My Night to Remember

*February 20, 2015*

*5:42pm

There is something to be said for a "devil-may-care" attitude. It winds up creating experiences out of a generally lackluster Friday night. Which is why now, after 3.5hours of SoCal traffic and 3 cigarettes later, I am in Anaheim, California, about to attend a Culinary Institute of America alumni reception/unveiling of a new commercial kitchen. Or something like that. I'm certainly not a CIA alum, and I don't honestly know what's going on  at the moment, Chef Thomas Keller just tweeted about this last night and invited industry professionals in the LA area to attend. So I said screw it and showed up.
I look at this as either a great networking opportunity, or an inspiration for... Something. I've been exercising a lot of patience lately, and I need a little reminder that everything will work itself out. I had my interview for the James Beard Women in Culinary Leadership Grant on Wednesday, and won't hear back for another few days, so I'm really looking forward to this also being a great distraction for me.

6:30pm

Just met Thomas Keller. Night is fucking MADE*

February 23, 2015

That was such an amazing night for me. I am so happy I went! Now, it was awkward at first, as I was a solid 20 years younger (at least) than the majority of the attendees. But as the night went on, and the wine flowed, and Chef Keller introduced himself to me, I began to loosen up, and really take in the event. Turns out that, beyond being an alumni reception, it was also unveiling the new showroom for the Hestan commercial kitchen equipment. I have never been in a room so full of industry professionals who actually knew what the hell they were talking about. And the equipment itself? I was very impressed. Most commercial ovens I've worked with, you have to baby the door so it doesn't fall off after repeated use. The Hestan oven? I watched 3 adult men stand on the open door and use it as a temporary stage. That was freaking awesome.

It was a great night for inspiration. I left that night, rejuvenated and excited for where my career will go. I may be stuck in limbo right now, but I was able to take that night, and go crazy at the farmer's market the next morning. I've been making my mustard, pickles, salmon tartar... I'm happier. And the busier I keep myself, the less I'll panic about the grant! :D

http://www.hestancommercial.com

Habitual Offender

I've never gone out of my way to eat healthy. With an extremely lucky win in the genetics lottery, I've gotten a great metabolism; and working in restaurants has kept me in a perpetually active lifestyle to maintain my bony size 4 butt. So I have never been ashamed of guzzling the occasional Big Gulp™ or chowing down on leftover fried chicken in bed at 2am. However lately I have noticed my tastes changing. I'm craving foods I was very 'meh' about before, and my desire for "normal" boxed grocery fare is on a sharp decline.

Part of it, I'm sure, is the fact that I'm getting older and biologically, yes, tastes do evolve. But I'm sure there's more to it than that. Nine times out of ten, whatever I eat is based on where I happen to be living. My formative years in Maine was a lot of French-Canadian and culinary tastes that got stuck in the late 80's. Chef Boyardee™ also played a huge part. Moving to Atlanta, I was forced out of my comfort zone and got to seriously broaden my horizons- I discovered sushi, true Mexican cuisine, and ate more pork than I ever imagined. Southern cooking became a big part of my culinary repertoire, and I also got introduced to the concept of eating local. Now, amidst this particular evolution, I had no problem with fast foods. Sure, it wasn't "real" food, but if I was only paying a buck for something that might be a burger, I clearly wasn't expecting anything of quality. You get what you pay for.

Then I wound up in Northern California wine country. There were a couple fast food places, but they were always a hassle for me to get to. It was much easier for me to hit up a local farmer's market, maybe check out the brewpub around the corner, or chow down on rice and beans with the sweetest barista I knew. I spent four months eating better than I had in the previous 25 years of my existence. Then I came to Southern California.

I'm sure southern California has farmer's markets, and a great local dining scene. I am just having a bitch of a time finding it. I'm spending time living with people who are very successful career-wise, but when it comes to what they eat? Food is clearly just fuel to them, and not something they actually enjoy. They have more canned vegetables than they ever possibly eat, and cabinets overflowing with processed protein bars. My cooking for them is no end of frustration, because while they admit what I make is good, they are clearly more excited for Campbell's. They are the pickiest eaters I've seen outside of a kindergarten classroom. I love them, but if we stop at one more drive through I'm going to put a nail through someone's tongue. And they wonder why their diets don't work???

