The Road to The Kitchen

And Back Up To The Icy North I Go

2007-12-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

After leaving Italy, I spent 3 weeks in Seattle with my sister while waiting for graduation day to arrive. I had sent out numerous resumes to properties in both San Francisco and Seattle and interviewed twice while I was up in Seattle.

All through school they had told us that despite our degree, do not expect to command top dollar right out of the gates. Armed with this knowledge, I will admit that the compensation (aka pay) offered at the two places I interviewed at in Seattle was disappointing. They both acknowledged that with my degree I was a bit over-qualified for the positions. I was upfront that I was looking for advancement...not only to make use of my learned skills but so I could at least pay off student loans.

Of the two properties, the first place was in a flux of sorts. The chef had only been there a few months and was tasked with redesigning both the menus as well as the kitchen. There was no promise that I would be able to advance as quickly as I hoped but the chef saw that I had much to contribute and was willing to go back to HR to see if she could get me more money. The second place was a larger company that was very set in their program and could promise advancement three months down the line, but was set on the initial pay offer. I left Seattle thinking I might be able to do better in San Francisco.

All the time I was in Seattle I couldn't wait to be back in San Francisco. Not only was I more familiar with this city (having lived here for a year) but I was also more mobile. After my mother and sister left SF, I realized how harsh the city is. It's one thing to stay at the Hilton and quite another to be on your own. I saw the city once again as I had when I first arrived in August of 2006. The human condition here makes me sad and even though I have friends and have met with them, I still feel very much alone.

Within days, I received a call from the first property I interviewed at. They have come back with an offer that not only gave me more responsibility but also increased the pay. Without any other nibbles in San Francisco, I decided to take the offer and at the end of this week, will be driving back up to Seattle to start my new life and career.

Now the real work begins

2007-12-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

Graduation has come and gone. The ceremony was relatively short considering the number of graduates. Here are links to photos of me at graduation taken by a professional photographer.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/photocard.aspx?pc=4858103

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/photocard.aspx?pc=4858106

My mother, sister, cousin and friend attended the ceremony as my guests. They also took photos but there aren't many and not all came out great. Would have helped if I knew where they were sitting and looked somewhat in that direction.

Iron Chef Challenge

2007-11-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after getting up at an ungodly late hour (don't you love being on holiday) I ventured out to see the city. I walked a couple blocks to catch a bus but on the way down, my eye caught an outdoor market on Corso Racconigi. I got out on the next stop and walked back to the market. It was glorious and I spent an hour perusing the stalls.

I had text messaged Paolo to ask if he wanted me to pick something up from the market. He had earlier apologized for not having much in the refrigerator as they have been much too busy to go to a market to restock. He said it was unnecessary but if I wanted to, I could pick something up...especially if I wanted to cook. I was very straight forward with him when I said, "I'm on holiday, I do not want to cook." I told him I'd pick up something and it would be a surprise and he'd have to figure out how to cook it. I specifically said Iron Chef. Unknown to me, the Iron Chef phenomenon was unknown to him - of course a visit to youtube.com fixed that.

I picked up some fresh young artichokes still on the stem, a large bunch of cime de rapa (broccoli rabe), beautiful mushrooms and a package of orecchiette pasta as well as pomegranates, sweet grapes, and clementines. I carried my purchases home but found there was no space in the refrigerator for them all. That night, I surprised Paolo with my shopping and he made a nice supper of fresh artichoke salad with Gran Padano cheese and the pasta with the broccoli rabe. He said he had never cooked the broccoli rabe before and that he would surely purchase some again. We opened a bottle of Chianti that I brought from Badia A Coltibuono and made plans for the rest of the broccoli rabe, artichokes and mushrooms.

Arrivederci Toscana

2007-11-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

I have left Badia A Colitbuono. My externship officially ended on Friday, Nov 2nd, but I worked until Sunday the 4th. The restaurant was closed for dinner service as that night , the owner was taking the entire staff to dinner - it is the "end of the season" ritual. I was forewarned that there would be mass drunkenness and that was the real reason we were also closed the next day. I will say that of the three cases of wine we brought only two were opened and it wasn't as bad as I was brought to believe.

On Monday I was left all alone on the property. Even Sunil, who lives above the restaurant had gone to Sienna and left me the key to the restaurant so that I can make myself something to eat. I would think that this was my chance to go ape but I had fruit in the morning and made some rice, eggs and reheated some leftover pork (you thought I was gonna say Spam right? The pork was pretty dry and I should have made the Spam). I was online for a little bit but mostly spent the day packing.

I had to pack for Tornio, as well as Seattle. My plan was to leave my two large suitcases in Prato with Irene, taking my smaller rolling case to Torino. I would return from Torino taking all with me to San Francisco. Initially I had thought that I would not be allowed to take two checked bags with me to Seattle and would store the second bag in the SF airport while I was in Seattle but it turns out, Alaska allows two checked bags and I will be taking all to Seattle with me (get ready Kentra).

I got a lift from Andrea and Johnny to the Montevarchi train station and from there I bought a ticket to Firenze Santa Maria Novella station. I would check the times then purchase a second ticket to Prato Centrale where Irene would pick me up at 7pm. I am always nervous about traveling on the trains since my first day in Italy. I easily loaded my bags (which included, two large suitcases, one smaller carry on size rolling bag, a matching tote bag, my camera case, my purse and a tote bag that carried the wine and my French chicken) onto the train in Montevarchi. When I arrived in Firenze, I got everything out and found a luggage cart on the platform. Lucky me! What I should have done before loading everything on was check if the sucker was rolling right. Turns out the wheels were locked and I once again offloaded everything. I went and purchased my ticket to Prato then went looking for a cart as well as a restroom. I found the luggage storage area which cost 3,80 Euro per bag for the first 5 hours but I had only one hour before my train to Prato and really only needed someone to watch my stuff while I used the ladies room. An attendant saw me lingering and asked if I needed some help. I asked where I could get a cart and was about to ask how much it would cost when, he brought it around the counter for me as well as loaded my bags on it. And it didn't cost me a thing. Bravo. He then told me the bagno (restroom) was at Track 5. I was on my merry way when I discovered that one, the restrooms were pay restrooms (not a big deal) but the doorway to the restrooms would not allow my cart-o-bags through. So once again I offloaded my bags to just inside the door, paid the ,70 fee to go past the gate, and whizzed as fast as I could. When I came back I was happy to find that my cart was still there.

When the time came, I loaded my bags onto the train - at S.M.N. station it is not a problem as it is usually the first or last stop. Meaning, the train sits on the track for awhile so you can take some time loading and unloading. UNLIKE when I was getting off the train in Prato...I had all my bags by the door and after waiting for the bulk of passengers to exit I started to unload. Irene met me at the train doors and was assisting but the doors closed before I got my last bag off. I panicked! NOT AGAIN! Luckily there was a girl wanting to kiss her man goodbye and she hit the "open" button and I was able to get my last bag (and myself) off the train.

I stayed the night with Irene and Umberto. We had dinner at home (Irene's risotto was really good but Umberto's mom's eggplant pickles were awesome). Opened up the bottle of Cultus Boni I brought and watched a DVD while drinking some Vin Santo and nibbling on cantuccini that I made. In the morning, they brought me to the train station and I caught the first train from Prato to Picenza (via Bologna and Modena)then transfered trains to Torino (via Voghera and Alessandria). Paolo and Nausica picked me up from the station, brought me to Corso Monte Cucco, made me some pasta, left me the keys and a map of the city as well as some instructions on where the nearest supermarket is and what bus to catch to the city center. I have since, taken a shower and surfed online. I should be going now.

Rome

2007-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

I've been to Rome, here is the proof.

Moniker

2007-10-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

My nickname in the kitchen is 'Michelangelo'. Three guesses why.

Pastries

2007-10-16T10:05:00.001-07:00

For the first 6-7 weeks in Italy, I had been posted at the antipasto station. The other two students had already rotated through the stations: antipasto, pasta & entrees, and had settled into their particular stations by the time I arrived. It was understood that I would get a go at the other stations when they departed. However, when Corrado left in mid September, it left an open slot in the dessert station. While Genesis and Patrick were still here, whomever wasn't busiest would put out desserts. Now that they have gone, there has been a significant shift. Initially Daniele had moved to desserts preparing chocolate torts and such for service while I handled antipasto by myself. We each have a day and a half off per week and with Patrick and Genesis gone, that meant there was only a staff of four on a daily basis - except on Saturdays and sometimes Sunday mornings when everyone was on board. After a couple weeks of Daniele at desserts, I was shifted there. On Tuesdays & Wednesday mornings when Johnny is off, Chef Andrea is at his station - entree. Andrea takes over Francesco's post, pasta station, when he is off on Thursday evenings and all Friday. When Daniele is off, I move back over to antipasto and Andrea is at desserts.

Andrea promises that I will have a chance at every station but I have my doubts. Lunch service is usually busier and not the greatest time to have a newbie. The couple of times that they tried to get me in at dinner service it had been so slow it wasn't much of an experience. I have been very observant as far as what goes on in pasta station and even made a couple orders of risotto one night. I know how to plate just about every dish but have yet to get hands on from start to finish with each dish.first

Desserts has been fun. I had always said that I didn't want to be a pastry chef because I prefer not to be pigeon holed in just sweets. This still holds true, yet there is an undeniable pull towards pastries...you just don't get the same ooh's and ahh's with savoury food as you do with desserts. Dessert station has me making:

Cantuccini - little almond biscotti which we serve with vin santo.

Semifreddo - a terrine of first a layer of chestnut paste, then a mixture of ricotta cheese, Italian meringue, whipped cream and chestnut honey with roasted and candied whole chestnuts buried in the center.

Bavaresi - a pannacotta consisting of a reduction of lemon, orange and grapefruit juices, creme anglaise, gelatin sheets and whipped cream. We also candy the peels of the citrus fruits to serve on top after we unmold them.

Chocolate and pear torts - fresh pears are peeled then cooked in a simple syrup. A chocolate crust is rolled out and fitted into springform pans then prebaked. Home-made pomegranate jelly is spread over the crust then pear halves are laid in. The tort batter is poured in and all is baked into chocolaty goodness.

Vanilla and Chocolate gelato as well was the candied orange that is served alongside it.

Nut bread - chock full of hazelnuts, pinenuts, almonds, and raisens which is served on the cheese platter.

Today I was tasked with shelling a 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) bag of pistachios. I'm only 1/2 way through and already know the pain will rival any Nintendo thumb I ever got back in the SuperMario days.

My digs

2007-10-16T10:00:00.001-07:00

This is what you do when you have too much time on your hands...this is an approximate layout of the house in which I am living. Genesis' and Patrick's rooms are now empty. To the left of the TV room is Sunil's domain. I have seen it but cannot recall the exact layout in order to add it. If you haven't yet noticed...what is missing is a kitchen. Not only does Sunil's pad have a kitchen...albeit small, he also has a bidet!

