Marla's Blog

Really Cooking

Last week I had one of my occasional episodes where I find myself watching my hands work.  They are getting a little wrinkled, have some burns, and have very tough callouses.  They are exceptionally strong.  They don't twist and turn like they used to though.  I'm having problems getting things opened especially those pain in the neck plastic rings around the milk bottles. 

But these hands are very gentle with food.  I was going through a bushel of mussels with a line cook.  The mussels were soaking in a deep bucket of water.  I watched my hands scoop out a handful of mussels from the top of the water, gently rub the shells together to remove the sand, then inspect each one to make sure they were closed tightly, that there were no chips in the edges and to pull away any beards that were attached.  I watched as I gently laid them out in the hotel pan. I remember 30 years ago, not knowing the difference between a mussels and an oyster.

I was also watching my line cook quickly plunge his hand into the bottom of the bucket thereby stirring up the sand which was trying to settle down at the bottom.  Then, as he brought up two handfuls and tossed them into the hotel pan, picking through the mussels only then. Now he didn't clean that many more mussels, his probably had sand in them and he missed a lot of damaged shells.  I know mussels are not diamonds, or pearls even: they only cost 15 cents each, but they are still important and looking at them carefully is even more important.

I watch my hands peeling carrots, no one is faster, rolling pie dough, mine are very tender.  Nothing is as wonderful as making gnocchi when the dough is the perfect temperature and consistency. Rolling, cutting, shaping and lining them up like soldiers in rows onto a sheet pan.

Last Saturday, I was home alone for lunch.  I put a (all beef) hot dog in the microwave.  I put it in an old, dried out hot dog bun with mustard and pickle relish.  I bit into it.  The steam squirted out of the end and burned my nose.

Another Charity Event

My next charity event is a neighborhood fund raiser this Saturday.  It is the day before Mother's Day, it is the weekend of all the major college graduations and it is the weekend my daughter has two dance performances. 

I am heading off my procrastination problem of late and plan to map out what will be done and when.  Actually, I'll get to that on Wednesday.  I hope.   I have a server coming to help me.  We will set up, I will work it with him for an hour, run off to catch my daughter's Saturday performance, and meet him back at the event to help pack up and return to the restaurant.

Mother's Day Alternatives

Last night, 10 days away from Mother's Day, people (dad's) are calling desperately for Brunch reservations.  We are politely telling them that we only have tables for two available, everything else is booked.  My manager overheard a call and asked if we could start laughing at people after they call.  I said that was not very nice, plus it's too early....we only giggled.

I stopped into the office of my beach buddy last week and she mentioned Mother's Day....I looked at her kind of funny, she laughed and said maybe she and her mother would come and leave husbands, kids and fathers behind....4 days later her husband called me and did just that, booking the table for his wife and her mother.  He said he was taking the kids to McDonald's.   NOW THAT'S  A MAN!

So please take note Dads.  Dragging the family out to brunch somewhere would not be every woman's idea of a celebration.  Taking me somewhere away from my pain in the neck kids and rubbing my thigh would be much better.

Chefs are real people too

Monday:
Doctors appointment:  Gained 10 lbs since I "quit" smoking in January. 

Drove down south of town to visit my dad who is in a rehab facility after hip surgery.   He had hip surgery in January, stayed in rehab 6 weeks, went home for three, discovered that the hip surgery was not successful, had another surgery and is back in rehab.  Talk about a bad time.  Helped my mom get him to the surgeon's office for a follow up.

Monday evening the Feds came by.....Actually, my husband is a retired cop and some old friends (a cop and an FBI agent) came by the house upon his arrival back from business in California.  We drank a bottle of Jack Daniels, ate summer sausage and goat cheese from the fridge.  Topics ranged from whores to 9/11 and then back with plenty of politics and immigration reform thrown in.
(The FBI guy was in a "company" car and did not touch of drop)

Tuesday:   Dentist Appointment.  Came home and flaked out on the couch.  Went into work for a couple hours to place some orders.....had to order all those damn plates.  Ended up staying 8 1/2 hours because we got very busy.  Hosted, ran food, bussed tables, took drink orders, polished silver, answered the phone and paid some bills.  Arranged for one of my servers to stop by my house before work and pick up my daughter and drive her to Decatur to Dance on Thursday since I would be at an event and my husband would be back out of town.  For a fee of course.  Went home and found myself playing solitaire on the computer for an hour to cool off. 

