to poke his head in and check a few boxes on the order sheet. Keep your station organized, labeled and dated so when the tournant gets on the station on your days off, he can open your fridge and know exactly what is going on. These things save everybody time.

If you’re just in for a stage, often the first job that the cooks will get a stage to do is cut shallots and herbs. They can tell alot about you as a cook by how well you do this. They will know how clean you work, how sharp your knife is, how you organize yourself. How fast you are and how nice your product is says alot about you as a cook as well. How you handle this simple task will determine if you will be chopping miripoix the rest of the day or if you will get to have some fun.

I have made this beet salad a thousand times and I loved it every time I made it. Such beautiful food, unique style, so clean and almost cartoon like. Now all the restaurants I’ve worked at will be closed. I hope someday I work at a place I can go back and visit. It’s crazy for a young cook when a restaurant you worked at closes. It feels weird. I don’t think I can say anymore about this.

I’m going down for a drink tonight with everyone else, you are welcome to come. I’m there to show my support for my old team; Boner-”It wasn’t me it was the dikon”, Lidbin-”I can’t hear you. Nut-ting. Nut-ting is coming”, Bobby Dangler-”Crunchie, pants, let’s go.”

Love Crust

P.S. “you guys are great”

I did a little bit of catering yesterday with Owen from Butter on the Endive. We had a fun afternoon. He didn’t need my help but I wanted to come along to keep him company because I know how nice it can be to have an extra pair of hands to help set up, unload, do dish, pack up. Plus cooking alone can be lonely sometimes. Thanks for letting me tag along Owen, I learned a lot watching you do your thing.