Losing Weight

2007-10-16T09:37:00.001-07:00

If you knew me (as in seen me daily) before coming to Italy, you may have noticed in the photos that I've slimmed down some. For the first time EVER, I actually weigh less than what my driver's license says I weight...and consider that I lied on my DL. It's not really from any effort on my part. Of course I have 14 hour days (you're thinking "but you have a break in between lunch and dinner service" - yes I realize that but I'm counting from the start to the end OK?!) and am on my feet for at least 8 of those hours...also there is no chance whatsoever for me to run to the border for some Taco Bell. I only have two meals a day - lunch at 11:30 and dinner at 6:30. "Breakfast" - if you call it that, is an espresso. My main beverage is water...I get a choice between plain and bubbles...I do get the occasional Coke - and not the diet one...as well as flavouring my water with some Crystal Light (THANKS JOHN!). I eat PASTA and BREAD and CHEESE just about everyday...no, actually everyday...and I sneak in a scoop or two of gelato when it comes out of the machine. Who said you can't lose weight eating carbs?

The other weighty concern I have is my luggage. I arrived with two large suitcases as well as a rolling carry-on, my camera bag and the backpack which I consider my "purse". One of my large suitcases came just under the 50 pounds I am allowed and the other was 7 lbs over. I paid $50 USD for that 7 pounds. I have tried earnestly not to add to the things I'll have to take home. Most of my purchases have consisted of edibles and things I will use up while I am here such as shampoo. But I have gained a laptop, tripod and a chicken. I have used up some products I brought...soap, toothpaste, moisturizer, etc...so that should lighten up my bags a little. I already knew that I wasn't going home with the whetstone I brought and I'm also leaving all my side-towels. The kitchen shoes I brought will be tossed...it's showing wear and don't want to bring back the crud that's stuck in the grooves. I brought 6 chef coats with me. Four are from school and two my sister Kentra got for me when I first started on the culinary track back in '05. They have my name embroidered on them. I will most likely leave two of my school jackets here. One I will have the restaurant staff sign and one I will keep for memories. Corrado (Uncle Junior) had been wearing jackets left by previous students and has expressed interest in a jacket. I am unsure if I want to leave any of my chef pants. With my weight loss they are a bit big...but I also don't want to have to spend money on new pants. If you are thinking along the same lines regarding the jackets...I will not be wearing jackets with the school logo when I start working for another kitchen. They will either provide me with jackets or I'll have to buy plain unmarked ones.

I may dump my blue jeans. They are ridiculously baggy on me. That was the one thing that upset me about losing weight. I had purchased some new pants in Hawaii (before I arrived in SF) and after a couple months they were falling off my hips. I hadn't worn blue jeans in over a year - practically the entire time I was in SF...and finally bought a couple pairs to wear in Italy...now they are falling off! Losing weight sucks in that all the new clothes I have bought no longer fit!

I can't see losing much from my knife kit - and it's the heaviest thing I brought! But I'm sure there are few ounces that can be skimmed in the form of veggie peelers and silicone spatulas.

The one thing that I want and I know will be a big problem is the "dryer". I did a pretty extensive search to see if I can purchase one just like it in the US or online and I have had no luck. Anything similar is ridiculously expensive. Any chance you brought one back with you Gina? They are super cheap but bulky. It will cost me the additional fee of an extra bag...BUT I WANT IT SOOOO MUCH!

The Bitter End

2007-10-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

While I had always wanted to come to Italy for my externship, one of the reasons why I had considered going to New Zealand was because of the time of year I would be out here. August in Italy is very nice but I knew that towards the end, I would be going into the start of winter whereas if I were in NZ, it would be the reverse. It is now getting quite cold. In fact, at the start of this week, all the outdoor dining furniture was put away and the canopy that covered the larger outside dining area was taken down.

Back towards the end of September, early October when I started to feel Jack Frost creeping up on me, I had inquired about the radiators in our rooms...moreover, why the radiators in our rooms did not give any heat, and was told that usually the heat was not turned on until the beginning of November as Italy buys some of its electricity from France and that the government usually tries to wait until digits fall off before turning on the heat in early November. Well I guess we are lucky enough to be remote in that we have our own boiler and that the powers that be, namely Paolo the restaurant owner, decided it was cold enough to start it up. The first day he told us to make sure all windows were shut because the heat was on I got excited but it was not to be as nothing was coming through. Sunil spent at least an hour on my side of the house showing me how to open valves to let the air out so the radiators could fill with water but still nothing. Then the boiler blew up - but that's another post. After the repairs, and the technician came to make sure that all the radiators were filling up just fine, it is just my luck that the three heaters I need to work the most, the one in my room, the one in the bathroom and the one in the hallway between my room and the bathroom DO NOT WORK. I guess I'll be needing that 3rd down comforter.

All by myself...

2007-10-09T06:59:00.001-07:00

Today I got the news that Elisabetta, Paolo and the rest of them won't be able to come to Badia A Coltibuono to visit. Each having their individual careers, and with a travel time of 5 hours each way by car, it would be time to go home the moment they arrive. Instead, I will be visiting the city of Torino (Turin) after I've left Badia A Coltibuono. There is the porcini mushroom festival as well as the slow food festival. I can visit Venezia for a couple days while I am in Torino as well as Elisabetta's other family home in the mountains. I did plan on going to Paris with Jeremiah but his plans aren't solid as of yet and he might actually stay on until the end of November as his is a paying gig and mine is not.

I also got the chance to use one of the goodies that John sent me in the latest care package...the S & B Japanese curry. When I went back in for dinner service, I was told that we had no pasta - we use Barilla brand for family meal...the home made stuff is reserved for the guests of the restaurant. So I was asked to think up something for supper...S & B Curry! Turned out we didn't even have any chicken to add to the curry so it was strictly vegetarian with potatoes, carrots & onions. Francesco used the jasmine rice I had but instead of steaming it, did it up risotto style. It wasn't bad. John only sent me the spicy curry so I was afraid it might be troppo picante (too spicy) for the gang but it wasn't. Turned out the real problem was that it was too temperature hot. They aren't accustomed to eating food piping hot as I am. It was liked by all who tried it. Only Martina was not willing to give it a try...perhaps she can't take spicy...or she doesn't care much for curry.

One month to go

2007-10-04T02:30:00.000-07:00

01 October 2007

As of tomorrow I will have exactly one month left of my externship. I can hardly believe that two months have passed. The restaurant closes its doors on November 11 – the end of the season. There is an end of the season dinner on November 4 apparently getting drunk is on the agenda. My plane ticket back to San Francisco is for November 6 but I am unsure if I will be on that plane. I had some plans to travel a little before heading back. I know for sure that I will be going to Torino to visit Elisabetta and Paolo…and now my new friends Filipo, Elisabetta’s husband, Valentina, Elisabetta’s friend whom I met on the Nice trip and Max, Elisabetta & Filipo’s downstairs neighbor. Max is a wine maker and is acquainted with Lorenza Di Medici – the matriarch of Badia A Coltibuono. Elisabetta is always scheming to try and get me to stay in Italy permanently…or at least for a longer stretch than I have been. Ten years ago, she thought that I could find work in Italy teaching English. Now, she thinks that she may be able to hook me up with a friend who is opening a restaurant. While a fantastic notion, I think I want to head back to the US of A.

I realize that I had only touched on my travels in the last post. Truth is, after traveling, there is some necessary recovery time before I can begin to write about it (aka, I get lazy)…also, I wasn’t quite able to post photos to accompany those posts…but now that I have flickr pro up and going, I should be able to do both.

This past Friday my package of goodies from John arrived. In addition to the expected Jelly Bellies and tripod, he sent me:

Reese’s Pieces
Snickers
M & M’s
Baby Ruth bar – which I gave away to Francesco (more on this later)
Kasugai Wasabi Peas
Japanese Curry
Furukaki
Snack Nori
Crystal Light on the go packs
Spam Hot & Spicy

It was too much fun having the guys taste the strange foods. The jalapeno Jelly Belly was met with much shrieking…as was the wasabi peas. Francesco jumped on the Baby Ruth bar. Not because he loves them…in fact, he’s never had one– Baby Ruths cannot be had in Italy…but because he had seen it in the Goonies movie. The next day I asked him if he had eaten it and he replied that he didn’t plan on eating it but keeping it as movie memorabilia. I told him to eat it…and that I would send him another one for him to keep and never eat if he wished.

The tripod, along with the Ipod, Ipod speakers & laptop are on loan from John. He’s been very generous about hooking me up to make my time here more comfortable. The tripod is the solution to the fact that I am rarely in the photos I take. I’ll return them to him when he gets back from deployment. The kicker, he had a layover in Milan on Sunday but because it was just a few hours, we agreed that I wouldn’t make the trip to Milan to see him.

My immediate plans upon returning to California, was to start the process in which I would work aboard the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship that cruise the Hawaiian Islands. My graduation ceremony is on December 8th. I don’t know if I want to hang around SF for a month paying for a room just to make graduation. I might head up north to Seattle to hang out with my sister – if that invitation is still open. A good portion of my plan was to team up with a friend from school, Jeremiah. He’s currently in London doing his externship but aside from the occasional message via Myspace.com, I haven’t been in contact with Jeremiah, and am unsure if we are still on track. Last I heard we were going to visit Paris together but I think out timing is off.

I was gifted some Euros when I first arrived. I still have much of it left and plan on having some to take home. If you didn’t already know, this is not a paying gig. They house me and feed me but that’s about it. I am currently playing the exchange rate game. I discovered that I can exchange my Euros for USD via Paypal.com. The value of the USD has been falling against the Euro. If I give the sous-chef say, €100, he Paypals the same amount to me where I can choose to have it exchanged to USD at the current rate…where I would get $142.86. So here is where it becomes a game…when do I make the exchange? A trusted source tells me the USD will only continue to fall and that I should make the exchange at the latest possible time…which would be right before I leave.

Other than bottles of wine, I have not accumulated many things here. I had a slight problem with one of my bags being overweight when I left SF and I am counting on the fact that I have used up some products and will most likely leave some things as well as throw some things out to lighten my load. While in Nice, I made the mistake of telling Elisabetta that I liked chickens. Lo and behold, I am now the proud owner of a rustic French pottery chicken purchased in Antibes. I also have the laptop and tripod to bring back.

Flickr Pro Achieved!

2007-10-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

I finally got Flickr Pro...for some reason I have had significant trouble getting my credit cards to work online from this side of the world...and no, it's not because they are maxed out thank you. I have started the very slow process of uploading the multitude of photos I have been amassing since arriving. I have a Collection of photos labeled 'Italy' and within it, sets of photos labeled with the places they were taken.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/giagirl/collections/

I was trying to post the mosaic of this collection as the link but have yet to discover how...Gina help!

