Being healthier

So I have a new goal right now. To be a little bit more healthier in the way I eat/drink/whatever.

My parents keep getting on my case about being more healthier and excercising more; and since god knows I probably won't be going to work out on a regular basis anytime soon I figured I should work on my eating habits.

The first is to try and almost totally cut pop (or soda) out. As some people know I've managed to almost quell my desire for Mountain Dew. I gave in a few weeks ago, but thats mostly because I let one of my room mate Zigs' friends borrow Season 4 of Lost on DVD and she bought me a 6 pack as thanks. I figure if I can do it for Mountain Dew, then I can do it for the rest of the pop world. I rarely have pop at home anymore. All I have is Lemonade and Water (and being the typical upper 20 male: beer). School is the hard part. I've been bringing a water bottle to school (let me say that being a culinary student makes it easy to almost always have ice watter) but I still give in a bit. In the grand scheme of things, I think I'll still drink pop when I go out. But for the most part I want to cut it all out.

Eating is another story. I don't think I've been eating that healthy. Actually let me rephrase that. In terms of the fact that I don't eat alot of sweets I do okay. In terms of the fact that I havn't been eating the most balanced of diets in terms of getting all of my food groups I've been sucking. Lately my goal has been to eat more veggies which I've been doing a good job at. The last couple times I've gotten groceries I've stocked up. I even have given in and gotten canned peas.

Also I've been trying to eat three meals a day. My mom says something about how eventually that will help my metabolism. So I've been trying to have a semi-set schedule. I bought cereal and milk and have scarfing down a bowl or two before school. AT school is kind of up in the air. Thankfully Tues-Thurs I have Art and Bev's to go to (aka the cafe type setting that a class runs) and then Dinner I try to make something at home. So we'll see how that works out.

While I may not be running in a path that will cause me to lose alot of weight right off the bat, I would like to hope that I'm eating in a more healthy manner. And to at least get as much of this healthy manner in before I run full blast into working in the food industry and fuck it all up. heh.

So we'll see how it goes

Wow. Didn't see that coming

I have now lost two restaurant jobs because of my lack of experience. Long story short I went into work at Wildfire on Wednesday. Chef Ray pulled me aside and pretty much said he had to let me go. I guess they got a bit over zealous in hiring and due to my lack of experience they didn't want to always have to stop to instruct me. Ray actually said he tried to talk them into keeping me, but Chef Jim (Who's actually the executive chef, Ray was the Executive Sous Chef) told him to let me go.

Its a bummer. Especially since I didn't even have time to screw anything up this time. heh. Even though I didn't see it coming, I'm not fully surprised. There was actually a little voice in the back of my head telling me to look out for it. But I had hope this time would be different. IF anything I'm bummed at not getting the opportunity to work under some knowledgeable chefs.

But I'll live, I've worked in this business long enough to know you can't take things personally and that you just have to pick yourself up, wipe yourself off and then continue on. Everybody who I've talked to in depthly about this who's familiar with the business has said its happened to them. And Chef Dunn even went on to say that occasionally Chef's ego's get too inflated and they forget that once upon a time they were the guy with no experience needing someone to teach and mentor them.

Which brings me to my next point. As a bit of a result of this I came to appreciate even more those people in the industry who I admire. No, not the Bourdain's and the Symon's of the world (who I still do admire). But the ones like Chef Dunn, and Chef Whitman, and my often mentioned online friend Chef Steve out in NYC. The ones who are there willing to give advice and will let me bounce thoughts of them. In an industry that is all about having a mentors and/or people to look up to, those are the type of people who you don't want to take for granted.

And on a brighter note with all this. I may have actually put the wheels in motion for a possibile internship after I graduate. But thats all i'm going to say about it until I get more of my ducks in a row and deal with all the odds and ends it would entail to get things figured out.

Revelation

So I think I know whats its like to have a job you love. Or maybe its just the fact that I don't really want to work in a retirement home anymore. (no offense to anyone from the Square who may see this, but it's always been my goal to get back to working in restaurants.)

Seriously, I'm bummed out that I don't get to work at the Grille again till Wednesday.

I sent an email to Chef Ray giving him my school schedule (and the one day a week i'm still working at the Square) so he would know my exact availability and more or less said I'm willing to come in whenever he needs me if I'm not at school or work.

