What the!?

Where did all this jealousy come from?

The Roomies

I just thought I'd let you all know who I'm living with right now. So that when I get in trouble, you'll all know who to blame. Because I'm Josh, and therefore innocent of all charges.

First off, there's Mike. The first of my Culinary school buddies.


Mike was the first friend I made at Culinary school, and he proved to be my number one competition throughout most of it. He usually managed to edge me out by the least little bit on every test and report card. He's extremely passionate about fine dining and serving elaborate, delicious plates. Sometimes his visions of granduer get ahead of practicality, and I have to bring him down to earth a little bit. But that in turn just inspires me to even greater acts of culinary prowess. Lets say he errs on overdoing it, and I err on underdoing it. Together we balance quite nicely. I'l give it to the man, he can cook. But he's a bit of a doofus.

Next off is Erin, the second of my culinary buddies.


Erin is a tiny girl with a big heart. She's like the Grinch after he heard all the Whoo's singing Christmas Carols. Full of bubbles and cheer and smiles. But underneath it all is a clever, calculating, organized mind. She rarely misses a thing, and if you give her half a chance, she'll soon have you doing things her way, and thinking it was your idea in the first place. Because I know this, I can be a stubborn ass sometimes and do the exact opposite, just to show I can't be "manipulated." which makes things difficult. I dig in my heels when I should compromise, or listen to her perspective fairly.

Third is Brendon. Our very own Veteran of the industry.


Don't let the picture fool you. Brendon has been cooking in his dad's Greasy spoon restaurant since he was 14. He's faster, more organized, and more scarred than all of us put together. He's demanding, uncompromising, and doesn't give a flying squirrels hide if he pisses you off in the process. In other words. He'll make an excellent restuarant chef. He also watches out for his buddies when they're in trouble. Even if he got them there in the first place. (think Hyde off of "That 70's Show) I'm fairly certain that as soon as Brendon gets back to Vancouver. He'll start up his own restaurant, and be offering us jobs, most likely peeling potatoes or washing dishes. If you respect Brendon, you'll get along just fine with him.

These were the first to join me on my trip across the country. I won't pretend that we get along all the time. Or even that we get along most of the time. But we still manage to live together, without killing each other. Even though we've all got lots of very sharp knives.

On the next episode of "Days of our Maryland Lives." I'll introduce Shawn and Brad. The newest of my cooking colleagues.

Couldn't have picked a better one myself :)

You scored as William Wallace. The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need. William Wallace 83% Captain Jack Sparrow 79% The Amazing Spider-Man 79% Neo, the "One" 67% Batman, the Dark Knight 67% Maximus 63% Indiana Jones 58% The Terminator 54% Lara Croft 46% El Zorro 33% James Bond, Agent 007 29% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Ocean City and other thoughts

So Mike, Mike, Erin, Brad, and I all went to Ocean City today.

Have you ever seen a movie where it shows the "stereotypical" beach boardwalk, with t-shirt shops, carnival games, and rides. That's exactly what it looked like. Down to the last tee. Except, the people weren't as pretty as they are on T.V. They never are.

But let me say this. The girls in Vancouver are so gorgeous. In vancouver, every time you're done craning your neck for the last girl, another pops into sight, and you're doing this the entire time you're walking down the streets.

Here, in the touristtrapprettypeopleinbathingsuitsonthebeach city of Maryland, it was hard to find a pretty girl that wasn't already taken.

So on the hour and a half long drive home. Needless to say we were all pretty tired. So we just drove, and listened to music, and chilled. It was quiet, and peaceful. So I had a lot of time to think.

I'm beginning to dread being left alone with my thoughts. Whenever I have long periods of time with which to ponder. I start to nitpick at my life. Analyzing and critiqueing it. Thinking about things I could have done better, things I should do that might make my life better. Emotional troubles I've had in the past. Emotional troubles I have now. Financial things, lots of financial things. I think a lot about work, goals I want to set for myself. (going through every station of every outlet in a year, in a year and a half program.) And I pick it all apart. And by the time it's over, I'm overcome with a feeling of melancholy. Of almost bone deep sorrow that never truly seems to fade. It spoils the times I could be enjoying with my friends. Being silly and loud and obnoxious, and having a good time. It spoils my work, nobody wants to work when they're not feeling like they're accomplishing anything. It even dictates my future mood. ( I made a conscious thought that I would mope around tomorrow, and if anyone asked I would say I was homesick)

As always, Happiness remains elusive.

What's this? a small flame of passion re-kindled?

so there are tons out outlet malls around here. half in hour in any direction. So everytime we go to one, I head over to the book store, and straight to the cook book section.

On my last visit to the outlet mall. I picked up an Italian cookbook called "Cooking By hand." by Paul Bertolli. He's the executive Chef of Oliveto restuarant.

The opening introduction is "Good cooking is trouble." as soon as I read that I realized that I would love this book. He goes on to say that any food with lots of love in it, is just a hard, laborious, time consuming thing. But the end result is so often so very worth it.

This is exactly the philosphy I've adopted as a chef. Cooking is hard, intense, unforgiving, low paying, brow beating, painful work. But when someone comes up to you after a 12 hour day, and says it was the best meal they've had in their life, and they shake your hand and thank you. That is an awesome feeling. Or just finishing a banquet for 500 people, and they give you a standing ovation, cheer, and some of the older ladies wink at you and smile. Also one of the best feelings in the world.

