Cuisine of Americas week one

Our first buffet after
externship

Back to school!

After five months of externship it's great to be back to school. We got another five jackets with the name on it. Strange that we did not get pants, only jackets. After four days of classes I would say that our group is different as to compare to the first year. People have changed during the externship. We also lost a couple of individuals, probably not the most cooperative ones. The group now is really a team, not a bunch of individuals on their own agenda. As a result it is much easier in the kitchen and we are more productive.

Externship week twenty two

Cioppino from the menu this week

Final week of the externship...

That was the final week of my externship and it was quite unremarkable. I worked this week at the Big Table. The choice was mine where to work and I chose this cafe because the chef is a cool guy and also I had a hope to sneak in the closed cafe and work there. My hope did not come true, I believe because of security (my badge was not approved for that zone). The chef was too busy with other projects and seminars, he was almost always away. The manager of that cafe gained too much power and now she is playing bossy lady.

The whole week for me was full of jumping from one station to another throughout a day. Help this station, then help that station. Literally having nothing to do after

Externship week twenty one

Duck confit

How to make the perfect duck confit...

This week I was back to the HangOut one of my favorite cafe on campus. I was there in September 2013 and now when I had a choice where to spend my last two weeks I chose this place without doubts. The chef is the same (this was the main reason I came back), the food are really interesting. Some dishes we made this week are:  slow roasted leg of pork, crab Singapore style, leg of lamb, fresh pasta with mornay sauce with saffron.
Here is a recap of

Externship weeks nineteen and twenty

Composed salads on buffet

Is it good idea to make mayonnaise in a blender?
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Yes, that's right. These two weeks were short for me (three days off for Christmas, and two days off for the New Year), so I decided to combine these weeks in one full working week. Also these two weeks I am working at the same place - Crave. So it will be total four calendar weeks at this place. It feels good. I like the chef, people are nice here. Also because I am here for a long time, finally I got a station to be in charge of. It's the salad bar, which is quite easy and does not involve much cooking. In addition to the salad bar this station