Wednesday: Slept through hair appointment.  Sorry Kevin.  Went into work and started making 800 mushroom tarts for an Event at the Aquarium on Thursday.  Cooked the mushrooms.  Did some cleaning.  Went through paperwork and skipped out early.  Bought flowers for the event.  Finally got arrangements for someone to pick my daughter up from dance and take her to another friend's house to spend Thursday night.

Thursday:  Packed up my display items.  Went to work and finished the tarts.  Made lots of Ravioli for a wedding on Friday night.  Packed up with my manager and left to set up and work the event.  The event was a wine and food tasting hosted by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.   Lots of wine and food was set out for ticket holders.  It was quite an affair.  At precisely 4:29 pm my daughter calls and tells me she has lost her keys to the house. While my server who is there to pick her up walks around the house looking for an open window, my daughter is crying and saying she can't imagine where the spare key is either.  I instruct my server how to best break the window panel on the kitchen door so they can reach in and open the door and get the frigging ballet shoes and sleepover bag. 

7:30 pm  I go to my car in the parking deck, try to take a 15 min nap.  I am now bleary eyed.  I give up after a few minutes and go back to the event. 

10:00 pm I drop everything off at the restaurant including my manager and go home.  I get some thin plywood from the basement and cover the broken window in the door and set the alarm and go to bed.

Friday:  I try to sleep in, but am having a sofa delivered that I ordered several months ago.  I go pick up my daughter's stuff from the friend's house, go to the bank and post office and head into work.  We have closed the restaurant for the night for a private party.  The menu is easy, but the evening involves moving tables, setting seating charts, borrowing steak knives from my competition down the street because I didn't count them, bringing the extra plates I store in the basement or at home in for the service.  When 140 people eat their entree at the same time, you have to have 140 of the same size plate.  When you serve 140 people on a regular evening you can get by with 40 or so, plus you use different plates for different entrees.  Party goes very well.

Saturday:  8:30 am I drive my daughter to Decatur for an ballet audition for a more advanced class, catch a nice breakfast out and go to my rescheduled hair appointment across town. I have someone at the house replacing the window.   Afterward, I drive back across town to pick up my daughter, buy her breakfast and come home for a nap on my beautiful new couch.  I'm going in to work around 3:00 and will be working the bar because one server is on vacation and another is in rehab.  (Can I say that?)  I am beyond tired and frustrated with keeping my 13 year old daughter occupied every evening so we agree that she will stay at home, sleep, watch TV and be a slug.   As I am walking out the door, my daughter gets a phone call, or rather a TEXT message saying that two guy friends want to come over. Is that OK mom?  What?  I never thought I would be so exhausted and rushed and totally unprepared when that kind of situation finally arose.  In a split second I had to go through the pros and cons of her being with friends, one of whom I know and I think is delightful, the other I do not know, but have heard a lot about or her being alone.  I choose the guys.  I looked her in the eye and said NO SEX, NO HANKY PANKY!.  She looked like she wanted to kill me, told me to go.  I went.     I called every hour.  She always answered the phone quickly.

Sunday:  Left my daughter home again, this time a girlfriend and one of the "guys" come over.  Worked as the hostess, since my hostess is trying to finish up finals.  Brunch starts out very slow, ends up being quite busy.  Nice and easy.  Went home, cleaned the porch, started laundry.

Found the "lost" keys in the pocket of my daughter's jeans.

Today:  Back to the rehab center.  My dad will be going home on Saturday.

China Costs

At the end of the evening last Sunday, a waiter pushed a tray into the normal rack located under a small prep table which backs up to the saute cooler.  They pushed it back further than normal.  Kitchen was cleaned up and everyone went home.  Later, the fan blade for the saute cooler's compressor came on and clipped the tray, pulling it further into the fan blade.  This caused the saute cooler to shake and boogie and 14 plates and bowls shook off onto the nearby table and onto the floor and broke.

Fan blade repair - $160.00

6 Black Bowls  - $20.00 each = $120.00 plus tax and freight (Have to buy by the dozen) = $240.00 ++

8 Violet Flowered Plates - $24.00 each =$200.00 plus tax and freight (Have to buy by the dozen)= $300.00 ++

"A Perfect Storm"

Kind of a stressful week.  We had a lot of no-shows for the wine tasting, and this from regulars.  Even though we kept their money because the spots are presold, it's a disappointment that I have to do it.  Very frustrating.

Saturday night our early reservations came late.  Our late reservations came early.  I should have held the early tables at the bar and did not.  Very rough.