Anyways, back to the book. It's freakin amazing. There is an entire chapter on tomatoes. It goes on for a page and a half on the acidity of them. I've learned more about cooking from reading the first 2 chapters, then I have in the entire time I've been down here so far. It has a chapter on making your own pasta. On choosing the right flour for the job, on grading and evaluating flour. If you're making a very clear sauce for your pasta noodles. Choose a flour that has a bit more color to it, to give you those bright yellow noodles. How to mill your own flour. (I wanna buy a home flour mill now) It goes into great detail on all the subtle subtle differences between ingrediants. How an heirloom tomato may not have as great of a yield as a field tomato, but that's because it's not as watered down, and therefore more concentrated. And a million other things to consider when you purchase produce.

Theres 2 pages on the importance of picking something ripe, in season. When it's at it's most natural and beautiful. Some of the most beautiful delicate flavors can be gotten from just slicing your mushrooms (fresh picked) as thin as possible, instead of sauteing them with a ton of butter, garlic, onions, and just reducing them until they're dark and shapeless. (which is still a tasty way of doing it, but heat Dramatically changes the flavor and texture of mushrooms) He talks about pears for one of those pages. How a perfectly ripe pear is a bite of heaven. But waiting for them to ripen is an extreme test of patience and judgement. (Pears tend to rot from the inside out) You can have a pear on your tabletop for 4 days, and it'll be hard as a rock still, then you can leave for 4 hours, and come back to it a black mass of ugly.

It's books like this, thoughts, ideals. That make me want to travel, to see Italy. See this freshness of produce, of these values, brought to life on my tastebuds. See the people who came up with this wonderful view of food and life. Eat with them, laugh with them. Then bring it all home and share it with those I love.

By the way, nothing gives a Chef a bigger boner than sharing his passion with someone who will bounce it back at him. Teaching someone how to make the perfect risotto, then sitting down with them, tasting it, talking about it. What was done right and what was done wrong. What other flavors could be added. But still enjoying the meal, fully enjoying it. Eating to taste, instead of eating to satisfy. That is a truly wonderful experience.

gah, I'm gonna go make something to eat. Something beautiful.

Kim-Chi

Justin, Brendan, and Sean are downstairs making Kim-Chi

Kim Chi is a korean dish that is basically fermented cabbage. I don't get the appeal. Apparently the Canadian interns before us, (all asian) eat it by the bowlful, almost daily. Well......it's fermented cabbage....what more can I say. I tried it, smelled it. And it's fermented cabbage.................

I recently looked around on Autotrader.com about buying a used car. I saw one for 900$ Not bad, it should run fine. Especially if I'm not often gonna take it out of Cambridge.

We're still trying to furnish our house. Dressers, chairs, stuff like that. I think we're gonna hit up the salvation army pretty soon.

*yawn* and life goes on.

Waters Edge restuarant.

So I started today at another restuarant in the culinary maze that is Hyatt. The Waters Edge Grill. The fine dining crown of the Hyatt Regency in Chesapeake Bay. The food is much much better than what I was making at docks. But it's still not the equivalent of West Coast Cuisine. (I think I've been spoiled up till now)

The most popular item (on my station, pantry) Is the Cobb Salad. Shredded Iceberg, Tomato, cucumber, red onion, blue cheese, crab, egg, avacado, smoked salmon bacon, and blue cheese dressing.

See now, this, this salad just sounds completly unappetising to me. First of all, Iceberg is the most flavorless of all the common lettuces. Why not use romaine? or a mesclun greens mix? or even spinach would be better than Iceberg.....stupid iceberg.

The menu for my station is not difficult either. There is no heat applied to anything, except for reheating already cooked chicken. Which isn't even done on my station. It's all chopping and assembly. Hardly a challenge. Until you factor in the mods (short for changes to the normal recipe)

If you've ever worked in a restuarant. Breakfast and lunch are the worst times for mods to menu items. Brunch is the worst. Eggs alone can be cooked a dozen different ways. And every bill will be slightly different. Rarely will someone order eggs exactly as they appear on the menu. (think of that the next time you're in a busy restaurant for breakfast, and you're ordering eggs.) If you order them straight as they are on the menu, you'll get them faster, and they'll probably be higher quality then if you added a bunch of modifications to it. Because that particular cook knows that one way to cook them VERY well.

In short, if you want the cook to put some love into his food, or at the very least, not hate what he's cooking. Don't mod your order. Avoid mods at all costs. It makes the cooks life easier. When it's easier, you get your food faster.

Anyways, Waters edge is still far preferable to Docks. For one the company is a lot better. For example. Lil (lilliana), Lil is one of the most cheerful funny people I've ever met. Everyone loves Lil. She's 43, and I thought she was late 20's at most. She's absolutly shameless, and says some things even I, shameless as I am, won't repeat here. (mostly because my mom reads this blog) But never in malice, always in good cheer. She's already adopted us all. "I'm gonna find you a nice girl Josh."

In short, Lil is awesome. I'll see if I can get a picture sometime. (Mom, you would love Lil)

anyways, I'm in a far better mood now that I'm doing some real cooking. Something with some challenge. (another restuarant to master, now that docks is done)

I'll run this hotel in 6 months.