Here's me looking happy in my pastry kitchen. I have the immersion circulator and the cryovac machine (not really a cryovac, but I like to call it that) over my right shoulder, and I'm making "chupitos" and macerated strawberries for stuffing the mochi. Here's the mochi before I pull it (it's not actually green; I …
Month: May 2012
A funny, insightful book: “Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
I'm only about 1/4 of the way through the book because I can manage to read only a few pages each night before I fall asleep. It's not the contents of the book or the writing that's causing me to fall asleep, to be sure. I love the book. It's raw, it's unbelievable in its …
Things I’ve learned in the past 3 weeks, and another fun weekend!
I have worked 3 weeks at Dos Palillos. There is much I have learned that I have taken for granted because I'm moving so fast when I am there that I don't have time to really think about what I'm learning. So, I thought I should jot down at least a few of them, in …
Continue reading Things I’ve learned in the past 3 weeks, and another fun weekend!
A typical day at Dos Palillos (well, not today)
I seem to have a perpetual sore throat and snot nose here. Could be allergies, but it could be that I'm picking up hundreds of plates - yes, hundreds - from customers every day, picking up their chopsticks, etc. and then likely putting my hands on or near my face. For almost every course of …
Continue reading A typical day at Dos Palillos (well, not today)
Another week done at Dos Palillos and a fun weekend full of eating and drinking
Week 2: done. I made family meal on Saturday night for the cocineros. Everyone has to take their turn making family meal, and being the new person, I was stuck with Saturday night because of course that's the longest day and no one wants to spend whatever small break they may have making food for …
Continue reading Another week done at Dos Palillos and a fun weekend full of eating and drinking
15 is my new lucky number
Today, I worked 15.5 hours, with a 15 minute break. I'm pretty sure that's illegal, even in Spain. But, the good news is I still have 5 toes on each foot and 5 fingers on each hand, even if my fingernails and fingers, in general, have not been this stained and filthy since I was …
Day 3: Ahhhh, it’s over
It's 1:45 a.m. and I'm sitting in my bathroom, feet soaking in an ice water tub. I just opened up a bottle of "biologico" rioja. That's organic, here. It goes without saying that I'm exhausted, but I'm too hyped up and sore to go to bed at the moment. I'm super nervous about tomorrow, when …
Day 2: Dos Palillos
This is going to be another short post with no pictures, as it's actually Day 3, my time, and I have to run out the door to work in a few minutes - just a short 7 hours after I got home from Day 2. More things I like: 1) I made mochi from scratch. …
Day 1: Dos Palillos
No pictures. Who had time? I worked from 2:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. Today was a short day. Thursdays-Saturdays, I go in at 9:30 a.m. and leave at about 1:00-1:30 a.m. Yep, a.m. to a.m. - 15-16 hour days. Luckily, I'm working with Vincente this week. He does mostly pastry and has been with Albert Raurich since …
Labor Day in Spain (Dos Palillos forgot to tell me they were closed)
So, I was all excited about my first day as a stage at Dos Palillos. I arrived a 1/2 hour early, at 1:30 p.m. The gate was down over the employee entrance and there were no lights on in the restaurant. I thought, "Well, maybe, just maybe everyone shows up at 2?" Nope. It's labor …
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Salty Apron 