day three blues

Modern Banquets. Its a simple-sounding class. And, it is simple!

Although simple never, ever means easy. Okay, maybe it does in some circumstances. Like drawing cubes. That's pretty simple, and its pretty easy.

Day three of modern banquets, my team was responsible for a cabbage braise, sautéed apples, and some hash brown potatoes. Easy and simple!

Right? Right? That is, until you throw into the mix: a new chef, some unruly potatoes, and your own poor judgement. We're here to learn, right?

My teammate and I stare down into the pan of potatoes we cut yesterday. "Uh-oh" I say, cheekily but with all seriousness. "Yup" he replies back. The 10 lbs of potatoes we cooked, cut, and saved yesterday, have in some pieces turned a lovely deep purple-black on the tips; a mar against the pale yellow-white of the rest of the Russets sitting in the pan. We dig though them, snatching up all the ugly hash brown pieces like they are dollar bills on a game show. The loss of 5 lbs of potatoes is annoying, but not a total loss.

My sliced apples are not my ideal. I read the recipe posted online by my other chef, "Cut apples in to 1/8ths". I do so. However, this is before the morning lecture by the chef. Chef DePaula says, "No, not eighths, just thin slices!" for the apples. Trying to cut an already cut apple isn't the best situation, so my slices are tiny bit uneven. Okay, they're fairly uneven. WHATEVER I say. Chef disagrees, and I tell him sorry. He said, "I'm sure you didn't try and hurt my feelings with your apple slices, Courtney!" I say, "Well, Chef, they'll be perfect tomorrow!"

And then, I realize that the most important thing about cooking isn't what you're cooking. Its cooking whatever you are on, to the most, absolute best that you can. It doesn't matter that I think that sauteed apples are stupid on this menu. I want people to taste the apples and think, "Shit! These are like, the best apples EVER!"

Tomorrow you will be able to take a ruler to my apple slices.
Shouldn't we strive for perfect in every single slice? Do I want to take my apples and feed someone a sub-par apple? That's me on their plate! Why should I represent me with anything less than fantastic?