Have you ever worked with squid ink? It’s like dealing with chocolate–it gets everywhere. And when you’re on a timeline to push out dishes for a restaurant, squid ink can […]

Chef Jeff calls roll call precisely at 9 a.m. every day. And sometimes he gives us a few words of wisdom (or chiding) before he releases us to do our […]

Today is the last day of production, and it’s been a little bit of a roller coaster. In the past four days, I never had time to eat lunch, I […]

After yesterday’s long morning of butchering ducks, I was excited to jump on filleting fish because a) I’m pretty good at it and b) it doesn’t take as long (at […]

I have a lot of Russian friends, and there are a lot of jokes that start like this when we hang out: “In Mother Russia, car drives you!” Well, in […]

I got a text message at 1 a.m. this morning from my teammate, Tom, that he was feeling like death and wasn’t game for today’s class. And then I realized […]

A terrine is a molded loaf that usually contains a forcemeat like pâté, but in the restaurant, we serve a vegetable terrine. And it involves layering eggplant, roasted red peppers, […]

Every day I get to class early so I can get a lot accomplished, but some days are a bust–like today. Class starts at 9, but I showed up at […]

Garde manger is supposed to be pretty laid back, but when half your team doesn’t show up, things start to get hairy. It was one of those days where I […]

Garde manger is the appetizer station. And it looks directly onto possonier, which is terrifying. It’s like watching a scary movie trailer except that will be my reality in 12 days. […]