Days 112, 113 and 114: Jaegerschnitzel, spaetzle, and the restaurant heats up

I’m bummed I didn’t take pictures, as the process of making spaetzle was really cool, if not a bit difficult for a first-timer.  Chef Udo said he would help us make a couple of German dishes for our class family meal on Wednesday.  So, he had Tomas make jaegerschnitzel and the dough for the spaetzle. Then a few of us took turns cutting the dough into the boiling water.  I think if you look up most spaetzle recipes, they will call for pushing the dough through a colander, but according to Udo that is the Swiss way, not the German way.  We used a pizza board and a cake spatula to work tiny bits of dough off the large dough ball and into the boiling water.  I have to say my arm got a work out!

Mark was sick on Thursday and Friday, so I got an extra day on saucier, which meant I made the lamb dish 2 days in a row.  On day 2, I was much faster at both prep and getting the plates out during lunch service.  So, although everyone knows repetition is the key to getting faster at things, repetition 2 days in a row was key for me – instead of waiting for another 8 days to practice lamb again (our rotation is we do 1 dish every 9 days, which equates to us practicing the dishes only 2 days each prior to the final).  Since the lamb is 99% likely to be the saucier dish on the practical exam, I am super glad I had another day of practicing all the components.  I’m feeling much more positive and relaxed about it all. And, it was more fun in the kitchen last week as we had a few days of larger numbers of patrons in the restaurant, which meant we didn’t have a lot of time to stand around and be bored before firing our dishes.

It has been a very relaxing weekend.  Igor and I ate and drank wine together on Friday night, then yesterday I spent some time working on plans for Spain and putting down a schedule to brush up on my Spanish.  I’m a bit nervous about going and just knocking on doors, as the economy in Spain isn’t exactly wonderful right now.   So far, no connections have panned out, but I’m still hopeful.  I’m hoping a smile and my energetic personality will help 😉  Only half kidding.

Tonight, I’m off to Charlie Hunter at The Independent.  I haven’t seen him in a long time, so I’m looking forward to hearing some of his new tunes!  Hoping some of those stick in my head for tomorrow’s class, as I’m usually singing some bad 80’s tune I heard on the radio on my commute down to school.