Dinner Menu

2007-09-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Antipasti

Insalata di polpo grigliato finocchi e arrance € 9,50
Grilled octopus, fennel and orange salad

Collo di pollo ripeno, cibreo di rigaglie, zucchini a scapee € 9,00
Stuffed chicken neck, chicken giblets sauce, fried and marinade courgette

Salumi della macelleria “Chini” e selezione di crostini caldi €10,50
Cold cuts from the local butcher and selction of warm croutons

Tonno del Chinati (carne di maiale) con fagioli zolfini e cipolla di Tropea €9,00
Pork meat cooked as tuna “zolfini”, white beans and red onion

Terrina di pomodori e mozzarella, melanzana impanata e fritta €9,00
Tomato and mozzarella cheese terrine, aubergine fried in bread crumbs

Primi Piatti

Tagliatelle al nero di sepia con seppie e puree di piselli €9,00
Homemade black noodles with cuttlefish and sweet pea velouté

Stracci di pasta con cinghaile in umido, uvetta e pinoli € 10,00
Homemade pasta with stewed wild boar, raisens and pine nuts

Pappa al pomodoro con insalata fredda di sedano € 8,00
Tuscan tomato and bread soup with celery salad

Ravioli ripeini di melanzane con passata di pomodoro fresco al basilica € 9,00
Homemade aubergine ravioli with fresh tomato and basil sauce

Risotto mantecato al pesto di basilica e crema di caprino al timo € 9,00
Risotto whisked with basil “pesto” and ricotta cheese perfumed with thyme

Secondi

Pesce del giorno con contorno di verdure di stagione € 17,00
Fish of the day with seasonal vegetables

Rotolo di coniglio alle olive e dragoncello, bietola saltata all’aglio € 17,00
Roasted rabbit stuffed with olives and tarragon, sautéed swiss chard

Maialino da latte brasato al Vin Santo, verza all’aglio € 17,00
Sucking pig braised in Vin Santo desset wine, savoy cabbage with garlic

Pollo del Valdarno in fricassee con fagiolini e cipollotti € 18,00
Local chicken braised with vegetables, lemon juice and egg yolk sauce, green beans and baby onions

Sella d’agnello in casseruola con sedano brasato € 18,00
Pot roasted lamb saddle, green beans sautéed with tomato

Costata di manzo nostrano, insalata mista (min. 2 pers.) per 100g. € 4,00
Local T-bone steak, mixed salad (min. 2 pers.) per 100g

Selezione di caprini di “Santa Margherita” e pecorino di “Corbeddu” € 10,00
Selection of local sheep and goat cheese

Verdure

Fagioli all’olio – White beans with extra virgin oil € 5,00
Fagiolini in umido – Green beans sautéed with tomato € 5,00
Insalata mista – Mixed salad € 5,00
Patate arrosto all’alloro – Potato baked with bay-leaf € 5,00

Visitors?

2007-09-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Warning!!! I sound like a raving lunatic in this post.

19 September 2007

A couple weeks ago Genesis and Patrick took a trip to Venice. I got a taste of what it would be like to be all alone. I didn’t think I would have any problem with it and I didn’t, although, I will say I slept with my window closed for the first time. Now, they are days away from finishing up here at the restaurant. They will travel a little before heading back to the states. All I have to say is, if you have been dreading the added cost of living arrangements while touring the Italian countryside, I have two rooms that are lying empty for the next 6 weeks.

10 years ago I traveled to Italy for the first time – and until this trip it seemed like my last time. While visiting Venice and Turin I met Elisabetta. We became fast friends and I even thought I might have attended her wedding…but time and money – especially money did not permit that. It’s 10 years later and while I consider her a good friend, I hadn’t spoken to her much. We sent letters and traded a couple emails throughout the years - the very last time was when I first arrived in San Francisco. After arriving here in August, I sent an email letting her know I was in country. I am lucky to have use of my sister’s Italian mobile phone (THANKS GINA) because last week she called!

Elisabetta is really an amazing person. If I’m not mistaken, she speaks some 4 languages. My host 10 years ago is another Italian named Paolo. Well my real hosts where his parents Enrico and Carla. It is Carla and Elisabetta’s mother that were friends so naturally their children were friends as well. I must have made a big impression on Carla because Paolo said that for years after my visit she still spoke of me. Carla has since passed on but I think of her very fondly and miss her. Although she didn’t speak any English (just Italian and French), we seemed to communicate well with the use of an Italian-English dictionary and spent many afternoons together running errands and sightseeing. Paolo, Elisabetta and I had a great time together and I left Italy thinking we would all be lifelong friends. Paolo and I kept in touch a little more than Elisabetta and I have. It was a blow to learn that some years after my visit, Paolo and Elisabetta had broken their friendship. Prior to coming to Italy (the second time) I had tried to convince Paolo to contact Elisabetta but I don’t think he had attempted it. Luckily, Elisabetta was not at all hesitant. I gave her Paolo’s mobile number and she called him that same evening. I am happy – no ecstatic to report that they have reconciled and we are planning to get together as soon as possible. Leave it to a woman to do what a man can’t (hehe had to add that in there).

Currently I am planning to meet with Elisabetta in Nice, the French Riviera for some sun and sand (if the weather agrees). I have Saturday and Sunday off and, as I missed a chance to head out last week due to illness, I am hoping to make the most of this “leave” time. Because Patrick and Genesis are leaving, I think next week I will not be afforded my day and half off…maybe just one day while we figure out the work load with less two bodies in the kitchen. September is supposed to be a busy time for the restaurant. Already this weekend we are closing the restaurant to other guests because we have wedding parties. I keep questioning the weather because it is a lot cooler than it should be. Today after lunch service the temperature dropped and it was (excuse my “French”) butt-f*ck cold. And while I will be here to watch the leave change and drop, I should expect rain rather than snow. If anyone’s adept at checking for a weather almanac of Chianti, I’ll be pleased to find out what the weather pattern has been the past years.

This post is an accumulation of posts that I meant to type. Paolo, the restaurant owner, who, when I first arrived, had been on holiday, has since returned and getting time on the computer is hard to come by. I have been gifted with the use of John’s laptop which he sent via the post. Of course the idea was that I would use it to blog but prior to that, I had to get my fill of Spider Solitaire, watching the movies he loaded on the laptop as well as the DVDs I brought and Free-Cell before I could really use it for what it was intended. Unfortunately for the past couple days, the internet in the kitchen office is down and I have not been able to check email – I feel so cut off!

In addition to mailing me the laptop, John has en route a box of goodies which include candy bars, and an order of Jelly Belly flavours at my request. As it turns out, Italian candies suck. The guys here are crazy about Jelly Bellies. I’m thinking a distributorship for Jelly Bellies might be profitable in Italy.

I know the lot of you is thinking I don’t have much to complain about being in Italy but you must understand how remote it is where I am. I live above the restaurant. My day is as follows.

Get up and shower and be in at 9:15
Prep from 9:15 to 11:30
Family meal from 11:30 to 12:00
Lunch service from 12:15 to 3:30 (sometimes 4:00)
Downtime from 3:30 to 6:15
Dinner prep and cooking of family meal 6:15 to 6:30
Family meal from 6:30 to 7:00
Dinner service from 7:15 to 10:30

The downtime is spent writing, online (if possible), napping, laundry, and/or watching movies. I have spent one afternoon laying out in a grassy field trying to get a tan. Patrick and Genesis have spent it walking/hiking or running – I’m not that ambitious.

The town of Montevarchi is 14 miles away. There is only one bus that goes in that direction in the morning at 7:39 am and one bus that comes back at 1:39 pm. So you can see that going to town during down time is not possible without asking someone to give me a lift. The guys use their downtime to play soccer on Play station or nap. I am reluctant to ask them to take me to town. I did ask Francesco when I got a hankering for mint gelato but he turned me down – actually there was a lot of bribing with future Jelly Bellies and a Rubik’s Cube ®. I have to respect that they want to rest too. Days off mean the opportunity to do some traveling. I have since been to Montevarchi numerous times to shop at the Ipercoop, purchase TIM cards for the mobile phone & go to the craft shop for embroidery floss. I have traveled to Florence and met up with Gina’s in-laws. Corrado took me to Montalcino one evening for dinner and sightseeing. I had hoped to go to Rome but was unable to due to illness. So you can see that the 1.5 days I get off is an event in and of itself. There is no corner store I can walk to, to pick up snacks – unless you count l’osteria where I can purchase vino ½ a mile down the road. I have discovered that the wait staff will give me Cokes ® from the bar if I ask nicely. I can get a sugar fix with the desserts we serve but after a while it gets old. I’m not at the point where I am drinking nightly, but I can understand how it can happen ☺.

I’m not unhappy but there are a few things that can make the time pass easier…hint hint…naw, actually they’ll just add to the weight of the bags when I leave.

Trenta Tre

2007-09-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

14 September 2007

Well it’s official, I’ve been in Italy one month and I got to say, it’s been nice but I can’t wait to go home. I knew I was starting to get old back in 2004 when, while on holiday, I couldn’t wait to go home. Prior to that, whenever I was on holiday, I never wanted to go home. It’s not that I don’t like it here, I do…very much. It’s as it was when I first arrived in San Francisco…I missed my friends (still do), driving, and moreover, the familiarity of things. Knowing where and how to get the things I wanted and needed. At least in SF there were regular buses running. At Badia A Coltibuono, it’s quite remote, very backwoods and no, I have not rethought my preference to live in the country versus the city. Only my dream of the country life included a pick-up truck and an old dog…well my old dog.

Speaking of getting old, I turned 33 yesterday. “How exciting!” you must be thinking...actually I woke up with a bad backache. I took some Tylenol® for it and had my morning café and went to work. Around 10:30 or so, I started to feel hungry…no ravenous. Almost to the point where I didn’t think I could hold on for another moment longer…but I did. We had our family meal at 11:30 but I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. My stomach felt queasy so I thought to take some mineral water – for the bubbles- to settle my stomach a little…it didn’t help. I ended up excusing myself to go back to the house where I proceeded to upchuck all that I had eaten, which was not much. I know you’d expect me to do a little praying to the porcelain throne on my birthday but not before I’d even had one glass of wine! I felt instantly better and went on to lunch service. I knew I was in trouble because: 1. I hadn’t eaten much and 2. what I had eaten I threw up and I was right. Towards the end of lunch service I felt woozy. I even had to sit down for fear of fainting…and if you know me, I am not one to faint. I used my between service downtime to get some sleep…feeling better for it. When I went back for family meal I ate a full meal and all seemed well. Uncle Junior (Corrado) had made me a fig tart for my birthday which we shared and each had a glass of Moscato di Asti. I went on to dinner service but all during I felt sluggish. Towards the end, my back ached considerably and I knew that there was no way I would be going to Rome for the weekend as I had planned on. Friday morning I didn’t get out of bed. I spent the day in and out of consciousness and resting my old weary bones. I made it out to family meal at 6:30pm but went straight back to bed afterwards. By Saturday I was feeling much better, ate family meal at 11:30 and went in to work dinner service that evening. Incidentally, I turned 23 in Italy when I was here 10 years ago. Perhaps it’s a trend for me.

