My Bahn Mi platter
My work station (where the cutting board is)
The Dish Pit. (Hobart is on the Right wall)
prep station and baking and pastry area
Baking and Pastry crew
Chef Eric Johnson
Chef Jonathan Zimmer/husband of LisaI did my Externship at Lisa Dupar Catering in Redmond, WA. During my interview with Chef Ramsey he told me that a while back they decided not to pay the Externs. And so I made the decision to work just the minimum amount of time there which was 30 hours a week for 6 weeks plus whatever Events they asked me to do. I was on Facebook and got a message from Chef Isaac Frerichs asking whether or not I was getting paid for my Externship and my response was "No, I'm not getting paid. They are making millions so they can't afford to pay an Extern"...
There is really not much that I could say about my Externship. On occasion very Rare occassions I was at the stove to actually cook something. I think that happened oh 5 times? I pan fried crab cakes, sauteed chicken, grilled flank steak and finished it in the oven, um...oh, made apple compote, and deep fried popcorn shrimps. 1 2 3 4 5 yep 5 times.
The rest of the time I prepped veggies and fruits, built sandwiches, made fruit platters or just got stuff ready for an event and Running around like a chicken with my head cut off helping people that were sometimes flailing about "in the weeds" in the kitchen. "In the Weeds" = Way the fuck behind and I need HELP!!!
Every day there was a Family meal prepared for Lunch for everyone. I would work from 7 to 12/1230, eat lunch then work until 3 or until a project was done. (once I worked until round about 7) What? Oh, no I didn't forget. No, I never took a break. I never saw Anyone take a break. It was work until Lunch time...
I was asked a few times to help out at Events and those were "eventful" to say the least. Most of the time we would wait around for people to finish up a course then rush about getting plates out for the next course. I would work my full shift, rush home to feed the dog and let her out, get dressed and rush off to an event using my Handy Dandy GPS on my Droid... Thank God for modern technology because I never would have made it to events on time otherwise. I would be SO lost all the time. Events were usualy from 5-930/10ish then I'd go home and it would start all over again.
I worked mostly with Chef de Cuisine Eric Johnson and he is a pretty amazing guy with a great sense of humor and patience to run the Culinary team at LDC. He taught me tons of different cooking and prepping techniques and was very patient with me and my OCD.
The OCD in me is an issue that I am working on... It slows me down. Everything in it's place or cut right or... and the list goes on and on /sigh. It makes for beautiful platters, plates and whatnot and like any woman that wears make up knows that Beauty takes time lol...Chef Johnson did write that he liked my attention to detail in my Evaluation so I suppose it's not all that bad to have a bit of OCD.
The Executive Chef at Lisa Dupar is Chef Grover Ramsey and although I haven't seen him "yell" at anyone like Chef Gordon Ramsay, on TV, the similarity in the name is a little "eery"... In school we were told to "address the cutting board" and so I had to retrain myself to cut the way that they asked... Chef Ramsey came over and asked me why I cut this way because I look like an untrained housewife trying to cook a meal at home. And when I told him that I had to retrain myself to cut this way because it's how they taught us at school, he told me the I was "mislead". And so now I "address the board" oops, shift, don't "address the board". I'm SO confused lol...
And he talks SO FAST. It's like a tape recording you're listening to on fast forward. I know he would just look at me and think, "What a retard. Hello? Is anybody in there?" I would stand there and stare at his lips and try to process what my eyes saw and what my ears heard before I would respond. It was all so intimidating, I know I've developed a stutter/stammering tick. He came over one time and was all pissed off that I didn't have a project ready on time and well, it wasn't my fault really...I would ask ok "what and how do you want me to do this?" and I got, do this and when you're done come and get me and we'll go from there. ALL morning long it was this ask, wait, show and do process then come crunch time Chef Ramsey is all "You need to ask questions, you can't keep saying I don't know. It's called cooking and if you can't do that then you're of no use to me in the kitchen." He was asking me about did I make the veggie stock and I'd say no, because I was sent home the day before without making it and I don't know if Eric had someone else do it. "How many pounds tomatoes did you cut?" "I don't know, he gave me the whole case and told me to cut them." etc...Then he'd grill me on the whys of cooking or not cooking things that are different sizes or why we don't add the tomatoes just yet and why is the squash not cut in batonnet like he asked. Then he went on about how I need to think for myself. Anger and frustration was building because ALL I had been doing the Whole freaking Morning was ask questions and so when he was done with is "lecture" I looked at him straight in the eye and said "I was just doing what I was told."
Me = Samoan with Chinese, Scottish and French = Very bad temper...All I have to say is that I just kept telling myself that it was almost over, I'll be Graduating soon. No rein on the temper = Fired = No Graduation...And so later on that day Chef Ramsey was trying to make a funny and says out loud to the other workers..."Don't get her mad because I'd hate to see her pissed off." And this comment leads me to believe that I probably had a very pissed off yet composed look on my face after being tossed into the Ramsey flames. Thank God for Over achievers R Us because while I was being Grilled with culinary questions I answered them all right...
And so...I was asked to stay on as a paid employee with Lisa Dupar Catering and I graciously turned them down as I will be working with Chef Zephyr Paquette at her new restaurant called Skelly and the Bean on Capitol Hill in Seattle. She just signed the papers for it and just got into it on Nov 1 and there is a Lot of work to be done before it opens up on Dec 1 (hopefully) and I'll be volunteering my Cabinet making/Carpentry/Painting skills to help get it up and running.
FYI I met Chef Paquette through Chef Wong whom I met through my CAC instructor Chef Cook. Chef Wong did a Pig butchering demo at school. The day of the demo Chef Wong asked Thomas and myself to work at an event she working called Out for Sustainablity and that is where I met Chef Paquette. I spoke to Chef Cook (Herman) and told her what I was planning to do after my Externship and she said that I could use her as a reference to try and get in with Chef Paquette and so I worked it and "used" Chef Cook (thank you very much) as my reference and Chef Paquette responded with "A reference from Chef Cook is good enough for me." And so I say unto you... Networking, it's a beautiful thing.
Chef Eric Johnson was not so very happy with my response when they asked me to stay and said "I don't care about other Chefs" then changed the subject, and perhaps under a different set of circumstances I would have stayed especially just to learn from him. I met a lot of great people at LDC and the guys that work there know a HELL of a lot more just from experience than I do and I will miss working with them but it's time to move on and learn other things from other people.
I did my time, I didn't lose it, I recieved a Fantastic evaluation from Chef Johnson where he said that I'm the best Extern they've had, and then it was time to turn in all my paperwork and Graduate...
That's my blip for my BFFs today.
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