While I am totally aware of the fact that I may not become the next big Rockstar chef, I'm totally at a point where I want to just learn as much as I can and just work as much as possible. Like I said the other day, I'm not trying to make too much a big of deal that I'm working for someone who used to work for Thomas Keller. It would be too easy for someone in a similar predicament to get a big head about it. But this is one of those moments I'm staying humble about and appreciating for the experience it brings.

I'm all for using opportunities like this and for knowing someone like my online-friend Steve Mendoza who is now the Executive Chef at Lac Chicas Locas to gain more opportunities in the future. Its also something that I can't take for granted. Once again I'm now thankful that I have a mentor/friend in Steve and will hopefully have a mentor in Chef Ray who are both humble and willing to help and give advice.

A far step up from previous places I've worked (*cough*Graydon's*cough*)

Holy Shit moment #1 + the new job

This past week I've had a couple Holy Shit moments. This covers the first one and since it has to do with the new job I can tie the two together.

Work at the Grille has been okay so far. I haven't really done much. I mean, we're not open yet so in retrospect there's not much prep work that needs to be done. Scratch that. This past Tuesday was a practice day for both servers and cooks so some food got cooked, Wednesday was "Friends and Family night" then we had VIP events Thursday and Friday. So yeah food did get cooked, but not in the quantities that they will get cooked once the Grille opens. So even though I did go in, there wasn't much to do by the time I got there. Which brings up a scary flashback to Graydon's of me exasperatedly standing around being told to find something to do and not knowing what.

The bright side of that is Chef Ray totally picked up that I have a bit of a deer in headlights complex with being there. I mean I made it clear I haven't worked in a restaurant in about 3 years. Likewise he also realized that for about 3 days he had me come in when there's been nothing to do and I think he did feel kind of bad. So he promises I'll get more hours when we get busier.

Otherwise the people I work with seem to be pretty nice. Ironically despite being a prep cook I've mostly worked nights and have started to get to know the night time guys. Although I think my normal hours are supposed to be mornings on the weekends and then one night a week. So its going to be a bummer not getting to work with them as much (although I'm sure the daytime crew is pretty cool too.) So yeah, that's that.

The holy shit moment came when we were having a little kitchen meeting before working on my first day. Both Chef Jim (the executive chef) and Chef Ray (who I thought was the Executive chef, but I guess isn't) were both talking about what places they worked and their history and what not. But anyway, Chef Jim has mostly done corporate chef jobs but has more prominently done work at the McCormick Place and the Sears Tower at Chicago. According to him, nothing beats doing a 3 banquets for like a million people in 24 hours. Chef Ray, has previously worked up at Tapawingo in the Northern part of Michigan. But here's the kicker, in the past he's also worked at Trio under Grant Achatz and at the French Laundry. Seriously, it can't get more epic than that. I mean despite what you think about the restaurants, those are like two of the most highly acclaimed chef's in the country. And my boss used to work for them.

At first I had a bit of a breakdown. I mean, here I am, a person who to all extents and purposes isn't very experienced. And I got a job at what if probably going to be Grand Rapids next best restaurant. But then it hit me something that was said at orientation. That we were hired just as much for our personalities as we were for our experience. So if Chef Ray saw potential in me, then who am I to doubt it. I have my chance, now I just have to work my ass off so I don't fuck it up.

Cheers to that.

Change is coming, but not the change I expected!

So wow.

I need to re-do my last post. So the changes with my car were a precursor to a big change in my life. But the change wasn't moving home. The change was getting a new job!

Long story short, I've been emailing teachers on and off all summer asking if they knew of jobs. A few weeks ago one emailed me back about a restaurant which I will refer to in the blog as "The Grille" that was opening up. So naturally I sent in my resume. Where upon I got called in for an interview.

