also theres this

i just wanted to let everybody know that everything is just fine with me and work.  i voiced my opinions and they were heard and since i had those couple of bad days at work everything has been awesome.  i'm excited about work, i'm proud of what we do, and i am in no way thinking of quitting anymore.  we just had to sort some stuff out and it got sorted out so it's all good.  i decided not to worry about crap i have no control over.  i got it too good to come home stressed everyday.  so, no worries everybody!  life kicks ass!

everybody wants some

so, awesomeness has occured.  my boy jamie (who i have neither met nor ever spoken to in person) has been a loyal reader of my blog here, as has his buddy eric (do they work together?  shit, i dunno!), and because we share the same sort of experiences as cooks, we've become buddies kinda, we shout out to each other on facebook and whatnot, and i think it's awesome.  i have no idea where those guys live, i think it's near philly but i'm not positive.  anyway, jamie started his own cooking blog and he emailed me and asked me if i wanted to contribute, and i was flattered as hell, and of course said yes.  so this post is pretty much to let my other readers know that i'm going to be ganging up on another cooking blog with cooks from around the country.

http://www.kitchenconvoluted.blogspot.com

i'm gonna go post about soup!  check it out!

so here's what happened

k, so i went to work on thursday completely unsure of if i would quit or not.  none of the owners showed up very early so i just got the kitchen up and running like usual.  when el chefe got there he could tell i was pissed and he kept his distance.  was hating it all day and had dark clouds churning through my head.  then about one thirty el chefe goes "are you upset?"

".....fuck yes i'm upset!  you fucking pissed me off, dude!  you bailed on your kitchen to go get your fucking hair cut and we weren't even ready to serve the special!  it's bullshit!  i'm VERY fucking pissed off at you right now!"

and basically i yelled at chef like that for almost ten minutes, then he calmly took me outside and let me yell and rant some more.  then, when i was done, he explained his side of the story.  but instead of immediately firing off excuses and stuff he just sat there and took it.  he totally let me yell at him (and oh, was i yelling) and didn't yell back or anything.  he knew i was pissed, and he knew i had a good reason to be pissed.  anyway, we ended up talking for almost an hour about stuff, and i felt way better afterwards, and yesterday i had a great day at work.

it's funny, we don't really have a coworker sort of relationship.  it's almost like a marriage...he does shit that makes me mad, and i seethe about it, and finally we talk and make up, but instead of make up sex we just knock out lunch rush.

el chefe likes me cause i call him on his bullshit.  i don't really talk to him like a boss, i don't pull punches and i tell him when he's doing something fucked up or stupid.  he loves that about me.  and i love being able to just tear him a new one if he deserves it.  which he did.

anyway, once again it's all good.  will it be all good in a week, a month, two months?  i dunno.  but i'm really gonna try.  i want this place to work.  it has all the potential in the world, it has a fantastic location and a great staff and it's an absolutely beautiful space.  so i wanna stick around and make it as awesome as i know it can be.  just don't sneak off the line to go get your fucking hair cut.

so yeah, now it's saturday (my friday), i got paid yesterday, and i don't have to take the bus today (i don't mind the bus, but sometimes there's crazies on it, and it takes a lot longer to get downtown than if i was just driving) so i don't have to leave the house as early.  that's good.  and i feel good about things, and i love the saturday crew, so i think today will be just fine.

we have our grand opening tonight and launch our dinner menu, so there's gonna be lots to do this morning and afternoon.  i may come in tonight to sample the dinner goods.

anyway, i know a lot of you were worried on account of my facebook posts the other day, so i just wanted to explain.  it's all good.  i was just mad and frustrated but instead of staying mad and frustrated or getting madder and more frustrated i verbally beat the shit out of my boss and now i feel better.

happy saturday, folks!

unsure about the future

so, ok, the whole key thing got worked out.  barely avoided disaster, though...i told my wife last saturday that if somebody wasn't there by ten after i was going to leave.  there wasn't anybody there at eight, or eight o five.  at eight o eight i checked the door again and it magically opened.  so, two minutes away from quitting my job.

anyway, saturday turned out okay, and i had a good couple days off.  then i came back to work this week.  tuesday was ok but slow and boring.  yesterday...

yesterday i got there at 8 (got a key now, remember?), and i got the kitchen up and running.  owner number 2 was scheduled to work at 8...come in, open up the dining room (vaccuum, mop, all that) so we're ready to go at nine when we open.  owner number 2 got there at nine.  i was looking for the vaccuum at the time and was pissed cause i thought i was gonna have to open the front in order to be open for business on time.  so i started the day out bad.  i have issues with the management.  i don't feel like they really want it.  i feel like they just want to own a bar, not have a successful business.  it's all show and flash for them.  and i thought el chefe was different.  ok.  owner number two actually asked me what time we started serving corned beef and cabbage.  there's literally fifty flyers in the dining room that state exactly what time we start serving.  only owner number two didn't bother to look at them.  we were supposed to start serving at 11.  we were not ready at 11.  i was ansy, cause all i wanna do i serve our customers.  so, noon passes and we're still not ready to go on the corned beef, and el chefe didn't seem concerned at all and kept telling me to calm down.  at one thirty we still weren't ready to serve the special we advertised would be avaliable at 11.  so i was getting pissed, cause el chefe didn't seem concerned at all that we weren't ready.  then, he offhandidly mentions that he needs a haircut, and all of a sudden he's gone.  he actually left to go get his fucking fauxhawk trimmed up, and we still weren't ready to go on the special.