Graduating Summa Cum Laude

2007-09-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yes! I am quite pleased to announce that I will be graduating with a 4.0 GPA.

The school used to have a different “honors” system where in order to graduate with honors; you would have had to have collected an honors recommendation from 80% of your classes. Unfortunately there was a flaw in this as the recommendation was entirely at the instructor’s discretion. You could have earned an “A” in class but not have gotten “honors”. There is a good reason this system was put in place. There are times when a student, who may not be academically successful, really puts in the effort and thusly deserves the extra recognition…however, as it turns out, because “honors” was at each instructor’s discretion, some didn’t think it was worth their time. Others though classroom only courses (those without kitchen time) didn’t warrant honors so it was difficult to gain that very much needed 80% of classes, which turned out to be 16 (or 17) out or 21 classes. When I had first started in Aug of ’06, my first instructor did not inform us of the honors system. As it turned out, in my first 4 classes, Basic Skills, Safety & Sanitation, Food Science & Nutrition, I did not get any honors, although I got all “A”s. I was determined to graduate with honors but it was not meant to be. As soon as I saw my non-honor classes reach that magic number of no return, I lost all enthusiasm. But the school has since changed the honor system and is not basing it on grades (yippee!!). I was in the clear having reached my last class with a 4.0 GPA…now in comes the hullabaloo.

My last class which was the Careme Room, Restaurant Production, had us cooking for the public. Each day, simply by coming to class on time, and not leaving before we are dismissed, as well as coming in full uniform, we received 5 points. In addition to the 5 daily points there were a couple competencies as well as the final exam. In my mystery basket competency, I scored 72 points. (not bad but not great). In my other competency (cooking eggs 3 ways, making & cooking pasta, cooking beans perfectly, making brown sauce, etc…) I missed a couple points because I failed to make a sauce. Granted I could have very easily did what many other students did, which was have one person make a large batch of, pasta, sauce, etc… and take some of that and claim it as my own to get my competency checked off, but I didn’t. Thus, I missed a couple points for sticking to my guns. The day prior to the final exam, I asked the Chef Instructor if I could take a peek at my progress. I knew that I had missed some points but was confident that I would still come out with an A…my confidence was shattered when I discovered, as per his record keeping system, even if I were to get a perfect score on my final exam, I would finish the class off with 90 points. One point shy of an “A”. As I scanned through my points, I found that I received 4 points instead of 5 on one of the days in addition to the points from my competencies. The reason for the 4 points? On the first day of class, we were told to line up so chef could check our uniforms. This included our chef coats, and pants, commis hats, neckerchiefs, aprons, side towels, name tags, correct shoes and all black or all white socks. This is where I failed. I was wearing white socks with a blue stripe. NEVER once have I had an instructor check my socks…so I got one point docked. I did not find out how I did on my final exam until after I was already in Italy. About a week or so after I arrived I checked my grades on my student portal. Indeed I had gotten a B for that class shattering my perfect GPA. I had already accepted that I did not score as well as I could have on my competencies. I was ready to accept that if I did less than perfect on my final exam, then I totally deserve my “B”…however, after writing to my instructor and finding out that I had a perfect 100% on my final, that it was that one point for the blue stripe on my sock that kept me from graduating with a 4.0, I had to take action. I wrote to the Head Chef in charge of the academic program, explained my case and asked if that one measly point could be considered. Chef W was already familiar with me personally from the time I volunteered for an event around Thanksgiving/Christmas to the other times when he substituted for absent instructors as well as greeting him in the hallways when our paths crossed. He also admired some salt dough work I did in my Advanced Garde Manger class…but he never wrote back.

A couple weeks after firing off that email I checked my student portal as I was surfing the net on an off day and discovered that my 3.9 whatever GPA had been changed to a 4.0 and that my grade for my final class was now an A from a B.

Down time

2007-09-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

The internet in the kithen office has been down for the past several days so I have not been able to check email or post to this blog. That does not mean I have stopped blogging! It came back online this morning, I noticed several emails asking about new posts and that those persons read my blog to live vicariously through me. So I am now at an internet point in Montevarchi and am attempting to post what I have stored on my flash drive.

Bridging the language barrier

2007-09-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

03 September 2007

One of the first questions I am asked when I announce that I am going to Italy for my externship is if I spoke Italian. My answer was always, “A little - but I was told that the kitchen crew spoke some English.” I would have to say that my command of the Italian language is less than stellar but with the help of some language study “tapes”, I have been able to greatly improve my understanding, if not my conversation. Most times I can pick up on the gist of what is being said.

My friend, Paolo said that Tuscany is the birthplace of the Italian language and that he feels it is the most beautiful sounding of all areas – he also said that Tuscans speak a little differently from the rest of Italy. For example, “Coke” might sound like “Hoke”. Well that’s just perfect…I’m picking up Italian from a crew that doesn’t quite speak the way the rest of the country does.

Actually most of the Italian I am learning in the kitchen is food related…then there is the “kitchen” talk. It’s “Madonna” this and “Madonna” that…no, they aren’t referring to Guy Ritchie’s wife. If you need to know the context, I would have to say it was more along the lines of “Mother of God!”

As I grow more comfortable in the kitchen, I have joined in with the jokes (when I understand them) and pranks of the kitchen. Last night I started to teach Francesco some choice English phrases…well American phrases. Before you start to think the worse, get your mind out of the gutter. I didn’t teach him anything bad. Of course, he did run these phrases by Patrick just to be sure.

Phrase 1:

Fo’ shizzle, my nizzle.

I find this one hilarious….so did Patrick. When Francesco asked his what it meant, his first reaction was to laugh for having heard it actually come out of Francesco’s mouth.

Phrase 2:

Same shit, different day.

Phrase 3:

Damn skippy!

I broke each one down and explained what each one meant…it’s only fair as they may be things he might not normally say or god forbid use them out of context.

Another colourful phrase heard in the kitchen, which I am unsure of the origin is “Non capito cazzo.” Translated it means “Don’t understand dick”. Quite similar to the American phrase “Don’t know dick.”

I also help the guys with their English. I have corrected the usage of certain words and phrases. Danielle has told me that he appreciates that I do this because he plans to do a stage at a restaurant in SF. Just last night, Danielle told Francesco to “Suck my balls.” I told him what he said was right and the meaning is understood however, “Suck my dick/cock” was a better phrase…which then led me to explain the synopsis of “GI Jane”. In particular the scene when she’s getting the tar beat out of her and she utters the famous phrase. By the way, the Italian release of “GI Jane” is titled “Soldato Jane”

You have to wonder...

2007-09-04T06:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever peeled the skin off a rooster's testicles? I HAVE!
As well as the comb and waddle...

It's gotta be said that...what the heck occured at the moment when someone thought, "Heeeeyyy, let's eat the comb, waddle and testicles of this rooster."

(Is that to-the-point enough for your Jeremiah??)

Lunch Menu

2007-08-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

I was able to get a hold of a copy of the lunch menu...one of the items has since changed though. I will soon get a hold of a copy of the dinner menu...these things must be handled delicately.

MENU' DEGUSTAZIONE € 46,00
compreso di 4 bicchieri di vino

DEGUSTATION MENU
four wines by the glass included

Millefoglie di pane corccante con zuccine alla menta e mozzarella di bufala
Crispy bread and courgette pie with buffalo mozzarella

Vino Bianca "Cetamura Bianco" I.G.T. 2005 di Coltibuono

Stracci di pasta con cinghiale in umido, uvetta e pinoli
Home made pasta with stewed wild-boar, raisins and pine nuts

Chiant Classico "Cultus Boni" 2003 D.O.C.G. di Badia a Coltibuono

Galletto grigiato con olio al limone e timo, peperonata
Grilled baby rooster with lemon and thyme oil, mixed peppers, tomato and garlic stew

Sangioveto I.G.T. 2000 di Badia a Coltibuono

Dolce daila carta
Dessert from the menu

Bera "Su Reimond" Moscato d'Asti D.O.C.G. 2005

PICCOLO MENU € 26,00
compreso di 2 bicchieri di vino

LIGHT MENU
two wines by glass included

Cotolette di agnello alla griglia con maionese aglio e timo, fagiolini in umido
Grilled lamb cutlets with thyme and garlic mayonnaise, stewed green beans

Chianti Classico "Cultus Boni" 2003 D.O.C.G. di Badia a Coltibuono

Dolce dalla carta
Dessert from the menu

Bera "Su Reimond" Moscato d'Asti D.O.C.G.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MENU 'DI PRANZO

Selezione di salumi della macelleria "Chini" con crostini caldi € 10,50
Selection of local cold cuts and warm croutons

Millefoglie di pane croccante con zuccine alla menta e mozzarella di bufala € 9,00
Crispy bread and courgette pie with buffalo mozzarella

Spiedino di baccalà con fettine di lime e insatlat di borlotti freschi € 9,00
Cod fish kebab with lime and fresh bean salad

Stracci di pasta con cinghiale in umido, uvetta e pinoli € 10,00
Home made pasta with stewed wild-boar, raisens and pine nuts

Lasagna di parmigiana di melanzane € 9,00
Home made lasagne with aubergine, tomato, ricotta and parmesan cheese

Spaghetti all'uovo con polpo grigliato, pesto di olive e profumo di limone € 10,00
Home made spaghetti with grilled octopus, olvie sauce and lemon scent

*****

Costanta di manzo nostrano, insalata mista (min. 2 pers.) per 100g. € 4,00
Local T-bone steak, mixed salad (min. 2 pers.) per 100g.

Galletto grigiato con olio al limone e timo, peperonata € 17,00
Grilled baby rooster with lemon and thyme oil, mixed peppers, tomato and garlic stew

Pesce del giorno con contorno di verdure € 17,00
Fish of the day with vegetables

Cotolette di angnello alla griglia con maionese aglio e timo, fagiolini in umido € 18,00
Grilled lamb cutlets with thyme and garlic mayonnaise, stewed green beans

Rotolo di congiglio alle olive e dragoncello, bietola saltata all'aglio € 17,00
Roasted rabbit suffed with olives and tarragon, sauteed swiss chard

*****

Selezione di caprini di "Santa Margherita" e pecorini di "Corbeddu" € 10,00
Selection of local sheep and goat cheese

Verdure

Fagiolini e patate all'aglio e olio di Badia - Green beans and potato with oil and garlic € 7,00
Pomodori, cipolla rossa e scaglie di pecorino - Tomato, red onion and matured sheep cheese
€ 7,00
Peperonata - € 5,00
Fagilii all'olio - White beans with extra virgin oil € 5,00
Insalata mista - Mixed salad € 5,00
Patate arrosto ali'alloro - Potato baked with bay-leaf €5,00

Pasta e dolci fatti in casa - Pasta and dessert are home made
Servizio incluso - Service included - Pane e copero - Bread and cover charge € 2,50

Upgrade to Flickr Pro

2007-08-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have officially upgraded to Flickr Pro so that I can upload the multiple photos I have taken...only there is a glitch and it's is not yet activated...in any case, I have uploaded some new photos to the "Italy" set taken on my previous 1.5 days off when I visited Florence.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/giagirl/sets/72157594299185738/

As Sunil said, all of Italy is like this in August

2007-08-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

(yes this is a back post)

Monday, 20 August 2007

This morning I got up just before 9am (I have to be in the kitchen at 9:15) to the sound of (I'm guessing) the bathroom door opening. Genesis knocks on my door and asks if I am up at 9:02. I quickly brush my teeth and wash my face, dress and head out the door. Today Patrick is off and instead of travelling to a neighboring town, he decided to stay in and watch the DVDs I brought.

