Sunday Brunch

Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping with the Sunday Brunch at the Culinary School of Ft. Worth http://www.csftw.com/ and again was not disappointed. After a fitful night's sleep, complete with nightmares about another student not sharing a cutting board with me (?), I woke up at 5:30 AM and left the house by 6:10 AM, armed with my uniforn, name tag and knives.

First mistake of the day...not leaving enough time for a cup of Joe which would really hit me around 1:30 pm.

A few days earlier it dawned on me that one of my 'scheduled' brunch dates was on the same day as the White Rock Half Marathon so would have to 'volunteer' for another date.  At the end of last weeks class Chef had mentioned that showing up to work even if you had not signed up was okay and I knew it would be fun as 6 other classmates were also scheduled to be there.  Not one to pass up an opportunity to bond, I showed up, checked in with Chef and was handed a recipe for Cilantro Lime Viniagrette and told to multiply it by 4.  What a labor of love.  I knew better than to use "olive oil"...I needed the blended oil.  After nearly 90 minutes of finely mincing cilantro, finely chopping 4 jalapenos, juicing a dozen limes and blending the dressing, it was certified as okay by Chef. 

Where does the time go?  Then it was off to making a cilantro pesto and 1/2 way through that a classmate asked if I could provide asssistance - she was in a slight crisis and needed to peel more potatoes for a fried potato garnish. Checked with Chef C. and left him to finish the pesto while I helped Melinda and we got the job done in record time. 

In between I swept floors, emptied trash and cleaned up. These tasks are a holdover from my time as a restaurant manager.  The kitchen needs empty trash cans prior to service and I'm not one to stand around waiting for Chef to tell me what to do.  Just look around..there is always something that needs to be taken care of.

Time for assignments and I was really looking forward to the possibility of waiting tables, running food out, something that would provide another perspective.  Uh....no. Ginger, you are on omelets.  What?  Um, really?  I thought you'd want someone else to have a chance to do that?  The two Chefs looked at one another, conferred for a moment and decided no, they wanted it this way.

Okey dokey.

So...I made omelets and a couple orders of scrambled eggs.  Stood and stood and stood for hours which absolutely kills the legs.  What I would have givent to be walking all around since I wasn't going to get in a work out.

The day did provide several learning opportunities and one was that I am going to be very strategic in my pairing up with others as the classes progress.  There are a few folks who are not assertive, don't really have the stamina or the desire to do whatever it takes to get the job done, without complaining.  It's actually a real study in human nature and what I would give to be able to ask "what in the world are you doing here?" 

On the other hand, there are several individuals who are outstanding and instinctively know what to do and have a real passion. They are the ones I will align myself with because there are so many things to learn and each table must work as a team and the kitchen needs to work as a team.

And I thought there would be no posturing or politics in school.