I felt good about I handled myself. For the life of me I can't remember what he asked me, but we talked some about my experience and about how I want to get back in restaurants and push myself to learn more. And some about what the restaurant is going to be like. And then much like my interview at The Square I got a tinglely feeling at a certain point which made me have a good feeling. Close to the end he was like "well I have to interview a few more people, but I think you'll be a good fit. I like teaching people and helping them reach their potential. So if I hire you I'll probably start you at prep cook"

I may not know much, but I know if they give you the "I think you'll be a good fit" talk then they're heavily leaning towards you. So I left feeling good. Chef Ray (my boss to be) seemed like a nice guy. Like me he is kind of soft spoken. And like me he is awkward as hell talking on the phone. But yeah I felt great about it. And sure enough I got called two days later and got offered the job.

Orientation is this Thursday and then I'll find my schedule from there. But I know that my main days are going to be Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings and then one night a week. I have NO clue how I'm going to balance school, work at the Grille and work at the Square togther. But I'll figure something out.

So here's hoping I don't crash and burn like Graydons. I know it will be a great learning experience for me. And I hopefully will get the chance to write some interesting things about it. Who knows, I may get pictures to post.


Oh and on another happy note, I'm stayin in GR now too. Although that was decided on before I got the job.

Blown fuses and broken axels

So it seems that everytime something big happens in my life, something happens to my car.

I bought my old one shortly before my original stint in prep cooking.

I finished paying it off shortly before I started at Mark Maker

I replaced the brakes the first time shortly before moving into Matt's

I got the mirror fixed after having it be held on by electricians tape shortly before moving in with my sister.

The brakes got fixed a second time shortly before moving in with Zigs.*

and now it stopped working on the cusp of my final year of school**

Funny now things worked.

On the bright side, I found a new car yesterday. A Friend of my mom's works with a used car company. Kind of like a middle man. He finds customers to buy cars from the used lot. And then he's the ones who tracks down the "perfect" car for the customers. We've gotten my last car, my sisters last 2, and my mom's last 2 through him. So I trust him

The downside to all this is in light of not having a full time job I have to move back home. On the one hand I'm bummed cause I like living with Zigs. But on the other hand I think its kind of a good move. I get to focus more on school now, and less on worrying about rent or utilities.

And due to not having to buy my own I get to worry less about the cost of groceries (well kinda) and more on cooking.

I love to cook. I'm discovering its seems to sooth me and put me in a good mood.

Even when I was line cooking at Carrabba's or New Holland and even getting my ass handed to me at Graydon's it seemed all my worries went away.

I like cooking, I like learning about different cuisines, I like eating, I hope to be able to travel in the future. I just like having something I feel good about.

And despite sucking at it, I love writing about it.

So here's to a new car.
Here's to the beginning of a new chapter in life
Here's to eating
and here's to writing

Cheers

* I'm not sure if those things happend exactly around those times. But I like to think they did

** I still claim my car didn't die. For some reason it didn't start. The good samaritan who tried to help me jump it used to be a mechanic and checked what he could out (considering he didn't have any tools) and theorized it could've been either the ignition fuses or the starter. Considering that my entire rear axel and shocks were well....shot, it totally wasn't worth it to get fixed. Figures. Hope the new car can last as long

Counting the days!

So MJ's funeral was yesterday and now I'm counting the days untill people stop acting like the world is going to end because he died. Don't get me wrong, I respected the fact he was a decent musician with a bunch of creative ideas. I respect the fact that for the most part he was a big influence on African American culture. And I am sad that he died.....just like I'm sad that all other dozen or so people who died last week died. Otherwise I'm like "oh well"

It might just be me but I never get why people make a such big deal about celebrities. I mean yeah they're cool and all, and they may be great actors/musicians/athletes/chef's/reality stars who are only known for being douches/whatever, but I still don't get why people go crazy and run around saying they want to have the celebrities babies and marry them (etc, etc).

This would be the point where someone may be prone to pointing out my semi-obsessiong with Tony Bourdain. Then thing with Bourdain is that I've pretty much admitted that if I were to hang out with him I'd probably get him to hook us (and out entourage) up with decent seats and meal at one of his friends restaurants, then find some dive bar to go to with a "crappy" punk band and drink all night. You know, hanging out doing normal people things, talking about normal people things (well as normal as a guy who travels around the world can be). People seem to forget that celebs are regular people (well not reality TV stars.....they're just dumb) and probably want to hang out and do regular people things.

So all in all, MJ dying is sad. But its nothing to lose sleep over. Besides, I doubt people are going to be running around crying as much in 2 weeks. go figure