In the kitchen I start to prep without Danielle from the list he left. Genesis helped me to decipher his notes. I boil eggs, boil potatoes, slice zucchini for later grilling and prep tomatoes for drying.

This morning, Rene is asked to make the pasta for family meal. As a master chef, I know her wants to impress but I remind him that pasta for family meal is very simple (food). Rene cooked a combination of fussili and penne pastas with cherry tomatoes and a chiffonade of Swiss chard. Danielle make roasted potatoes and Gianni (actually Johnny) made roasted chicken with rosemary. We also had some grilled zucchini - the same used in the millefoglie...and water and bread (of course!).

Millefoglie are grilled zucchini sliced lengthwise and marinated in BAC's own olive oil and fresh mint leaves. We place the zucchini atop crisp, thinly sliced crostini then top it off with a slice of fresh buffalo mozzarella...it is then placed in a hot oven until the mozzarella begins to melt. We stack two layers and plate it.

I try to use the time normally spent hanging out in the yard drinking coffee and conversing to make my first blog post...or rather to cut and paste to the blog ( it has all been written on Patrick's Macbook at the apartment). After lunch service, I check email, write to my production instructor regarding my grade on my final exam - more on my GPA later- and head back to the flat...it's actually more like a house...with three rooms, a TV room and a bathroom...and no kitchen. It is located on top of the restaurant but with a separate entrance. There is another section to the house past the TV room where here is another bathroom as well as another bedroom where the guys sometimes nap...and past that room is Sunil's side. HE'S got a kitchen.

When I get back, Patrick and Genesis are watching Forrest Gump. I take a load of laundry to wash and come back to shower up. I thought I might take a nap but instead I download photos from my camera to the external drive that John set me up with to use. Good thing too because it takes forever to upload photos from the kitchen office. There was a snag initially with the E.D. ( haha sounds like Erectile Dysfunction) but reformatting it fixed that.

My mobile phone rings, it's Gina calling to let me know she read my first post and to tell me that the next time I see Irene, she will give me some $ from my mother. She also gives some really good advise regarding travelling (fares, etc...), seeing a doctor if I fall ill, what personal products are and aren't available in Italy, contacting ex-pats, and that I can call her mother-in-law if I need to.

I go back to check on my laundry but it is still not done so I bang out on the internet until it is. I come back and hang the clothes up to dry...soon after it is time to head back to the kitchen for family meal and dinner service.

I'm getting the hang of things and believe I'm doing well but I want to ask Danielle if I am working fast enough but I'm afraid he's going to say otherwise.

Amuse tonight is bruschetta. Danielle asks me to concasse 15 tomatoes (that's A LOT!) but after 5, I ask him to confirm if he had said 15..."Yes, 15." I show him the amount of concasse I had in my bowl from 5 - he then says, "Okay, 7."

Dinner service had a slow start. Reservations were for only 8 persons total (we normally also take in a number of walk-ins) so that allowed time to prep for the next day. The only notable things for that evening was that one customer did no like the Polpo. He/she ate all of the fennel salad but left the octopus. Danielle, Johnny & Francesco all tasted the octopus but it was fine. One order of canolo - a cannoli shell stuffed with driced fresh fruits in a whipped cream mixture sitting atop a bed of vanilla pastry cream and dusted with powdered sugar and cocoa powder - came back with all the stuffing missing but the shell largely intact. Rosario (one of the servers) tried to cut into it with a knife but it was hard as stone! Who would have guessed that Uncle Junior would mess up a cannoli?

After dinner service I put up another blog post but was unable to upload photos to accompany it. Genesis stays to make a phone call while I head home. I must say, my surroundings are wholly picturesque. The only "modern" things visible when I walk the back path from the kitchen to the house are the employee cars parked along the dirt road. While gorgeous during the day, it is treacherous at night. I walk back in total darkness...other than the moon, there are no lights to light the way. I have come to memorize exactly where the drainage ditch is and to avoid the area where there is some re-bar sticking out of the ground. The worst part however are the steps down to the house. I carefully make my way forward feeling where each step ends. Once I am a few feet from the front door, the motion sensitive light comes on and I am home-free. I had actually started calling out to Patrick at the top of the steps but he was watching "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells" and didn't/couldn't hear me over the music. I journal on paper - Patrick's using the Macbook to watch movies - and go to bed

Photos on Flickr

2007-08-24T01:33:00.001-07:00

I'm slowly posting my photos...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/giagirl/sets/72157594299185738/

Days go by

2007-08-24T00:31:00.000-07:00

Day five: Sunday, August 19, 2007

The I-pod alarm starts playing music at 6am but at that point I had only 3 hours of sleep and needed an additional 3 more. We didn’t have to be at work until 10:30 anyway. I get up at 9 and do my morning thing. We go into the kitchen and set up our stations. An hour later, it’s lunchtime…you guessed it…Pasta & bread and …oh geez I’ve already forgotten. Sunday’s lunch service differed from the week’s in that we have the dinner menu available at lunchtime…minus the amuse. I’m doing (or I think I’m doing well) well at my station. I recognize the antipasto items on the tickets and produce them to kick out at the same time as other first course items from other stations. I’m proficient with the Palpo and Terrine orders.

Palpo is our octopus and fennel salad dish. The fennel salad consists of thin slices of fresh fennel, sectioned orange, kalamata olives, sprouts, salt, pepper and olive oil. This is served on top of a portion of octopus, which was first boiled in a court bouillon then grilled. It is then cut into bite size pieces and marinates in our olive oil. For plating the octopus is heated then plated and the fennel salad set on top and the plate is finished with more olive oil and fresh ground black pepper.

The Terrina is layers of dried tomato slices & fresh buffalo mozzarella. Breadcrumbs are sprinkled on top then the terrine is placed into a hot oven. Breaded and fried rounds of eggplant accompany it. The plate is finished with olive oil. The dried tomatoes are made by slicing roma tomatoes into 3rds lengthwise. The slices are sprinkled with salt, sugar and black pepper then drizzled with olive oil. It is then placed into the oven at 90˚C for 1.5 hours and allowed to dry. This concentrates the flavour, and makes it yummy.

Lunch service goes smoothly and I stay back to get on the Internet while Gen and Patrick head to the apartment to take naps. I read email and find that I am SOOO a PC user. The Mac my boss has is driving me batty, Not only am I unfamiliar with Mac, there is only ONE button on the mouse! And the fact that it is in Italian did not help what so ever. I end up logging into my email 3 times because when the window minimizes, I don’t know where the huff it goes! I also spent a good amount of time waiting for the connection to send out some photos. When I head back to the apartment, Gianni and Danielle are in the TV room on the PlayStation and Gen and Patrick are napping. I take the time to write for the blog and shower. Patrick had put some laundry into the machine in the morning and allowed me to toss a couple items in. After family lunch, we hung them on the drying racks to air dry…no there is no electric dryer here. In fact it is rare to find one in any household in Italy. When Gina lived in Torino she demanded that she had a dryer. I think the neighbors thought she was nuts.

I received a call from my friend Paolo from Torino. We talked about his visiting me at Coltibuono as well as me returning to visit him in Torino after my externship is over in November. Paolo now lives at Corso Monte Cucco - his parent's home which I had stayed at 10 years ago. It is so nice - like a hotel. I was surprised to hear they had lived there as long as they had and the place looked brand spanking new. There is plenty of room and he says Nausica (his girlfriend) and him would love to host me. Nicolae had told me about a Slow Food Festival in Torino in November which he attended the previous year, and Paolo said he would look into the dates for me.

It was when I noticed Patrick checking to see if the laundry was dry when I asked him if I could take the laptop into the kitchen office to connect to the Internet and post on the blog. What I should have done was go over how to make the connection. Gianni already had his PC laptop plugged in but I was told that you could have two connections. I didn’t know which wire to yank and ended up pulling the wrong one. When Paolo’s computer said “no signal input” even after I replaced the wire I yanked I panicked . Turns out I didn’t’ notice the time before I headed out and I had to turn around to get dressed for dinner service. I told Patrick about what happened and he went down to the office with me to help me 'fix' it...turns out it only needed a little time to reset. Dinner service goes by smoothly...truth is, I am finishing off this post on Friday at an internet cafe...if you can even call it that. It is actually 3 computers set up at the front end of an Indian shop which also has long distance phone booths and a grocery in the back...i don't even recall any details about Sunday's service. The days seem to run into each other here I rarely recall what day of the week it is let alone the actual date. But I did take note of whomelse I spoke to that day...John. I finally figured out how to text/call the US directly (okay fine, I didn't figure it out myself, I had got it wrong initially and dialed 011+ instead of 001+). I had first texted him but didn't know if it worked so I ran him and we talked for about 20 mintues before he decided it would be less expensive if he called me. It was nice to hear his voice again...it has always had a calming effect for me.

Fear Factor Italia

2007-08-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

Day four: Saturday, 18 August 2007

I awake again at 6am. I spend the quiet morning hours listening to music and doing whatever in my room. I wanted to eat some cereal but I had forgotten to bring a bowl for myself . I last ate at 6:30 pm the previous night and other than the orange before bed, I have nothing else to eat until lunch, which is at 11:30. We go into the kitchen at 9:15 and start prep for lunch service. Today I am to prep the cock’s head. We get (as in we purchase from the butcher or whoever it is we get our poultry from) rooster head and necks – still attached to each other. I first burn off any remaining feathers, that wasn’t removed, with the crème brulee torch. Then I peel the skin back over the neck bones removing the connective tissue and the esophagus. I cut the neck off just under the head leaving the head and skin of the neck ready for stuffing. The neck is stuffed with a mixture of sausage, ground pork tenderloin, chicken meat, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Before stuffing the neck I must cut off the crown and waddle of the rooster. These are used to make the sauce along with rooster testicles. Sounds like a Fear Factor challenge doesn’t it? The stuffing mixture is then piped into the neck or should I say the neck skin and tied off with butcher’s twine. I prep a total of 6 before service begins.

