July 18th

Another cool day in this kitchen. One thing I didn't talk about yesterday, is how much they work here. We worked from 10 am - 5pm before we even take a break. Yesterday, because I made family meal, we stopped around 4, bout ten minutes. Went for a smoke or two and a coffee. Then back to work til 1230-130am. Every night but Sunday, and they do it for less money!!!! Today, we went down and took about 20-30 min., then back to work. From 8pm -12p does go by so fast, but still. They are all payed by the week, no overtime!!! Tonight we only did 38 covers I think, but it was busy. I have a lot respect for the cooks and chefs over here.

I learned how to take the skin off two cases of cherry tomatoes. Flash fry, shock in ice(with bottled water, not kidding), immediately drain, and with gloves peel off skin. Tedious, but anyone who knows me in the kitchen, knows I like it clean and orderly. Every cook in this kitchen is precise and efficient. I think they might take it a little extreme in certain areas, but it's pretty cool what they do in such a tight spot. I'm def envious of my home turf being 6'4" in these kitchens!

Then to the cherries. Slice the tops off of a case, about 10 lbs., so we can freeze for later. They will be the tops to a spherical cherry they will make with frozen sous vide cherries made later. Wow! Then de-seed all of them, with a melon-baller, easier said than done. Then, brunoise...... Are you kidding me?!? Lol! Brunoise means to cut tiny little 1/8 inch or smaller squares. And here they have to be perfect! It took me and hour and 45 minutes, and thats after the chef came up to me and said I needed to work faster if I was actually working there! All good... Never in my life would I've thought I'd be dicing cherries that small, by the case. I rocked it out.

Then service, it was busy... Stood by the pass all night and helped plate up.
Crazy how busy 35 covers can be. Finished up around 1230, and the chef told me that he is working on another stagé for me. Somewhere about three hours away he says, with the head chef of the restaurant. He is away doing some really "crazy stuff," so we'll see if that works out. Cannot imagine crazier than this, but hopefully I can go check him out. Guys in the kitchen were really cool with me, finally started joking around today.
Random, but the only thing I hate is the metro system. It is always packed, and it stops at midnight. These taxi rides home are killin me!! I will never understand why public transportation stops before the bars close?!? In just about every city I've ever been to its like this, even back home. Whatever, it's worth it...not about to walk on these guys at 1130 in the middle of the rush!

Please post some questions if ya have any, so much info I can write so much. I'm sure y'all would like more pics, but I'm here to work, not take photos

Pics

These are apple spheres. They make a fresh apple sauce basically, "fucked with cinnamon," says the chef. Long process, then freeze in molds, then put in this chemical solution which develops a skin. They have to be turned every six min, about 4-5 times, and each plate gets 6! Crazy good though.

This is the pork dish that the apple spheres are served on. The pork, if you remember, is cooked for 24 hrs then the meat and skin are separated. The meat is pressed into a "gastronome"(hotel pan) and cut into perfect squares. The skin is scraped thin, portioned, crisped up, and served in top...

These are my cherry tomatoes, I'm def stealing this one. Very French, but I love it

This apple is actually a hollowed out fresh apple, filled with ice cream, then frozen and sliced to order. It goes on the pork dish as well. So many components, I could even figure out the sauce, but one of my favorite dishes at Enoteca...

Last one is just a random pic of the crew at work, pretty small kitchen... Gonna miss this place