that sent me over the edge.  i didn't really talk for the last couple hours of my shift, then i came home and proceeded to drunk and question the decisions i've made in the last couple months.  yesterday i was fully convinced i was going to go in today and hand in my keys and just tell them to fuck off.  i wanted to sleep on it cause i was having a bad day yesterday (WORST ST. PADDY'S EVER) but this morning i still think i need to move on.  now, it would have been a much easier decision if the wife hadn't got let go from her job on friday.  so, i'm in that "i need this job i fucking hate" spot right now.  but i also have serious doubts that this place will even be open six months down the road.

incidentally sous chefe has already put in his two week notice due to being concerned about the same management issues as me.  i almost think that they need to lose him and me before they'll pull their heads out of their asses.  but honestly, with management like this, i dunno if it will do an ounce of good.

there's a big ass part of me that says "fuck it.  go quit, take the rest of the week off, and on monday go find another job."  i'm pretty sure that i can find something else pretty easily...there's lots of restaurants in this town, and i'm sure some of them need a good line cook.  not many places are actively hiring, but with my work history i'm sure i can barge my way in somewhere...give me a chance, put me on the line, and you'll want to give me full time, i promise.

i dunno if i'll quit today.  there's a part of me that says my pops will be dissapointed in me for giving up but i also think he knows i know what i'm talking about and if i see a sinking ship he'd want me to bail the hell off of it.  he's gonna be scared that both me and the wife are jobless (or would be if i quit) but we both got great work histories and skill sets that are always going to be in demand.  plus, we got a grip of money in the bank right now.

i dunno....we'll see what happens.  i'm not optimistic.

hopefully getting this out will make me feel better

ok, so i had my first bad day at the new job yesterday.  it started out bad and i just didn't feel it all day.  here's the situation.  i'm the opener.  i'm scheduled at 8, and we open at 9.  i ride the bus to work, and the bus stop is just a block from work, and the bus gets there by 7:45.  so basically i'm there ready to work at ten to eight (i smoke a cigarette in the alley after i get off the bus).  here's the first problem....i don't have a key yet.  for whatever reason, they've never given me one, even though i hear almost every day "you're getting a key today".  this week especially i've heard a lot about this mysterious key but i still haven't seen it.  now, whatever...that wouldn't be so bad i guess, but there's three owners and none of them are ever there at 8.  it's always 8:05, or 8:11, and yesterday it was 8:30.  now, first off, that seriously cuts down the time i have to get the kitchen ready for breakfast, which makes me look bad when someone wants to eat at 9 and i can't do it.  secondly, i was waiting outside for almost forty five fucking minutes, and it was cold and windy.  the friday am server, who has actually started showing up late cause she knows nobody is there at 8...her and i waited for twenty minutes together and i had been waiting for twenty minutes already.  apologies were said, but i was pissed.  i mean, 8:30 one day isn't the worst thing ever, but i've been opening since early feburary and i still don't have a goddamn key, and i think i've gotten in there before 8 maybe three times.  i feel like the owners just don't have their shit together.  i mean, come on.  i'm there five days a week.  we've had plenty of time to get me that key.  it's just never materialized.  and it worries the shit out of me that it appears not a single one of them can be bothered to just show up and open their business on time like everybody else in the world.  and i'm left standing in the cold like a jagweed.

i do know they knew i was pissed at work yesterday, cause i got a call about an hour after i got home from one owner apologizing for me having to stand in the cold and she said "i have a key here for you" and i've heard that a million times already so i didn't really respond and i could tell she wanted me to come get it and i just said "nah, i'm sure i'll get it tomorrow".  i don't think i should have to get it from them, i feel that as owners it's their responsibility to make sure i have a key so i can open the place everyday.  if i had a key, i'd never have to wake any of them up just to let me in!

so anyway, i'm fucking coming back home if somebody isn't there by ten after to let me in.  straight up.  i would hope after all that bullshit yesterday somebody will get off their ass and be there at 8 today.  i dunno, guess that as a lifelong night cook i'm just used to showing up fifteen minutes early.  and honestly, i don't mind that nobody is there at 7:45 when the bus gets there, but come on...somebody get there by 8, or just give me a goddamned key.  do i think i'll get the key today?  no.  do i expect anybody to be there at 8?  no.

nervous about shit right now.

soupity soup soup soup

so, yeah, i've been getting to make a lot of soups lately, and it's good times.  ok, let's see...let's go down the list.  so far, i've made

carrot and coriander - twice...it's my favorite soup in the world and kind of my go-to soup when i just need to knock something out.  it's absolutely delicious.  garnished with heavy cream and cilantro

beer cheese - i used a pitcher of stella artois and cheddar and pepperjack and served it with smoked paprika popcorn on the side.  boom.  it was genius.

roasted red pepper and tomato bisque - not very creative but we had a case of red peppers that we needed to use.  never made this one before.  could have been a bit zippier, but good.

jalapeno chicken chowder - also a first timer.  turned out pretty friggin spicy so i dialed it back with a handful of powdered sugar (i know, right?).  ended up just right.  happy as hell with this one, and will totally make it again.

black bean & tomato - was pretty good until el chefe told me to add a half gallon of water and a can of tomato puree.  he thought it wasn't thick enough and i agreed but it dumbed down the flavor considerably.  before the additions i thought it was a little brothy but had a nice black bean flavor and just enough heat to remain interesting.

i think i at least helped make a couple more but i forget what they were...oh, el chefe made some potato, orange, and milk abomination that i suppose had some potential but turned out too milky and wierd.  anyway, making soup is fun and i'll try to let ya know if i do something new this week.  i know i haven't been blogging a lot lately but my schedule is all wierd now what with me working during the day and going to bed at a reasonable hour.  don't get me wrong, i love my new schedule, but it's wierd not working dinner rushes and being able to eat with the wife every night, and not have to dvr the office and lost.  i used to blog after the wife went to bed but now we go to bed at the same time and i just forget.  sorry!

anyway, there's a new bourdain on.  later.