I also deep fry the zuchinni rounds that is plated along with the cock’s neck. We break for family lunch at 11:30. Our lunch consisted of pasta – and I had said I would talk about the pasta we are served at family meal. It is usually dried Barilla pasta prepared very simply. Simply means – at this point Patrick’s been the only person who has made the pasta since I have arrived – he sautés onions and garlic, adds tomatoes, salt, pepper and a little dried peppers then tosses the cooked pasta in. When Patrick and Genesis arrived (6 weeks ago) and when Patrick was first asked to prep the pasta for family meal, Andrea (the chef) made it clear that they like sauce with their pasta and not pasta with their sauce. Pasta, grilled pork filets…and bread - there is always bread.,,and water. We eat, then step outside the kitchen for a little conversation and café (espresso). Lunch service begins at 12:15 and ends at 3:30. After lunch service I have just under 3 hours of downtime. We usually use this time to hangout, Gen and Patrick have napped. The other guys in the kitchen come up to the apartment and play soccer on the playstation during this time. They smoke and listen to music until it is time for family meal at 6:30. There is also a room in which they can nap and a spare bathroom where they can do their business and shower if they want. If I am not hanging out with Patrick and Genisis, I am in my room listening to language “tapes” on the Ipod, journaling, taking a shower and now that Patrick has lent me his macbook, writing stuff for the blog. I have yet to take the tour for Badia A Coltibuono…sounds strange because this is where I am but there is the wine shop, the bed and breakfast and weekly apartments as well as the restaurant. The buidings are separate and there is a daily tour of the Badia (for short), I think we are planning to take the tour along with the visiting chef from Germany on Tuesday. There are plans to go to a neighboring town after work tonight to have drinks. I am told that it is a 10 minute drive. The thing about that is 10 minutes is relative only to WHO is doing he driving. Danielle leads while Gen, Patrick and I ride with Rene (the German chef) who is staying at Badia so the guys don’t have to back track to the Ristorante and can go straight home afterwards. I’ve heard stories of how crazy fast the guys drive but there is no Autobahn in Italy…there is one in Germany. Rene’s driving had me closing my eyes as equilibrium went out the window. I hadn’t thought to take my WalDram (Walgreen’s version of Dramamine) and the curves in the road were affecting me. I had my eyes closed for a good portion of the way and I was trying to find that pressure point on my wrist that supposedly cures motion sickness. By the time we park the car my wrist is nearly ready to fall off due to me pressing it so hard. The place is gorgeous and even better, they carry our wine. They are unable to seat our large party of 10 indoors so we are outside. We are served wine, bread, and cured meats. Language barriers are broken as the group we had were working with English, Italian and German respectively. Rene takes us back after and I am prepared to keep my eyes closed the entire time back as well as hitting that pressure point – neither works 100% but I also did not have enough to drink as to worry about messing up Rene’s rental. Gen, Patrick and I are revved up even though it was past 1 am. We open up the bottle of Moscato Di Asti and chat until the bottle was empty – which was 3 am. We didn’t have to be at work until 10:30 the next morning anyway. Hooray for early prep.

Under the Tuscan Sun

2007-08-20T03:12:00.001-07:00

Here is the day three update:

I will certainly attempt to chronicle my days while I’m out here…truth is, there really is nothing else to do. Badia A Coltibuono is very isolated. If I wanted to go to a grocery store such as the Ipercoop in Montevarchi, I would have to catch the one and only bus to Montevarchi at 7:40 am, a 30 minute ride, walk roughly 15-20 minutes to the Ipercoop then made sure I caught the only bus back at 1:40 pm.

The ticket for the bus one way is 2 Euros. At the current exchange rate that comes out to $2.78 USD…as it happened on the ride back from Montevarchi yesterday, the bus driver “ran out” of 2 Euro tickets and I had to purchase a 3 Euro ($4.17 USD) ticket…yes for the same damn trip that cost me 2 Euros that morning.

The exchange rate is horrific…but it’s looking up. I had exchanged some money at the SF airport at .65 Euro to the dollar…as of yesterday the bank in Montevarchi had the rate at .72 Euro to the dollar…not that this makes a world of difference…I don’t have a whole lot of money to be exchanging anyway. I have yet to have a day off – I should be getting 1.5 days off a week…with possibly 2 days off (as per Chef Andrea’s decree yesterday). It would be ideal to travel to the surrounding areas such as Florence, Sienna and Pisa…but at what I’m averaging – 3 train tickets per trip I’ll be begging for train fare before long.

After my first night in Italy, Irene (Gina’s sister in law) drove me to the Florence train station to catch a 9:00 am train to Montevarchi, I studied how she purchased the ticket and she told me which platform I need to be at to board the train…I did as instructed and was on my way…I was observant each time the train slowed and stopped so as I would not miss my stop. When Montevarchi came up, I started to bring my luggage towards the door (please see photo of said luggage)…unfortunately I did not make it out the door before they closed up again and the train started to move. It was just at that moment the conductor who checked off my ticket appeared but he could do nothing to help. I rode the train to the next stop in Arezzo…and yes; my bags were by the door. I got out, found a ticket machine, and bought a 2,80 Euro ticket to Montevarchi. It would be another hour before that train arrived (and departed). I had already broken one rule when I exited the first train – do not cross the train tracks…I did not know that there was an underground passage – heck I followed that conductor! Carrying my bags first down the stairs (no escalator – there was an elevator but it was marked for the handicapped and I wasn’t about to use it) then back up again left me huffing and puffing…I was happy to relax for a while. About 15 minutes to departure, they started announcing platform changes. I didn’t hear anything for my train but when I looked towards platform 4 (I was on platform 2), I noticed my destination & departure time…panic ensued…it was 11:05 and my train was for 11:07. I practically threw my bags down the stairs, dragged them towards the stairwell for platform 4 then struggled with them back up the stairs. When I got to the top, the signs posted on platform 4 & 5 were for two trains headed in the direction I needed to go. One departing at 11:10, the other 11:07. The 11:10 train sat at the platform and the 11:07 was nowhere in site. Deep down I knew where I had to go but due to the earlier fiasco, I needed some sort of reassurance. I decided to ask someone and the only person there was one of the military guards…I asked if the 11:10 train stopped at Montevarchi but he didn’t speak English and said so. As I was contemplating whether or not to board that same guy comes back with “Ah Florence? Ok.” and urged me to board. I felt relief, but not for long. It had been difficult for me to use the restroom with all my bags so what a surprise to see a W.C. (that’s Water Closet aka restroom for you state siders) right where I parked my bags. It was a quick in and out as I didn’t want to leave my bags unattended for too long. When I emerged, I noticed the 11:07 train at the platform…a sinking feeling started to set in. When the 11:07 train pulled away I knew I was screwed. As the 11:10 train started to move. All I could do was chant to myself…”Please stop at Montevarchi, please stop at Montevarchi, please stop at Montevarchi.” The train started to pick up speed and it seemed to be further left on the tracks. After passing more tunnels then I remembered, I conceded that I was headed back to Florence on the express train. After arriving back in Florence’s Santa Maria Novena station, I quickly bought another ticket, total thus far, 10,8 Euros ($16.62 USD at the exchange rate from the SFO airport). The ticket machine said the next departure time was 12:09, but I did not see “Roma Termini” on the departure board. What I did see was the departure time posted on the platform. I headed straight for the conductor and asked if that train stopped at Montevarchi. He assured me that it did and I boarded making sure I
was just steps away from the train door. While onboard I elicited the assistance of a girl to help me load minutes onto the mobile phone Gina lent me. When Montevarchi came up, I tried to exit but the doors would not immediately open. The other woman getting off at Montevarchi took her one rolling bag thru the car and out the other door. This was not possible for me - a repeat of my first train ride to Montevarchi flashed before my eyes. I started to claw at the handles for the door when it finally opened on it’s own…apparently there was a delay. I shoved the first bag out making sure I had one limb in the door’s path. The second large bag (which was heavier than the first) I dragged out falling over the first bag but I got back up in a split second to collect my last bag. As it turns out, the train wasn’t going anywhere anyway; the conductor was outside watching me with a scowl. I don’t know exactly what he said but it was along the lines of “What the hell? Slow the fuck down!” But I didn’t care! I was in Montevarchi. Sure I started a 30-minute trip at 9 am, sure it was 1:00 but I was in Montevarchi! All I needed to do now was to catch a taxi to Badia A Coltibuono. Forty-five minutes later, the taxi shows up and I am on my way! 30 minutes and 36 Euros ($55.38 USD) later I arrived on the steps of Badia A Coltibuono, Genesis waiting to greet me.

Back to update…on the morning of day two I had still yet to don the uniform (but I would for dinner service). Genesis, who spent the previous day waiting for my arrival, also had the morning off and we decide to go to Montevarchi (I saw so little the day before) to run some errands and visit the Ipercoop. When we arrived by bus, most shops had yet to open. There is a mini Ipercoop close to the train station, which I totally missed the day before. We browsed a little without buying anything, settling to wait to make purchases at the big Ipercoop. I’m hungry and we pass by a bakery. We each buy pizza. Mine is sun-dried tomatoes on foccacia and Gen’s is hand formed dough with a lot of cheese and sauce. As we are walking, we stop to photograph a church. As I framed the photo, there is a man who is smiling in our direction and seemed to want to be in the photo. Gen then tells me to shout “Kumar!” I refuse thinking ala “Harold and Kumar”…you must realize I have only met her the day before and don’t really know her well. So Gen shouts out “Kumar!” and the man turns around! Turns out, he is Kumar…one of our stewards (dishwashers). They exchange greetings and she introduces me. Kumar is with his amico (male friend) Roger (?) and they invite us to have coffee with them. Roger speaks a little English but there is only conversation between Kumar and Genesis. I admire her ability to communicate and listen carefully to pick up bits and pieces.

Kumar lives in Montevarchi and roger lives in the flat below him. Kumar is headed to Arezzo by train (been there!) at 9:45 to go to the police station to have documents drawn up for his wife. After coffee, Kumar invites us to visit his home which he assures us is only 5 minutes away. On the walk over we see shops with “saldi” (sale) signs. We stop by a couple to browse. Turns out Kumar lives in the building where the bus dropped us off. In Kumar’s home we meet his wife, daughter, sister in law and nephew. After about 30-40 minutes we must leave if we are to complete the tasks we had planned. We heard to the bank, 3 banks actually, to exchange Gen’s traveler’s checks into Euros. The first two said they didn’t do it even though the second bank did it for Gen previously. Now it is off the Ipercoop.

