I'm so glad this is the last of my weekly reflections. These are getting a bit tiring to write.
This last week has sort of been my evaluation week. On Wednesday and Thursday (Monday I was doing pots and Tuesday I wasn't here) I had to make my own dishes completely from scratch using the ingredients from the walk-in (fridge). I had to multiply the quantity of ingredients from the original recipe by at least 10 if not 20 times to ensure that I would be able to feed over 300 starving people! I can assure you that I used a lot of ingredients.
As I said in my blog for Thursday, the challenge of cooking for 300 people is much more difficult and demanding than I first thought. Not only did it require me to use a lot more ingredients, I also had to occasionally modify the method of the recipe. If it said I had to stir the sauce at step 3 and cook and put the meat in at step 4, I might have needed to cook and put the meat into the sauce at step 3 and then stir it at step 4 or 5 due to time restraints. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy cooking for the entire school. On the contrary, I do enjoy cooking for the whole school so that they can enjoy my dish and say how wonderful it was. (Haha just kidding. That's not the reason). But really, I enjoy cooking for the school because I want people to try different things and to say "That was great!" or "That didn't really sit well with me." I was glad that people actually liked my lemon chicken w/broccoli on Wednesday and my lemon pasta on Thursday. I thought people would say the chicken was too spicy (I added chili flakes) or that the sauce of the lemon pasta was to lumpy (from Parmesan cheese). If people had those comments, they didn't share them with me. I hope that if people do have something to say about the food that they will say it to me. Not because I like to hear criticism (no one does), but because if I don't hear any negatives, I won't know how to improve.
I think the cookout lunch on Friday was a good way to end my stint as a "chef" in the kitchen at Proctor. By doing this lunch, I've experienced all the facets of the kitchen. From washing pots and chopping ingredients to cooking the actual food, cleaning the dinning hall after lunch and grilling burgers on the grill, I've had an incredible three week journey. Even though my time in the kitchen is over, I still have an exhibition on Wednesday to think about. Even then as they say, it's not the final destination but the actual journey that counts. I must say, for this journey, that statement couldn't be any more correct.
P.S: I'm cooking something if you were wondering what I was doing (and no I won't say what I'll be making). You'll have to come on Wednesday and find out for yourself. For those of you who aren't at school and are reading my blog, I guess you'll have to miss out! Sorry!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Friday May 27th, 2011
Formally the last day of Senior Project!! It's been an amazing three weeks, full of fun and labor. Today happens to be carnival day. This means that lunch would be a cook out. Since this was the case, I didn't have to do much at all. I just diced up some onions and helped prep the condiments for the hot dogs and burgers for lunch. After that I basically waited until 11:45 which was when Nate and I started to grill some burgers on the burners. After lunch I helped Deb and Nancy clean up and then I was done for the day!... and for senior project!!... Well, almost. I still have to cook for the senior project exhibit.
Formally the last day of Senior Project!! It's been an amazing three weeks, full of fun and labor. Today happens to be carnival day. This means that lunch would be a cook out. Since this was the case, I didn't have to do much at all. I just diced up some onions and helped prep the condiments for the hot dogs and burgers for lunch. After that I basically waited until 11:45 which was when Nate and I started to grill some burgers on the burners. After lunch I helped Deb and Nancy clean up and then I was done for the day!... and for senior project!!... Well, almost. I still have to cook for the senior project exhibit.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Thursday May 26th, 2011
Today, I had another opportunity to make another dish of my own. This time, a pasta dish. I didn't have to think long before I knew what pasta dish I wanted to do. My lemon pasta dish was a pretty big hit when I cooked it last Thursday for the dinner at Mike's place. The only difference about the dish that I made was there was a lot more sauce than last Thursday's dish. Just like yesterday, I read the recipe then grabbed all the ingredients after multiplying it by the necessary amount. This happened to be 24. 24 times more than what the original recipe asked for!! That's crazy! However, another lesson that I learned from this project is that when you make a recipe for a big crowd, you can't multiply everything by a certain number and expect the dish to turn out just fine. You have to taste the dish for yourself and add what you need as you go along. For example, I was suppose to use five pounds of butter. I ended up using only one pound because I felt the sauce didn't need to be any more buttery. The same principle applies to the method. Just because the recipe says to cook something a certain way in a certain order doesn't mean it will work if you make the dish for a bigger crowd. You have to adjust and see what equipment you are using and the amount of time you have to cook the dish. The lunch itself was exactly like yesterday. People liked my pasta dish so much that I had to literally keep making batches of pasta because once I was done with one batch, another batch will be required by the time I got another batch done.
Also during lunch, my advisor Mike Koenig dragged me out to the main dinning hall and made an announcement to everyone in the dinning hall about congratulating me and my efforts in the kitchen during senior project. To top it off, the kitchen crew got me my very own (with my name on it) a chef's top complete with a chef hat and.... a potato peeler!!....... fond memories. So thanks a lot guys! I really appreciate it!
Tomorrow is sort of my last day in the kitchen during senior project (I still have to cook for the wise show). It's crazy... I've done so much in three weeks. The weeks really flew by. Tomorrow is also carnival day. I think everyone will love lunch. Bring on the meats!!