Sunday Brunch.  One employee out sick, another had a family member go to the emergency room and had to leave.  Very smooth.

Nothing a few glasses of wine and some regrouping can't cure.

Charity Events - Read the Paperwork.

This last Saturday I participated a fund raiser for the High Museum in Atlanta.  60-70 chefs (I'm guessing) from Atlanta's restaurant scene prepare foods at different tables for the reception which precedes a Wine Auction.  The more of these events you do, the easier they become, but I suffered from some very piss poor planning, I think the worst ever.  Luckily, it came out very well.

I remember to order a flower arrangement for the table, but don't get around to doing so until Thursday night. We schedule pickup for 9:30 Saturday morning.  I'm supposed to be on sight by 10:00am for set up.  We get the food in Friday and before I leave for the evening I pack up some boxes with everything I would need.  I keep a list on my computer.....The list includes sterno, tongs, napkins, business cards, copper pieces for display, tablecloths, signage, knives, gloves, sanitizer, etc.  I have a separate list for the items I keep at home.  My chef de cuisine packs the food.

The boxes are packed in the office and the food in the walk-in cooler.  I go home, turning down an offer to go out with a friend.  I need to go to bed early.

This is when things get a little rough.

I had told some waiters to put our porch heaters in my car since their use  was over for the season, (yeah, right!) and  I had to take them to be serviced.  But I need my back seat for my assistant and daughter, Mona,  and the flowers.  I get home at 9:30 and have to drag the heaters out of the car, cursing and whining because they are very heavy and awkward.  (My husband is still out of town.)  I pull some display and serving pieces, wrap them in plastic and pack them in my backseat. I look in my trunk and see all the things I had bagged up to donate to the church thrift shop two weeks ago, but had forgotten to drop off.  My trunk was PACKED.  I have to empty my trunk.  All done; I will get the cooler and cook top from the basement in the morning.

2:00 am - Do I have the butane cartridges for the cook top?  Didn't I give them all back to Deedee?  I must have some in the basement?  If not I will have to go out to Atlanta Fixture when they open in the morning.  I call Atlanta Fixture at 2:30 am to see what time they open.  9:00  AM.  It will work.

6:00 am - I can't sleep, worrying about the butane.  Get up, shower, dress, iron my chef coat and trudge down to the basement.  No butane.  I pack everything else.  I wait until 8:30 to call Deedee to see if she has them.  She says she gave them to me, I promise to look again.  I look again, but no Butane so I'm out the door to Atlanta Fixture.  (I later fib to Deedee saying  I found them.  I  didn't  want her to know what a  flake I have become).

8:55 - Atlanta Fixture people open up 5 minutes early for me.  I pick up the butane, ask about some to go containers, happen by some new cleaning buckets and pick them up.  Out the door at 9:10.

9:20 - Arrive at friends house to pick up Mona who had spent the night there.

9:30  - Pick up flowers, which are still being tweaked. 

9:40 - Arrive at the restaurant to pick up a line cook  "S" from the kitchen who will be assisting me, pack up the TRUNK.  As we are packing up, I start discussing the menu and how we are going to do it with "S".  "S" reads the paperwork I had been sent by the planning committee three months earlier and tells me there is no cooking allowed inside the tent.  I swear last year chefs cooked inside the tent.  That is a problem for me because I am serving scallops which most definitely have to be cooked.  OK, we will cook outside the tent.  "S"  is looking at me funny.

10:05 - Arrive at the "area" where I thought the wine tent would be.  I see some smaller tents and think that they have changed the arrangement for the auction.  I drop off "S" and Mona with some stuff and tell them to start looking for our table. 

10:09 - A policeman asks me what I'm doing and then informs me I am in the wrong place.  I wait for "S" and my daughter to come back, load the stuff again and drive around to the back, find the tent and the drop off spot.  Start hauling things over our table. 

10:25 - At this time I have no idea what I am going to cook on, what is going to go in what display piece.
I set up a cooking station.  It consists of 3 cardboard boxes turned upside down with a butane stove on top.  It also consists of another cardboard box turned upside down with a cutting board on which "S" will put a pan for the cooked scallops.  On another crate is a bucket of water (Evian) in a cleaning bucket with sanitizer.  We have the ice chest out there with the scallops.  Believe it or not, it's pretty much up to code.  "S" is looking at me funny.

