The holiday weekend, that is! Everything went without a hitch for my first holiday weekend in the restaurant. We ended up with 38 reservations on Friday and 51 on Saturday! It was a just about a full house!
51 may not seem like many to you, but we only seat 60 and do not typically turn tables. What this means is -- you have the table for the night, there is no rush for our customers. I think this is wonderful and wished there were more restaurants were like this. If I am going out for a special meal, I like to be pampered and take my time. Ok, maybe I am a little spoiled....
Our specialty dessert now is our rhubarb & strawberry cobbler. It is made to order and takes about 10 minutes to serve from time prepped to bake time. It is worth every minute. The best part about it is I am learning how to cook fruits for desserts and learning all kinds of tricks and tips. I hope that all this baking will give me a little edge when it comes to my baking class this fall. I never knew that I would like it so much since I was not a real big dessert person. My how things have changed!!
We also are serving sides of sauteed morels, which smell divine. They are too expensive for me to be tasting, but I am ok with this. We've been cleaning and cutting morels for days now -- my fingers were starting to smell like mushrooms. Thankfully, the last box was finished on Tuesday and I won't have to touch another morel for another year. If you ever complain about your job, just remember you are not scrubbing sinkfulls of mushrooms with a toothbrush and move on. Thankfully, I am doing this work on purpose and kind of enjoy it. Spoiled, yet sadistic -- what a combo.
Tonight I have to make our "house" dessert, called Quatro de Leche, which I love making. They are made in special antique pans that lady chef inherited from a relatives bakery. I can't tell you what is in them exactly, but if you know enough about Spanish you can figure part of it out. If you ever come to visit, make sure you order one of these -- you won't regret it.
Well, it's about that time. Time to play with food, time for fun. Have a wonderful day.
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
A little rusty
I am so grateful to be back to work for the season! The past few weeks have flown by, the first week back at work and then on a mini vacation to Raleigh, NC. Now it's time to get back to it and I feel so refreshed -- even though it was just for the weekend!
My first few days back I spent cleaning and organizing. They bought a new work station for the bakery area (my domain these days) that has a refridgerated unit in the bottom of the unit. What I had before was just a stainless steel countertop, which was ok, but this new work station -- well, it's the bomb. I also now have my own microwave and plenty of plating counter space. We did pretty well for our first weekend open and I was able to get out of there by 9:45 both Friday and Saturday. I am so excited that I am not scheduled to close!
I also made baked wonton wrappers, helped "design" a plating for a new dessert, and made mignardise for the weekend. We sold 8 of the new desserts our first night! I was so proud that I helped design it! YAY!
Monday (May 2nd) was my first major bake day. I tested 3 organic mixes that we are going to sell in the store. First I made cranberry bran muffins with "no sugar added". I am guessing that means besides the cranberries. I thought they were very tasty, while others thought they needed more sweetness. Secondly, I made corn muffins. I did not like these at all. The texture was all wrong and didn't taste like corn meal at all. Last, but not least, I made the chocolate cake. Besides the fact that I didn't butter the pans enough and they stuck to the pan -- the chocolate cake was SO divine and chocolatey!! I don't even like cake that much and I still thought it was excellent!
Later that day I attempted to make the mignardise, that week it was dark chocolate with a roasted almond inside. Well, I am not sure what my deal was, but I could not get the chocolate to temper correctly and they ended up turning color. I was so frustrated and felt bad for wasting all the chocolate -- and almonds! Not to mention I already was frustrated from the cake sticking incident. Lucky for me, Lady Chef is really cool and said -- "that's ok, you will go on vacation and come back all refreshed and everything will be back to normal."
Fast forward to this past Monday. I did more cleaning and organizing, mainly our freezers which totally needed it. We ended up pulling out some pasta, dumplings, and mini quiches to make for our employee meal. This is one of the awesome benefits I get working there -- she feeds us every night!
Tuesday night I ended up being the only one working besides Lady Chef. There were only 7 reservations, so you'd think it would not be that bad. However, when you have to prep and work 2 stations plus wash dishes, it becomes a bit of a challenge. I didn't get out until 10:20 and I was exhausted! It was a good night though, we make a great team. She was right -- I am getting right back into it.
My first few days back I spent cleaning and organizing. They bought a new work station for the bakery area (my domain these days) that has a refridgerated unit in the bottom of the unit. What I had before was just a stainless steel countertop, which was ok, but this new work station -- well, it's the bomb. I also now have my own microwave and plenty of plating counter space. We did pretty well for our first weekend open and I was able to get out of there by 9:45 both Friday and Saturday. I am so excited that I am not scheduled to close!
I also made baked wonton wrappers, helped "design" a plating for a new dessert, and made mignardise for the weekend. We sold 8 of the new desserts our first night! I was so proud that I helped design it! YAY!
Monday (May 2nd) was my first major bake day. I tested 3 organic mixes that we are going to sell in the store. First I made cranberry bran muffins with "no sugar added". I am guessing that means besides the cranberries. I thought they were very tasty, while others thought they needed more sweetness. Secondly, I made corn muffins. I did not like these at all. The texture was all wrong and didn't taste like corn meal at all. Last, but not least, I made the chocolate cake. Besides the fact that I didn't butter the pans enough and they stuck to the pan -- the chocolate cake was SO divine and chocolatey!! I don't even like cake that much and I still thought it was excellent!
Later that day I attempted to make the mignardise, that week it was dark chocolate with a roasted almond inside. Well, I am not sure what my deal was, but I could not get the chocolate to temper correctly and they ended up turning color. I was so frustrated and felt bad for wasting all the chocolate -- and almonds! Not to mention I already was frustrated from the cake sticking incident. Lucky for me, Lady Chef is really cool and said -- "that's ok, you will go on vacation and come back all refreshed and everything will be back to normal."
Fast forward to this past Monday. I did more cleaning and organizing, mainly our freezers which totally needed it. We ended up pulling out some pasta, dumplings, and mini quiches to make for our employee meal. This is one of the awesome benefits I get working there -- she feeds us every night!
Tuesday night I ended up being the only one working besides Lady Chef. There were only 7 reservations, so you'd think it would not be that bad. However, when you have to prep and work 2 stations plus wash dishes, it becomes a bit of a challenge. I didn't get out until 10:20 and I was exhausted! It was a good night though, we make a great team. She was right -- I am getting right back into it.
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