As you might know the Scratch menu changes each month, if a dish is popular enough it gets a stay of execution and is with us for another month. But after that; it goes into the vault - maybe you see it again - maybe you don't.
The first week of the menu is like a 'shake down cruise', we don't have the space to test dishes and figure out the plating. Chef has a general idea and we work with that, and each dish on the menu is fine tuned. This goes for both in cooking and plating.
For you fish lovers, the Black Cod gets a stay of execution; and stays with us another month.
New Blazers GM Rich Cho loved this dish (more on that tomorrow..).
Penne
Red Pepper
Fennel
Onion
Tomato
Ricotta
This dish has been on the menu for two cycles now, and will be most likely going away at the next menu change which will happen the first Tuesday in April.
Crudités are traditional French appetizers comprising sliced or whole raw vegetables which are dipped in a vinaigrette or another dipping sauce. Crudités often include celery sticks, carrot sticks, bell pepper strips, broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus spears.
The French word "crudité", which designates uncooked vegetables, originates in much the same way as the English word "crude," from Latin. The Latin word "crūdus" simply means raw. Later, it was refined to "crūditās", which means "undigested food" and then on to "crudité" in French.This dish btw is brand spankin' new to the menu.
Recently I lost all my data on my external HD, music that I had collected over the years (some I'll never be able to replace, because I don't have that kind of access, old pictures, TV shows, Movies...you name it) . So when the following happened, I figured for me, it was just about par for the course.
Notes From The Line.....
Why yes; that is my iPod touch at the bottom of a full prep sink.
That's right boys and girls, dropped it into a full prep sink last night. I was juggling some pots around on the shelf where we've been parking my iPod and dock at night, as to have tunes in the kitchen. I reached for a stockpot, snagged the cord. Caught the dock as the iPod made it's way towards the water.
(plunk....)
It floated softly to the bottom, handed off the stock pot to chef, and just stared. I'm not sure I'll ever know why I just chose to stare at it for a couple of seconds shimmering at the bottom of the sink. My mind raced before I thrust my hand into the water and retrieved what was surely a waterlogged and useless 30gig iPod touch. It had landed face down, so I couldn't see if it was till operational until I plucked it out.
Upon immediate inspection, it seemed to be functioning - though for some reason (at the time) the external speaker wasn't operational ( I mean, why would it after leaping to it's death?). I shut the damn thing down, found our bag of jasmine rice, and stuffed it in a pint container. Everything I've read about drying out electronics that weren't made for water activities.
I let it sit in that rice, for twenty minutes tops (A. I wanted to see if it was truly working & B. There needed be something else besides the hum of the induction burners and dishwasher. or C. I'm just an impatient bastard and it hasn't gotten any better in my elder years.), then I held my breath as a flicked it back on. I tried it, with just the external speaker, it wasn't working (but would by the end of the night) plugged it back into the dock and we listen to music the rest of the night.
All I could think was what little music I had left because of the HD crash that was on my iPod was going to be lost. The thing is, what's on my iPod wasn't even a scratch on the surface my music collection. It was like someone was conspiring against me.
And, it's still working this morning. I also use it as my alarm clock on my night stand, that way with the app I use I can wake up to a full playlist if I want. And it looks a lot cooler than my old clock/radio/size of a brick monstrosity that now is on the other side of my room, on my memorabilia shelf.
I am now going to leave you with this, don't blame me if it gets stuck in your head.
There are so many things happening at break neck speeds - it's enough to give you whiplash.. All kinds of exciting stuff is about to drop, but in fear of jinxing myself (I have a tendency to do that..), I'm just going to keep my mouth shut...for now.
Notes From The Line....
"Oui, Chef"
Hand washing crystal martini glasses in one word: blows.
Why? Well I'm glad you asked.
Last week chef purchased brand new martini glasses (we only had like four, and it apparent that the rank and file of Lake Oswego lurve their martini's) up until that point we only had like four in house. Heavy duty ones too, that barely fit into the glass rack for the dishwasher. Not mention at the time there wasn't much of a need as we have a lot of wine, and started with a sparse liquor bar.
These new ones, while aesthetically pleasing, they're a pain in the ass. Leave it to me to be the one that culled the herd, becuase well lets face it sometimes I can be a bit dim. Call it overconfidence to the point of reverting IQ point's and failing ones dex roll didn't help.