Gen had been saying the Ipercoop was akin to a Costco. They had not only meats and produce but also clothes and other items, which made the term “supermarket” incorrect. When I think of Costco, I think of buying in bulk. When I actually saw what the Ipercoop contained I would say it was akin to a Wal-Mart but again, not exactly. In addition to the isles of products, they had a large produce section, butcher’s counter, fish counter, bakery counter, hardware items, DVD’s, etc. I really didn’t browse through the entire store as we had not planned on the visit to Kumar’s home and was a little pressed for time…also we seemed to come at a peak hour. We initially browsed the shops in the entranceway, purchasing phone cards and having a key made then we entered the Ipercoop. The items on our list include: a flashlight, lemons, tortilla chips, liquid hand soap, hair conditioner, cereal, UHT milk and cat food. While waiting in the queue we noticed a display of Uncle Ben’s products. I didn’t know Uncle Ben’s made flour tortillas, tortilla chips and salsa…did you? After checking out, we get something to eat and are out the door. We head to our last destination, and Indian store where Gen was told she could find some corriandolo (cilantro). Turned out, while they did normally carry it, they didn’t have any that day due to the heat…but I did find many familiar Asian spices and products…including fennel in a colourful candy shell which my classmate and friend Chingy (a nickname…his real name is Gupteshwar) introduced me to. As I was explaining what they were to Gen, one of the shopkeepers speaks to us in English and convinces me to buy some mangoes but I refuse his suggestion to buy ready-made gulab jamun. While exiting, Gen notices a man eating a burrito. He tells her he got it at a shop in front of the bus station…she is exited. After six weeks in Italy, she’s craving Mexican food – ergo the lemons and tortilla chips and the intended purchase of corriandolo, she was going to make salsa. Walking back I noticed a small shop named “Sara”. It was closed – the shop owner was most likely on holiday…but I noticed a large display of Anchor embroidery floss…CHA CHING! Now I know where to go to get thread for my stitching. We arrive at the bus station and while we do not go to the burrito shop, we do purchase some ice cream confections at another shop in the same building. Our bus back to Gaiole/Chianti arrives and we are off.

Genesis strikes up a conversation with the bus driver as I listen in. While she does not speak Italian fluently, she does speak Spanish and her conversations are peppered with Spanish filling in for words she does not know in Italian. There is some difficulty speaking with the driver but the basics are communicated: where are we from, what are we doing in Italy, etc. Unlike the morning ride, we actually pick up an additional passenger but she did not pay and did not seem to present a pass of any kind…what’s up with that? Thirty minutes later, we are let off and walk towards the road back to BAC. We make a stop at the l’osteria (our wine shop) at the bottom of the drive where we talk to some tourists from Florida and purchase una bottilia Moscato di Asti. On the way back we search for the bull in the pasture that Gen assures me is there although I have yet to see it. After dropping off our purchases we go to the kitchen to get some cold water – this is all that we are given to drink (anything else we much purchase ourselves) and we sit and relax in the area just outside. We chat with Corrado who accepts his new moniker, “Uncle Junior”. Patrick finishes up and we head back to the apartment. More relaxing as Gen makes salsa. I jump in the shower and at about 6pm, we prepare to go to the kitchen. This is my first working shift and I watch carefully. I observe Patrick making pasta for family meal while Gen prepares fennel for service. Dinner consisted of a very simple pasta (more on this later) and boneless chicken (I don’t know exactly what part – somehow doubt it is just the breast) stuffed and tied with rosemary on roasted potatoes. After dinner I am to work alongside Danielle at the antipasto station. He shows me how to prep the amuse (they call it the pre-appetizer here) and from then on, I prep an amuse for each guest. The wait staff announces how many new guests are seated and I prep one order of amuse for each of them. He also has me prepping zucchini, the mis en place for a veloute we will make tomorrow, sliced eggplant, which is floured, dipped in egg then breaded. I am shown how to plate the octopus dish called Palpo as well as the tomato & mozzarella terrine. Towards the end of service, I help Patrick prep the dried tomatoes and watch how the kitchen is cleaned at closing. After service I get a chance to get online then head home. We watch one of the DVDs I brought and I eat an orange sprinkled with salt – Genesis taught me this – it is good. I start to fade and head off to bed

2006-11-25T15:15:00.000-08:00

That's Gabrielle hamming it up in the back

The sausage section of the meat counter

Cheese Pleese

Taxpayer

2006-11-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today was day two at The Golden Gate Meat Company. I've had to find work because I'm not making it on my 80% income cut and oh yeah, mom cut me off.

I started my first day on Friday the 10th at 6:30 am. Quite an early start but it has to be this way if I am to get much time before I have to attend classes at 12:30.

The GGMC retail shop is at the historic Ferry Building at the end of Market Street. The Ferry Building is filled with many restaurants and food merchants including the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants, Cowgirl Creamery's Artisan Cheese Shop, Acme Bread Company, Sur La Table, Ciao Bella Gelato and Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker.

I found out about the position via my butchery class. I called, went in the same day and was more or less hired after a 6 minute interview. The job is challenging in that I am totally out of my element. Since high school, I have always worked behind a desk...except the time I worked in the pet store. At GGMC, I am behind a both a meat counter and a deli counter. It's wicked busy and fast paced. Apparently I must be doing something right as after my second day, I was asked to work an additional day. So every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I rise at 5am walk in the dark to Market Street where I catch the F Line which is a collection of antique street cars. Quite a change from my leisurely wake up time of "anytime before 11:30am".

The link to GGMC's site does not show a photo of what our meat and deli counter looks like so I am sure to snap a photo on one of my day's off.

2006-11-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

Geetting creative with Salt Dough.

2006-11-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Getting "into" my work.

2006-11-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

As pretty as it gets in Butchery.

Grades after Week 6

2006-10-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm working hard to maintain my grades. I'm afraid that if I dip below 4.0 that I won't care how far I fall

Homesick

2006-10-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Can you believe I actually miss these???

"O"
"P"
"C"
"P"

This actually made me tear a little...even tho I was there.

Raping cocktail olives...

2006-10-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in day two of Garde Manger, I was preparing the dressing that makes Lobster Louis...it goes from Mayonnaise to Thousand Island Dressing to Louis Dressing. While in the Thousand Island stage, "T" the "leader" of the group asked me if I needed any help...as the build up of Louis dressing is a process, I didn't, but told him that if he was dying to do something, he could chop up pimentos for me. He was drawing a blank so I explained to him that pimentos was that little red thing that comes in coctail olives and that they were actuall red bed peppers...that rang a bell. He asked me how much of it I needed and I replied that I wasn't sure but that I would consult the recipe or ask Chef. When "T" came back to ask again how much pimentos I needed, I noticed that he was holding a green olive. Then I looked over to his area of the workstation and he had a two gallon jar of olives. I immediately put two and two together and siad..."You're not taking those pimentos out of the olives right? There should be a jar or can of ONLY pimentos...that's what you're supposed to use." And he replies, "Oh."

I hadn't known it from the first 6 weeks of classes but instructors can recommend a student for "Honors". The recommendation comes when a student is (to this particular chef) Punctual, Prepared & Professional. Needless to say, I am striving for "Honors". It is for this reason I didn't bust out saying "Are you f*cking retarded? You don't rape cocktail olives for 4 ounces of pimentos!"

You know it's cold when...

2006-09-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

my coconut oil solidified in the bottle.

Health update

2006-09-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

Being out here hasn't been easy on me healthwise. I had to give my health insurance on Guam because they didn't cover off island stays as long as I was going to be gone. I managed to pick up some insurance out here but it's not cheap. Apparently "student rate" health insurance doesn't apply in California. I chose to go with Blue Cross's or Shield's (I always forget which) TONIK program. I am in the "calculated risk taker" bracket which means while my monthly premium and co-pay is a bit higher than their "thrill-seeker" and "part-time daredevil" programs, but my deductible is lower. I'm sure there are other particulars but I don't know exactly what they are. My plan covers dental as well as up to $50 in eye exams. The one thing I DO know is that my plan doesn't cover pregnancy...so they better cover birth control!

In addition to the massive amounts of moisturizer that never had to use on Guam, my overall health seems to be in decline. My weight is down due to all the walking but because I don't have a refrigerator large enough to hold reasonable amounts of fresh foods, I find myself eating a lot more canned foods and ramen type soups. At my age honey, my metabolism isn't gonna hold out much longer.

Recently, in the last week or so, my nose has started bleeding...it's not one of those mystery bleeds but more like there is a wound up in my left nostril. It bleeds and then I get a blood booger aka scab, then I have restricted breathing so I blow my nose and it bleeds again. Wheeee what a wonderful whirlwind I am on! I thought I might fix this situation by swabbing the sore with some hydogen peroxide but it didn't help much other than putting bubbles up my nose...and I still got blood boogers...and damn do they hurt! So I thought to pick up some triple antibiotic but because TA is ointment like and kept the area from drying out, my nose suddenly started bleeding in class. How elegant and noble of me to shove a tissue square up my nose so I could finish that poached salmon!

(to be continued...I have to get to class)

Long awaited photo of "Da Crew"

2006-09-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

From Left to Right: Gia, Sam, Domini, Rick & Brad

The 13th

2006-09-13T00:28:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me.

Class Act

2006-09-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my seat in my lecture class. There is a camera above that shoots down to show what Chef Steve is doing. In this photo he is demonstrating how to make a hollandaise sauce. On Monday, I have my competency test on hollandaise, mornay and bordelaise sauces as well as consumme and cream of mushroom soup.

Hitting you in the ass on the way out

2006-09-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

I just got massively reamed by my mom in an email. Basically she said she didn't trust me and that anything I had said to her was B.S. It all boils down to money.
Mom gave me some before I left Guam and put some in an account which I had access to but wasn't supposed to touch. I touched it. Not all of it but I did touch it. There are quite a bit of unexpected expenses here in San Francisco that I hadn't planned for or didn't really factor in and money had to be touched. So nevermind the fact that I need warmer clothes, warmer shoes, shampoo, lots of f*cking moisturizer and health insurance.

End of Safety & Sanitation

2006-09-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

August 25th marked the end of Safety & Sanitation and the beginnig of Summer break. Where at GCC, Safety/Sani lasted an enitire semester, this one was over and done with in 2 weeks. I passed my class with an A, and I will get my Serve Safe score when I return to class on Wednesday. I'm rather confident I did well and don't know if it will be a "with honors" situation as it was when I got my certifcate for the Safty/Sani EI from GCC.

Equipment

2006-09-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

After we recived our equipment, I carefully laid it out on my bed and snapped a shot. What's not shown is the 5 sets of Jackets, pants, hats, neckerchiefs, aprons and sidetowels. I also received a pair of steel toed shoes, a rolling luggage which all the equipment came in, a knife bag which the knives came in and oh about 60 pounds of books.

The good, the bad and the ugly...

2006-08-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

The first weekend has arrived and I'm finding that having Saturday AND Sunday's off is wonderfully new. On Guam I worked 6 days a week and Saturday's off was unheard of. Even if I took off of work to race canoes in the morning, I was usually back at the office for the remainder of the afternoon.

My classes are from 12:30 to 5:30, Monday through Friday. The two classes are Basic Skills Lab and Safety and Sanitation. They are more or less reviews for me as I had already taken these classes on Guam but let me tell you, they really stress knife cuts here. I was sure julienne, battonet, brunoise and the like would be easy peasy for me but I'm finding that I've still got to try just as hard. My chef instructor is not a hard ass but he still breaks out the ruler to be sure those julienned carrots are exactly 1/8"x 1/8"" x 2 1/2".