Today, I had another opportunity to make another dish of my own. This time, a pasta dish. I didn't have to think long before I knew what pasta dish I wanted to do. My lemon pasta dish was a pretty big hit when I cooked it last Thursday for the dinner at Mike's place. The only difference about the dish that I made was there was a lot more sauce than last Thursday's dish. Just like yesterday, I read the recipe then grabbed all the ingredients after multiplying it by the necessary amount. This happened to be 24. 24 times more than what the original recipe asked for!! That's crazy! However, another lesson that I learned from this project is that when you make a recipe for a big crowd, you can't multiply everything by a certain number and expect the dish to turn out just fine. You have to taste the dish for yourself and add what you need as you go along. For example, I was suppose to use five pounds of butter. I ended up using only one pound because I felt the sauce didn't need to be any more buttery. The same principle applies to the method. Just because the recipe says to cook something a certain way in a certain order doesn't mean it will work if you make the dish for a bigger crowd. You have to adjust and see what equipment you are using and the amount of time you have to cook the dish. The lunch itself was exactly like yesterday. People liked my pasta dish so much that I had to literally keep making batches of pasta because once I was done with one batch, another batch will be required by the time I got another batch done.
Also during lunch, my advisor Mike Koenig dragged me out to the main dinning hall and made an announcement to everyone in the dinning hall about congratulating me and my efforts in the kitchen during senior project. To top it off, the kitchen crew got me my very own (with my name on it) a chef's top complete with a chef hat and.... a potato peeler!!....... fond memories. So thanks a lot guys! I really appreciate it!
Tomorrow is sort of my last day in the kitchen during senior project (I still have to cook for the wise show). It's crazy... I've done so much in three weeks. The weeks really flew by. Tomorrow is also carnival day. I think everyone will love lunch. Bring on the meats!!
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Wednesday May 25th, 2011
Today I decided to get to the kitchen earlier than usual. As I got to the dinning hall at 7:20, I saw my advisor Mike Koenig and remembered we had dish duty for the day. The kitchen crew were pretty surprised to see me so early in the morning. Anyway, today I got to make my own chicken dish. I looked through my handy Chinese cook book and saw a pretty decent looking dish: Lemon Chicken. As I looked at the preparation method required for this particular recipe, I knew it wouldn't be difficult to pull this dish off. The thing that never ceased to amaze me though, was the amount of ingredients required for making such a simple dish for the entire school. I used around three and a half cups of lemon juice, 13tbs of sugar and a lot of other ingredients with big quantities. For this dish, the preparation time took much longer than the actual cooking time. In the end though it was well worth it. I was shocked by the popularity of the dish. Lunch started at 11:15 today. By 11:30 I've sent four batches of lemon chicken (with broccoli, since we had a lot of it) out to the hot line. I basically had to constantly keep making batches of lemon chicken right after I put a batch out on the line because by the time I finished making that batch, the lemon chicken on the line would have been done already. Although I spent a lot of time preparing, cooking and serving the dish, everyone congratulated me on the fantastic dish.
I left around 12 to go with my woods team buddies for a special trip (surfing at Rye Beach- I think that was the name of it) and our team dinner (seafood at some place). I had an extremely fun time and I am so grateful that Mike let me go instead of making me stay and do dish duty. So thanks a lot Mike!
Tomorrow I think I will be preparing a pasta dish. I think I know just the right dish to prepare...
Today I decided to get to the kitchen earlier than usual. As I got to the dinning hall at 7:20, I saw my advisor Mike Koenig and remembered we had dish duty for the day. The kitchen crew were pretty surprised to see me so early in the morning. Anyway, today I got to make my own chicken dish. I looked through my handy Chinese cook book and saw a pretty decent looking dish: Lemon Chicken. As I looked at the preparation method required for this particular recipe, I knew it wouldn't be difficult to pull this dish off. The thing that never ceased to amaze me though, was the amount of ingredients required for making such a simple dish for the entire school. I used around three and a half cups of lemon juice, 13tbs of sugar and a lot of other ingredients with big quantities. For this dish, the preparation time took much longer than the actual cooking time. In the end though it was well worth it. I was shocked by the popularity of the dish. Lunch started at 11:15 today. By 11:30 I've sent four batches of lemon chicken (with broccoli, since we had a lot of it) out to the hot line. I basically had to constantly keep making batches of lemon chicken right after I put a batch out on the line because by the time I finished making that batch, the lemon chicken on the line would have been done already. Although I spent a lot of time preparing, cooking and serving the dish, everyone congratulated me on the fantastic dish.
I left around 12 to go with my woods team buddies for a special trip (surfing at Rye Beach- I think that was the name of it) and our team dinner (seafood at some place). I had an extremely fun time and I am so grateful that Mike let me go instead of making me stay and do dish duty. So thanks a lot Mike!
Tomorrow I think I will be preparing a pasta dish. I think I know just the right dish to prepare...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-May 20th, 2011
Friday May 20th, 2011
As I was looking through all my blog entries, I realized I didn't publish a blog for Friday. So here it is.