At first it didn't look like the new glasses would fit into the glass racks.
Chef: Doesn't look like they'll fit..
Me: Oh they'll fit alright. Just like the old ones.[carefully placing said glasses in rack]
This is where I should have said "Oui, Chef" and washed those crystal bastards by hand. But, nooooo I had to act like I knew what I was doing, slid the rack into the dishwasher and let her rip. Did I mention that these bastards are friggin light? Or that our re-vamped and tuned up dishwasher now has more water pressure than Old Faithful?
It was the moment of truth. The dishes were done.
Sadly this gem of a dish is coming off the menu at the end of the month. The most some dishes stay around are two menu cycles. There are some exceptions to this rule, like our radish dish and lava cake - everything else is fair game.
It's always funny to see the dishes come back to the pit after someone has the paella. You can tell if they're a 'safe' eater or not. The baby octopus will either be absent, or still fully intact.
Today's title brought to you by the and only Wil Wheaton. He posted it on twitter (@wilw if you are so inclined), and I don't know why - maybe cause I was a bit rummy as it was late - and Tuesdays = Monday for me (so my mental dex roll was horrid).
Anyways, I found it quite funny, and have decided that Notes From The Line's titles will be random movie quotes and other nonsense that will have no relation to the post at hand, or maybe it will.
Welcome to how my brain works (well sorta..)
The Dead Weather
We don't always have music going on in the kitchen, and during prep it's usually Pandora. But chef turned me on to a new band, Jack White's newest side project (what, he's got like a bajillion different 'side' projects) and from what chef was telling me it also included the lead singer from Portishead.
After doing some research (read: Google-fu), we were wrong. Her name is Alison Mosshart, lead singer of a band called "The Kills", she also sang with White's other project "The Racontuers" not to mention doing a couple songs with the "Arctic Monkeys" . "Horehound" is bluesy, crunchy and haunting at times.
At first blush I wasn't sure what to think, but with the entire album on repeat on my iPod touch during Saturday nights service, I was convinced. Take it from a guy who listened to music and had to make choices about what songs would make it on the air - this is friggin' great.
It's available through iTunes or whatever medium you choose, the point here is - beg, borrow, buy; whatever you need to do and pick this gem of a album up.
Trust me.... you wont be sorry.
The ole Uncle Charlie
For those not into baseball "Uncle Charlie" is slang for a curveball - which for the most part are pretty damn hard to hit. Well, depending on the pitcher - if you're the Mets' Oliver Perez you just sit on that sucker and wait for it to be presented to you on a hanger and mash it out of park.
(get used to the baseball analogies, pitchers and catchers have started to report)
Saturday night is our Friday night, as we're closed on Sunday and Mondays. And yes even though Sunday was Valentines day - we still weren't open. Beside it being a normal day we're closed it was Chef's wedding anniversary, so that was another major factor in not being open.
(See..there I go getting side tracked again...)
I arrived Saturday afternoon already running my prep list through my head, blinders on and ready to push through Saturday night service and enjoy my two days of rest. So focused was I, that I just started going about my work (setting up my station etc. etc.) once I clocked in.
Then the following conversation with chef took place:
Chef: Don't worry I got mise handled.
Me: Ok? [insert Spock like eyebrow lift]
Chef: I want you to make fudgy brownies.
Me: ..........
I felt a lump in my throat.
The look of abject horror on my face belied my usually calm exterior (ha! right...). If you know me at all, baking and desserts in general aren't really my thing - in both making and consuming of said desserts. If I know they're coming, it makes it easier (isn't that the point?), but not knowing or seeing it coming through me for a loop.
To be honest up to this point the only brownies I've ever made - fudgy or otherwise came straight out the box. Me and Duncan Hines are tight. After having a little refresher on ratio's, which for the dyslexic in me is a pain in the ass to keep the #'s straight - and went for it.
The lesson here kids is this: A chef could call on you to do something A. Spur of the moment and B. Way frakkin' out of your comfort zone. You need to be prepared for this (unlike I was - which to me is irritating), working with blinders is great when you need to push through prep.
But (there's always a but isn't there?) don't be surprised if chef decides to throw you the old "Uncle Charlie".
And when it does come? Knock it out of the friggin' park.
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