F(ucking) N(ew) G(irl) Series: May the force be with you
As of Saturday I started my transition back to prep work. In the scheme of a culinary brigade system, an ascension to the top would likely look like this: prep cook, line cook, sous chef, executive chef (sometimes with other titles interspersed between…chef de cuisine, etc.) And some people stay...
F(ucking) N(ew) G(irl) Series: What I do
Lately I’ve been working on the garde manger station, or cold station — basically our salads, charcuterie and cheese plates come off this line. It’s where a lot of people start because there are lots of raw ingredients and little heat transfer, but it still builds a good foundation for...
F(ucking) N(ew) G(irl) series
A lot of people have been asking me about my internship at L’Etoile Restaurant in Madison, which I started in April this year, so I’m starting a little blog mini-series called “FNG”, or, to continue with the French lingo, “Fucking New Girl”.) The title actually came about as an idea for...
F(ucking) N(ew) G(irl) Series: So you think you can dance?
Yesterday I talked with the chefs at work about how I feel I’m doing as a line cook. I’m the type of person that needs to test the waters by doing, and I wanted to give cooking on the line at least a few weeks before I admitted something that’s...
You scream, I scream, we all scream for…juice!
My partner is embarking on a health-inspired juice fast. (I am not. Who has ever heard of bacon juice? Yeah, my point exactly.) We watched a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead which tells the story of a fat, sick (and very rich) Australian guy who basically cures a chronic...
Punchy pickles
So…the garlic scape pickles are tasting a little fibrous to eat straight up. Probably should have blanched them first? I’m also thinking that the pickling liquid could have used a little more water. I’m not sure if the garlic cloves that I put in there are making it firey or...
The Great Scape
Garlic scapes might look and sound like something out of a Harry Potter movie, but these fangly seed shoots of hard garlic are yours for the taking right here and now in Madison. Farmers cut off the scapes to divert a garlic plant’s energy back to the bulb (and if...
Greek-out at Plaka Taverna
Remember Cleveland’s? Well, it’s still here in spirit, and its menu (and owner) is still at the same place in what is now Plaka Taverna. Plaka offers Cleveland’s hearty egg breakfasts plus a selection of Greek favorites from owner Telly Fatsis’ mother’s arsenal. The “Rock the Casbah” scramble with fragrant...
Marigold Kitchen: Hot or Not?
Not hot, today. After waiting 40 minutes for a chorizo omelette and a breakfast sandwich (really?!) lukewarm versions of the afore mentioned selections were set in front of us. But something was amiss, very amiss. My toast was stale and cold. The cheese had melted and re-cooled to plasticized webbing...
Zombie appendages
Ok, it was just a really bad week, but not bitten-by-zombies-bad. Last Friday, someone left the oven door open at work — which I did not see — and I charged full steam ahead to put bread in an overhead salamander. My shins hit the oven door and I landed...