My roommate is a lovely girl from Corona, Southern California. Domini is 17 (will be 18 in November) and a Mormon. Which means no drinking (aside from the fact that she is underage), no smoking, no swearing and no sex...she's waiting for marriage. The best thing about it is that she doesn't push her faith on me or anyone. Imagine, a Mormon and a Heathen living harmoniously.

Domini and I have made a really tight knit group of friends. Sam, Rick, Jeff, Brad, and Juan.

Sam we met at orientation. Actually, I met Sam prior to orientation when I was waiting for water to boil in the kitchen and he was searching for a cup of coffee.

Domini met Rick online through MySpace. He is or was a Mormon...the verdict is still out on that.

Rick's roommate Jeff. Jeff started about a month before us so he's been able to give Rick all the low down on what to expect, which Rick passes on to the rest of us whether we like it or not :)

Brad lives at Hosteling Int'l as does Rick and Jeff. Sam met Brad at orientation and in no time flat, they decided that Brad will move into Vantaggio with Sam once Sam's roommate left.

Juan is Sam's next door neighbor at Vantaggio. He's got a single which means no roomate...lucky him.

It's strange how we all came together as we did and are as tight knit although none of us have known each other more than a week. The other thing is that most of my friends are underaged (Under 21)...The loveliest thing is that they all think I'm their age...haha!

Don't get me wrong, there are other people I also hang out with...others who are more my age. My friend "M" in Hawaii has a twin sister also, "M", here in SF. Last weekend we went to a Japanese Festival in Japantown where some of M's friends had a food booth selling malasadas and grilled corn. Well they had purchased WAY too many cases of corn and by the day's end we were more or less giving them away at 4/$1. I was a great salesperson and by the close of the day, we had reduced what looked like 18 cases of corn to 4 cases. That night "R" treated us to a fabulous Japanese restaurant in San Mateo. The Hamachi and Tuna Belly was some of the best I've ever tasted.

Right now I'm trying to get my affairs in order now that I've got a PO Box and a new mobile phone. My computer is shot. I had the hard drive removed which I had in my checked bags while the rest of the tower went via US Post. I installed the HD and purchased the monitor & keyboard but it's not working. My time online is limited to the two available public computers in the building. In fact, I'm closing this post now as there is someone waiting to get on. I just can't hang on the pc if someone is looking over my shoulder.

The City By The Bay

2006-08-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally arrived in San Francisco. Today is actually my second day. I might have posted on day one except I spent most of the day sleeping...except for the short jaunt to Walgreens to pick up some shampoo, toothpaste and other very necessary sundries. Today will find me going to my school - it's 2 blocks away, going to Costco - more than 2 blocks away and Bed Bath and Beyond - even further than Costco. Classes start on Monday and if my boxes have arrived, I'll need to figure out how to lug three 18 x 18 x 24 boxes down two blocks...wish me luck. Oh...my room is exceptionally small.

Anxiety gone wrong

2006-07-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

I actually wrote this post this morning right after "the incident" but the darn spell checker done gone and erased the whole thing. I don't think I can recreate what I had written previously but I'll try. It's hard to get back to the same place...esp. when that place had barf breath.

I was really sure I was over the queasy stomach thing. It has been about a month now that the mention of "San Francisco", "airplane" and "passport holder" hasn't caused my stomach to flutter and lurch. Today is my last day at work. After which I have 10 days to sort, pack and store my things. So it really came as a surprise to me when after brushing my teeth and tongue, as I went to rinse the minty goodness that is toothpaste away, my belly started to heave. I stood at the sink waiting for it to pass but it only got stronger to the point when I upchucked a little bit of acid. But that stomach juice sacrifice did not satisfy and my diaphragm continued to spasm, so I disrobed - I was actually wearing a robe - and jumped into the shower again. This may be TMI but you see, the convulsions my middle goes thru also weakens the valve to my bladder and a little pee escapes. So I had to jump in the shower to "cover both ends".

Don't get me wrong; I am not generally a nervous person. I am not afraid to step foot on an airplane...in fact, I should do it more often. I am not dreading this new adventure. So what gives you ask? I can't say for certain why but I can tell you who. My ex "J".

My relationship with "J" was tumultuous. It was also mostly long distance and it all ended very badly. For those of you who don’t know the story, I’ll have to tell it another time. Anyway it was during the long distance part that I discovered that when it came near to the time when I would be flying to see him or he was coming to see me, anytime I neared the airport my tummy would do flips. When I brushed my teeth in the morning, just as I was finishing off and brushing my tongue, my paunch would punch…and not just a couple blows. I’m talking a full 10 minutes of me trying to calm myself down lest last night’s dinner made a reappearance. I guess that should have been the biggest clue that the relationship was headed south.

I didn’t get much sleep last night either. It’s gonna be a tough 10 days

Dorm Life

2006-07-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well I'm on the cusp of leaving. I have only a couple days left at Auto Air, 10 days after that I leave to Hawaii and on August 9, I arrive in San Francisco. I was certain that the only thing I'd have to worry about was packing up...not so.

Yesterday I received a call from the housing office. They tell me that an error was made when I was told I could move into Napa Hall on the 9th. I am told the earliest I can get in is on Aug 11. Moreover, Napa Hall is basically full of 18 & 19 year olds (aka you are old) and there are other properties I can choose from.

Hostelling International - City Center http://sfhostels.com/locations/city_center.php

Vantaggio Suites - Turk Street http://www.vantaggiosuites.com/sf/sf_turk.html

At Hostelling Int'l, they have a community kitchen, with food lockers reseved for CCA students as well as a CCA only refrigerator. Napa Hall has no such community kitchen. It is also two blocks to over and one block up from the CCA campus.

Amenities include:
Internet and WiFi
Laundry facilities on-site or nearby
Self-catering kitchen
Lounge and TV room
24-hour access
No curfew or chores
Luggage storage
Individual lockers
Free/low-cost tours
Free linen

Vantaggio Suites - Turk Street was the second recommendation from Praveen, my admissions officer. Napa was her first recommendation. It is two blocks down and 1/2 a block from Jefferson Square and Margaret S Hayward Playground. The neighborhood is supposed to be good.

Service includes weekly housekeeping and complimentary breakfast. Now with free DSL line in every room!

Other Vantaggio properties are available (click on home) but they are further away from the school.

Both properties are on a month to month basis so if I am unhappy, I can always change.

FYI, meals are served on Campus as long as you are in uniform and carry your badge-thing.

I haven't changed my airlines tickets. I already know that getting into Napa Hall is a no go. I had thought about not committing to any property until I am able to look at each one personally. This would mean I would be getting a room for a couple of days at Hostelling Int't while I had a looksee.

Any advice?

Holi - What?

2006-05-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

Okay it's been awhile since I've posted. Truth is until about April 15th-ish, there wasn't much going on. I had to wait for the final S corporation dividends - and in this case, losses to be reported before I could complete my FAFSA application. Well that finally got done but then came the application for financial aid which currently isn't going so great. My secondary loan, with dad as the cosign is still stuck and my previous financial planner Glenn had passed me onto Carol. She's actually better at letting me know what it is I need to get done and by when. Glenn was borderline cryptic with his instructions. So I have to call Sallie Mae to find out WTF is going on with my application.

After going through my student portal, I found the proposed Holiday Schedule for 2006-2007. There are hardly any breaks. I need to prepare for some real work ahead.

I start classes on Aug 14 but two weeks later I have a break. Here's what the schedule looks like:

08/26/06 – 09/04/06 – Summer Break
11-23/06 – 11/24/06 – Thanksgiving
12/25/06 – 01/08/07 – Winter Break
01/15/07 – Martin Luther King Jr.
02/19/07 – President’s Day
04/02/07 – 04/09/07 – Spring Break
05/28/07 – Memorial Day
07/04/07 – 4th of July
08/27/07 - 09/03/07 – Summer Break
11/22/07 - 11/23/07 – Thanksgiving
12/24/07 – 01/07/08 Winter Break

Moving out and on

2006-02-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

I've got less than a week to move out of my flat and into my mom's house. I have not been progressing well in this. So far, I have moved: one metal shelf that I kept cookware and foodstuffs on and some of the food stuffs and cookware that I kept on it but not all, and the bar and bar chairs. In fact the whole bar isn't there. The glass top is still at the flat. In addition to my sloth, there is a refrigerator parked in front of my door in the hallway. I cannot move any large items, such as the bed or couch out unless the refrigerator is gone. I've asked the landlord time and time again to move it--even before I knew I was moving...It's frankly, unsightly. At the rate I'm going, it's gonna be shoving a lot of shit in garbage bags at the end.

I got my package last week. The brochure on the dorms is disappointing. I knew it was going to be small but not bunkbend small! The twin beds aren't at opposite ends of the room but on top of each other! None-the-less, I still think I'll be dorming it.

The A Team

2006-01-30T21:58:00.000-08:00

Today I spoke to Praveen, my admissions officer, who then turned me over to Jonathan, position unknown, but I suspect he is Praveen's superior to some extent as he asked me many of the same questions Praveen had at my interview with her. Jonathan then connected me back to Praveen who then turned me over to Trang, who is my student manager. She and I talked a little about a package she was sending then I asked if she were Vietnamese, which she was, and we chatted a little about muliple cultures. Lastly, Trang turned me over to Glen, my financial officer. Glen informed me of the way we were going to attack my financial responsibilities. Without any further questions on my part, I said goodbye and came off with a better understanding of what I was getting myself into.

BTW, it's single beds, no kitchen in the dorms although I get a little refrigerator, and it seems we are very much encouraged to take all our meals at the cafeteria.

Money makes the application go 'round

2006-01-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

After two phone interviews and the online application completed to step 10, I was one step away from completing the application process for LCB...that one last step being the payment part. I was pretty sure I had the money bit down pat but when it came time to hit the "pay now" button, I hesitated. I had made a bunch of bill payments as well as some purchases and wasn't too sure if my payment of $65 would be declined. My admissions officer called a bunch of times and I made excuses as to why I hadn't completed Step 11. Finally, just days from payday she called again and I had to tell her that money was an issue and that in just a couple days I would have my payment submitted...I couldn't tell if she was disappointed or not. In any case, the payment was made in which I felt safe to email her and let her know my application fee was paid. I also let her know that I had a bunch of questions for her. Of which include:

Layout of the dorms
What furishings are included in the dorms
Bed?
Desk?
If beds are included, what size are the beds?
Is there internet hook-up available?
Laundry facilities?
Are there a kitchen in the dorms?
Pots & Pans?
Dishes & untensils?
What is the mailing address?
If I must use a post office box, how far away is the closest facility?
Health insurance?

Yeah I'm one of those ppl.