10:35 - I go searching for water for the chafing dish and for our access passes.  I go in the wrong direction.  I am instructed to use Evian  for the chafing dish.  I tell the volunteer I need some forks and plates.  Go back and set up chafing dish. 

10:40 - "S" starts cooking scallops.  I run out to my car to move it from the loading dock to the parking lot.  I tried the "my husband is a retired Atlanta cop, can I just leave my car here?"  It didn't work.  The cop told me to say hello to my husband but to move my car.  My daughter, Mona, is putting down the tablecloths and putting the garnishes and sauces into the pots.

10:45 - I am at my car, looking at the one copper pot left in the back seat.  Do I take it?  It is very old and valuable and it might get lost at the event.  I lock it in my trunk.

10:50 - I get back to the table, find someone putting out forks and  realize I need the copper pot in my trunk.  Run outside with Mona and show her where the car is.  Then send her running to get it. 

10:55 - Finish table.  "S" has finished first batch of scallops and they look beautiful.  Put them in the chafer.  Mona gets back with the pot for the forks.

11:00 - Event begins.  Everyone loves the Scallops.  They are delicious.

WHY RESTAURANTS DON'T LOVE LARGE PARTIES!!!!!(More than 4 guests) Easter Continued

Let's say we have two tables that can seat 4 people each.  We can put them together for a party of 8, maybe even 10.  This is called "a build".   The party of 10 wants to come in at 7:30 pm.  We open at 5:30, but often are not busy until after 6:00pm.  We only have two particular tables that we can put together in such a manner.  We have to seat those two 4 tops at 5:30 for them to "turn" in time for 7:30.  Very unlikely.  The tables sit empty until 7:30.  A party of 10 will stay 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  So that is the only sitting on the two tables for the evening.  If I could use the 2 tables for 4 tops, I could seat one of them at 6:00 and turn it at 8:00 and the other at 6:30 for a turn at 8:30.  This equals 16 people.  More money to pay bills.  More money in the server's pockets.  More consistent servers and service, because they have more money in their pockets.  A restaurant that can pay its bills is a very good thing.

But it's also flexibility.  One of those tables may want to spend 2 1/2 hours eating their dinner, not caring about the industry standard of 2 hours.  One table may have theater tickets and spend only 1 1/2 hours with us.  If I have to put those two tables together for a later party and they finish up at such different times, I'm screwed.  Multiply that times 30 requests for "builds" and I might as well not even open, which was considered seriously after one terrible Mother's Day.

OK, so we do some large parties.  We ask that the guests come at 6:00 or 8:30 on the weekend.  This allows us to seat a later group or an earlier group.  At least we get to "turn" the tables.  During the week, we can set aside a couple of tables that will not turn, so we play with the times a little.  Not a problem.  But Easter!, Mother's Day!, come on....

Weekend update: Easter

Gardening chores at the restaurant took up my days off.  My mom comes to help me and has been doing most of the planting and fertilizing and weeding for many years.   My husband does the heavy lifting and hauling, but he's out of town for business for the next two weeks and the mess was driving me crazy.

We changed the menu this week.  Changing appetizers on Wednesday and entrees on Friday.  It's just easier that way.  We also had a sold out wine tasting on Wednesday.  We ended up with too much Salmon coming in from Boston, so I sent an email blast out featuring a well loved Salmon Dish.    We ended up being quite busy because of it. 

Easter Sunday went very well again.  But the only reason it does is because we limit the number of large parties to five groups of 5 to 8 people each.  I have two rounds that seat up to 8 people.  I booked one of them for three "turns" and the other for two "turns". 

This makes many people very, very unhappy.  We are booked for these larger tables at least a month in advance.  People cannot understand how we cannot accommodate a party of 6 when they call a week in advance.  We say no.  We say no again.  Then they book a table of 4 and a table of 2 and expect to be put together.  One of my hosts made the mistake of taking a party like this.  Of course when the people arrive, if they are seated on opposite sides of the restaurant they are pissed and tell us that we have ruined their Easter.  WHATEVER!!!  I have instructed my hosts to just say we do not have anything available at all to these people for next year.  Of course I made the table happen yesterday, but what if I couldn't?  Do they realize how many reservations I turned down just like theirs?  Do they realize how many people reading this blog are going to be pissed because they are one of the parties I turned down?

Friday Morning

Crazy,  Menu change today - came in 9:00 am - must update website, blog, cost recipes and finally cook.  Actually, I'm in good shape there, prepped well yesterday.  Oh, and my key morning guy is out.