With any luck, over the next few months, I can have my eating habits rub off on them. I will hit the markets harder than I ever have before. I won't cook for them anymore- I will cook for me, and offer to share. I'm sick of poor eating habits. And maybe, just maybe, I can actually teach them something. If nothing else, my stomach will be happier.

~Romance~ and Reality

For the first Valentine's day in 12 years, I am not working. For the umpteenth Valentine's day, I am dateless. One would expect me to be bitter, like so many of my cynical friends. But I am an eternal optimist, and a romantic. Or sucker, whatever you want to call it.

As a general rule of thumb, restaurant industry folks don't celebrate Valentine's day on the 14th. If they have a significant other in the first place. For the ones that do, they go out a week earlier or later, or do something sweet like cook dinner or whatever else is vomit-inducingly adorable. For the single ones, we generally go get blackout drunk after the shift and wind up in bed with a stranger, a coworker, or strange coworker.

Coming from an industry standpoint, relationships are HARD. It's so easy to get caught up in the "hit it and quit it" transient mentality, thanks to the weird hours and staff turnover, that actually connecting with someone is difficult to maintain. I thoroughly enjoyed the hookup culture, and the one quasi-serious relationship I had with a chef was one of the most emotionally fulfilling I had ever had. Being single is infinitely easier in the long run. And right now, it's what I need.

I'm trying to finally focus my career, solidify myself as an adult, the whole nine yards. My application to James Beard Foundation Women in Culinary Leadership grant has actually managed to get to the interview stage. If I get it, it would be a massive step for me career-wise. I am so excited for that. I'm really ready to focus. And, if all goes well, maybe next year I'll be in a stable place where I can focus on making a relationship work. Or, you know, kicking ass again solo.

In the meantime, this year, my best gal pal and I are going chill with a $3 bottle of wine and chill with some good ol' crockpot cooking.

Food nerd

Since getting to California, I've been making a habit of hitting thrift stores to collect culinary books. Cookbooks, wine books, memoirs- the whole nine yards. Originally, I was searching for recent publications that my cheap butt could nab for 80% less than in bookstores, but then I came across a copy of Food & Wine Best of 1989. I had to get it, '89 was the year I was born and I was curious to see what people were eating back then. Since then, I was hooked on more, shall we say, "vintage" books.

I never went to any sort of culinary higher education beyond a vocational class in high school, and then we were using recipe books published in the 80's (in suburban Maine, that's where many palates were rooted in the early 2000s anyway). And nowadays, there are a plethora of amazing cookbooks on the market that are full of bright, innovative, clean dishes- nothing like what I grew up with. Reading through the old books versus the new, it awed me just how different people ate even just 20 years ago. So, from an EXTREMELY nerdy anthropological perspective, it fascinated me.

From another educational side of it, because of my lack of "official" education, having old books makes me feel like I can "catch up" on the formal schooling- when I would have gone to culinary school, I probably still would have been referring to older books. The chef memoirs I admire the most, they all mention classic cookbooks from the 60s and 70s- if they can create fun dishes from old recipe inspiration, surely I can figure something like that out.

Cooking is something that anyone can do. However, creating? Innovating? That takes talent, but more than that, it takes knowledge. How can you riff on classics if you don't understand them? My collection has grown exponentially. And I couldn't be more excited. I love learning about food, and look forward to sharing it with everyone- hopefully making it fun in the process. Second blog will hopefully be coming soon!!!

Write Stuff

I've got writer's block. Like, BAD. Not for this blog, but I've decided to start a second, more food-focused blog, and I'm struggling with starting it. I want it to be like a combination of a review site and educational- kind of like a cross between 'No Reservations' and Alton Brown's 'Good Eats'. I want to make food as fascinating to other people as I find it. And I have plenty of material! I wind up ranting about food all day. It's just that I don't know how to introduce the topic to everyone. It's frustrating. Hopefully I can knock something out in the next week. In the meantime, if you have any food issues you're curious about, leave a comment below!