Today proved to be an uneventful day- at least in the kitchen. When I arrived, I helped Kevin dice some onions and tomatoes for the taco bar which was the major item for lunch. At around 9:45, I left the kitchen to get my mac and headed over to the assembly hall. I then showed my safari slideshow (the one that Joan Saunders was begging me to show since the beginning of the year). Afterwards I got plenty of praise for the pictures in the slideshow. A couple of students went so far as to asking me if they could have one of the pictures from the slideshow! After assembly I trudged back to the dinning hall (after picking up my copy of the Green Lantern) and finished helping the kitchen staff with the taco bar.
There wasn't much to do after lunch, so Art said I could leave for the day- and the weekend.
Next activity on the agenda- Colby Sawyer jazz performance!
As I was looking through all my blog entries, I realized I didn't publish a blog for Friday. So here it is.
Today proved to be an uneventful day- at least in the kitchen. When I arrived, I helped Kevin dice some onions and tomatoes for the taco bar which was the major item for lunch. At around 9:45, I left the kitchen to get my mac and headed over to the assembly hall. I then showed my safari slideshow (the one that Joan Saunders was begging me to show since the beginning of the year). Afterwards I got plenty of praise for the pictures in the slideshow. A couple of students went so far as to asking me if they could have one of the pictures from the slideshow! After assembly I trudged back to the dinning hall (after picking up my copy of the Green Lantern) and finished helping the kitchen staff with the taco bar.
There wasn't much to do after lunch, so Art said I could leave for the day- and the weekend.
Next activity on the agenda- Colby Sawyer jazz performance!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Week 3: May 23rd-27th, 2011
Monday May 23rd, 2011
Start of my last week of Senior Project! The past three weeks flew by so quickly.
Today I got a taste of what Brandon's life as a pot sinker was like. I must say, this job was definitely not the best job in the kitchen but it definitely was not terrible either. It was a fun learning experience nonetheless.
So when I arrived in the morning, Brandon taught me the procedure of washing dishes. First you have to scrub the grease and grime off of the pots, pans or whatever you're washing in the first sink. Then you transfer that item to the second sink and wash it with soapy water. After that you put the soapy item into the third sink of sanitized water which sanitizes the item. Finally, after taking the item out of the sanitized water, you let the item dry for a bit before placing it in the correct location.
Some time before lunch, I also assisted Art in making bread for tomorrow. That was pretty fun. I never realized he uses the amount of flour that he did. I think it was around 17lbs!!!
After lunch I continued helping Brandon wash pots and pans. Usually that is when the amount of items that need to be washed escalates. However since this was a Monday, the pile of items wasn't so high. Lucky me!!
That was pretty much it.
Start of my last week of Senior Project! The past three weeks flew by so quickly.
Today I got a taste of what Brandon's life as a pot sinker was like. I must say, this job was definitely not the best job in the kitchen but it definitely was not terrible either. It was a fun learning experience nonetheless.
So when I arrived in the morning, Brandon taught me the procedure of washing dishes. First you have to scrub the grease and grime off of the pots, pans or whatever you're washing in the first sink. Then you transfer that item to the second sink and wash it with soapy water. After that you put the soapy item into the third sink of sanitized water which sanitizes the item. Finally, after taking the item out of the sanitized water, you let the item dry for a bit before placing it in the correct location.
Some time before lunch, I also assisted Art in making bread for tomorrow. That was pretty fun. I never realized he uses the amount of flour that he did. I think it was around 17lbs!!!
After lunch I continued helping Brandon wash pots and pans. Usually that is when the amount of items that need to be washed escalates. However since this was a Monday, the pile of items wasn't so high. Lucky me!!
That was pretty much it.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Week 2: May 16th-20th Weekly Reflection
Another week has gone by and I’ve been pretty busy doing some new things.
This week wasn’t as exciting as last week, but I guess that’s normal. When you start you get to do all the new things that you’ve never done before, but by the time the second or third week comes around, it’s all old news. I did all the normal things like helping Nate, Kevin, Barb or Erin with things they needed me to do and then helping Deb, Nancy and Steve after lunch. The first exciting thing of that week was on Wednesday when Nate told me I had to create a soup dish for lunch. That was pretty scary as I didn’t know that I was doing that until that very moment. Oh well, I was glad it went really well and people actually liked my soup.
The highlight of the week definitely had to be cooking for Mike’s family, advisory and the Annex girl’s. Even though I’ve cooked for big occasions before, I’ve always had some sort of help. Whether it’s cooking the rice or slicing the beef, those are some of the things that people have helped me do beforehand. Therefore, cooking this meal has made me realize how many things are involved with making a larger meal. I can’t imagine what it must be like preparing a six or eight course meal! I only had to do four and I struggled real bad! They were easy dishes too! You don’t realize the complexity of doing easy dishes if you have a couple of dishes to do at once. It was definitely a good lesson to learn. As I mentioned in the blog, I was extremely pleased that my efforts in cooking the meal was rewarded by everyone having a fantastic meal. Even though the meal was labor intensive, it was also really fun sitting down and having a meal with a group of people that don’t eat together often.
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