Block 6: Week 4 - Vegetables

Another difficult week. Vegetable station is the hardest station in that it has the most volume and thus the most prep to get done each day. Two people were out on the lunch line, so they weren't available to help with prep, which added to the difficulty. I'm pretty sure every other station in the kitchen had to help our group out this week because we were so slow. Wednesday was the most painful day - we were making very time consuming dishes, and our station was a total disaster (chef asked if anyone got hurt when the hurricane blew through), so I went home that day pretty frustrated. Friday was funny though - I asked someone to help us peel potatoes and carrots and he came back two minutes later with everything already done (he had found pails of already peeled product in another fridge - perfect!).

I liked the dishes I made this week - braised red cabbage, roasted nugget potatoes, saffron rice pilaf, green beans with almonds, and potatoes columbine (pan fried potatoes with sauteed onions and peppers).

The best day for me this week was Remembrance Day, because it was my first day off in 110 days. We went out the night before and played shuffleboard, which was tons of fun. Then I had a pretty easy relaxing morning on Thursday, went to the spa in the afternoon, and cooked cardamom chicken for dinner, which was really delicious. I will post the recipe next time I make it.

I also had the whole weekend off, which was amazing. I have never appreciated a weekend as much as this. A and I finally got to spend some time together. We went out to a club on Friday night, slept in, had croissants at Thomas Haas, and went out for dim sum, which were all great, but the highlight was dinner at Pear Tree. We shared the spot prawn cappuccino to start. I had the slow poached chicken breast napped in blanquette foam with potato gnocchi, and A had pork belly with cassoulet and mushrooms. We shared the lemon tart with cracked sugar for dessert. So amazing. The restaurant actually changed my life a little. The open kitchen was really modern and looked super quiet and organized. My friend from school was on the pastry station and she came out to say hi to us after dinner. Scott Jaeger was also in there cooking, which was really cool. The prices were very reasonable especially given the quality of food. I would love to have a restaurant like that someday.

Next week - Baking (so excited!)