Yar!

Arrrgh! The bounty o' the sea be one o' me favorite beauties to shovel into me endless mouth-cave. Thar be nothing better for me belly. Yarrr!
Friday, we be having little shelled beauties known as shrimp. We throw it in a pan hotter than a pirate's temper with some butter. The pasta we made fresher than a pirate ashore after months on the raging sea. This be served on a smooth roasted red pepper sauce. Me and me matey enjoyed this bounty before starting the main course.
The hearty trout be breaded as the Miller's Wife. Season, toss with flour and pan sear in raw butter. We serve with a lemon garnish. That be pretty, as well as help protect from th' blasted scurvy. Serve up with green beans and some plain rice pilaf. It be a meal fit for a captain! Yar!

We be seeing ye soon,

The BS Pirate

PS: HAPPY INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

Lesson learned!

Last night I had a long day. I've been working a little bit with a local cafe and doing some of their catering deliveries. They had about a bazillion events yesterday, so I got the opportunity to be on the serving staff at a wedding reception. Not only was it amazing money, I learned some things.
First off, setting up a wedding reception for catering can be stressful. Only in the same stressfulness that setting up any special event on the stage was. You have a bunch of crap and a usually hand-drawn sketch of where things go. They never fit because nobody knows how to measure anything. So you have to make everything up as you go. I like that!
Then the food was running a little behind. Then the bartenders were late. Then I found out that the band playing is Hookers and Blow. They fricking rock. http://hookersandblow.org/
I started in the set-up area. We were putting appetizers on plates and walking around, making people eat them. I think I said "shrimp toast" about a bazillion times. Then the buffet had to be set up. The bartenders did arrive and were getting people nice and relaxed. While we set up the buffet, we are also striking (don't know the right word here) glasses and trash from tables, and still walking around with food for people.
Then they eat. We are still striking glasses and dishes, offering more appetizer things (new ones showed up late) and keeping the buffet stocked. We are also trying to keep the back room from being all nasty and the food from getting cold.
Okay...buffet is over and we break most of it down, leaving some nibbles. Now we are cleaning up the back room, keeping the coffee filled and trying to keep tables looking like under dorm room beds. We pack up left-overs, rack the dishes, clear more plates and glasses, repeat.
Eventually, we have most of the non-rental stuff all packed up and we take a load back to the cafe, leaving a few people back to keep clearing those tables. The band winds down at 11, we strip tables and pack up the cupcakes. Gather the rest of the dishes, pack up and bring back the final load. It was about a 10 hour shift of constant walking and lifting. It was awesome.
The other servers were a wee bit more experienced than I. My first few trips out to gather, I managed about 3 plates and some glasses on my wee tray. They had them stacked up 10 high and stuff in their other hand. They were quicker and better at spotting empties. They would just swoop in and take things, while I didn't want to bug people (at first).
Basically, my respect for servers went up about a bazillion-fold. I always knew it was tough work and long hours, but dang. Please remember to tip your servers! Not only are they making sure you get your food, but they keep the place as clean as possible, wipe tables, get drinks, and try to smile.
And if you are in Minnesota, please don't vote for Emmer.

Thanks!

The BS Chef

OD on Eggs

On Wednesday, I missed class. It was one of those days where getting out of bed was a bit more effort than the potential day was really worth. And I figured, "We are cooking eggs. Bah. I can cook eggs." So I slept in.
The next day, I asked my wonderful cooking partner how the egg day was. She looked a little sick and said she would be happy if she didn't eat another egg in a while. They each cooked about a dozen eggs or so. Hard cooked (you shouldn't actually BOIL a hard boiled egg...so call them hard COOKED), fried, omelets, scrambled, poached, etc. I decided I should actually do this homework, so I bought a dozen eggs and a pound of butter on the way home.
The omelet and scrambled eggs, I wasn't too worried about. Good ol' Alton Brown had schooled me in those and I am just not worried about it. I trust his version of Good Eats. So I set up to make fried eggs, hard cooked eggs (soft cooked and medium cooked too!), and poached.
Fried Eggs... I also watched Alton Brown do these, so I tried his technique. Coat the non-stick pan with butter, crack in the egg over low heat and wait for it to set. Then flip it out of the pan and catch it upside down! Count to 10 and flip it back. Perfect over easy. I can actually do this!
Hard cooked eggs are done quite a bit around my home too, so I tried a different technique in the book. Cold (or room temp) eggs in a pan, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. 1 minute for soft, 5 minutes for medium and 10 minutes for hard. No problem! I think I could really get into eating soft cooked eggs, if I got one of those fancy cups for eating them.
Poached eggs are still a wonder to me. Slide an egg into simmering water and let it cook for 5 or so minutes. It does hold together and it does cook right. So weird...and tasty! The first poached egg I made wasn't quite done, but the second one was just right. The above photos are pictures of the meduim cooked egg, soft cooked egg and the poached egg. I'll let you brainiacs figure out which is which.

And after all that, I was quite done eating eggs for a while... Until tomorrow, perhaps.

The BS Chef