Cheryl Katz

In a situation not entirely foreign to my particular perspective, I found myself reeling with a case of deja-vu.  Can Art Culinaire Magazine, issue #96 with a focus on London, have been written as a working epistle to YOURS TRULY as a primer on the next steps in my career?

I’ve decided that it’s in my best interests to read these that way.  In another recent read, I was advised to always be grateful to those from whom I learn, no matter what shape the learning takes.  So here are some bites I’ve taken away from the issue on London, which I received in San Diego while I was already working in London.

First, timely advice from Fergus Henderson:

Don’t sort of sleep under your stone.  Try to breathe fresh air.  Eat other people’s food.  See your loved ones.  Go to movies.  That’s all-important.  You can stay in the kitchen, but that insistence to stay and train with your master and not live a life is not the best thing for inspiration.  I think it’s good to breathe fresh air.  Inspiration is everywhere.  It’s slightly strange advice because I think people think they need to work five doubles in a row and that way you’ll learn, which we do learn in this way, but there’s so much more to it than that.

This is timely in a somewhat misdirected way because at the time that this issue landed on my doorstep, I was busy pulling voluntary doubles in the kitchen in London, exercising the very lack of balance that Mr. Henderson is recommending against. But beyond addressing my improbable tendency to workaholism, it speaks directly to a largely unsubstantiated fear that I am a creative failure.  (It’ll be substantiated if and when I have years of experience and no creative successes; and was thus far disproven by things I tried in and out of school, in my own kitchen at home, and in discussions with many chefs I know.)

And in the opposite corner is Claude Bosi, chef proprietor of Hibiscus in London, who relates this message to his own staff:

Understand that when you start this job you’ve left your family on the side.  You sacrifice everything.  I remember when I started, one of the chefs told me, “You know, your best friend is going to be out on a Saturday night and you will be working.  When they are having Christmas, you will be working.  It’s a tough life.  You have to love it.”

In one fell quote, my fears and what I know to be reality about my commitment to this work.

One of my favorites, probably the most controversial in this time of celebrity chefs and TV-reality-cooking-competition circuses, from Marcus Wareing of The Berkeley in London:

I see these young cooks on television in America and it’s amazing that they ever get anywhere.  It’s hype.  My message is to shut your mouth, get on with your job and let your cooking do the talking for you.  Food isn’t about how big your mouth is, it’s about the food you put on the plate.  I think sometimes people talk too much and it should be about being a solid, well grounded, well educated cook whose [sic] took the advice, grown a very broad pair of shoulders and become strong but loyal to the person that they’re working for.

I think as a recent culinary graduate, the number one question I hear is, “So, am I going to see you on [Top Chef/Iron Chef/Food Network/etc]?”

I always answer no, because I know that I am not competitive in that way.  I also don’t think that performance is ability, and the hoopla is what I regard as a waste of my effort and focus.  I want to keep my head down, do my job and never stop absorbing every drop of knowledge that surrounds me.  When I reach success, I hope that I’ll always be able to find one more goal to reach for. But the flash and fleeting fame of television isn’t it, as far as I can see, for me. I found an open expression of this viewpoint bracing.

Nic Watt, of ROKA in London, on hirability:

I hire someone based off their character.  We can take the most junior person – who has zero skills – and train them up if they’ve got the attitude, the character and the willingness – they can go miles, absolutely miles.  The foundation of culinary school is really good but it doesn’t control whether you employ someone or not.  It probably gives you a head start, but it’s up to each individual to eventually make it in this industry.  You’ve got to love this industry.  You can’t work day and night for something that you don’t love.

I’m an educated cook, if not an experienced one.  In fact, it stands to reason that I’m an over-educated cook, but I aim to use my academic background as a path within, rather than an obstacle to, my career in food.  Something I have going for me is that I never have to be trained in how to behave professionally. I’m willing to be trained and I’m not insulted to learn to do things “someone else’s way.” Methods can be integral to a culinary philosophy and to the final product, and I never imagine that I am more important then the goals of the chef I support.  This is an idea that was repeated by every chef-instructor who taught me and the few working chefs I’ve had the privilege to work for.

I will, however, hold on to the things that I think work best for me, and when it’s my turn to lead a kitchen, I’ll remember the things I’ve been culling into my personal arsenal.  That (not to mention at home) is when my preferences will be freely expressed.

Jennifer Yee, Executive Pastry Chef at Aureole, calmed some of my anxiety when she used M-words!

Don’t let mistakes and mishaps get to you because it will happen. Don’t let that stop you. There were plenty of times when I had to throw out a lot of chocolates because they broke or it wasn’t tempered right. You’re always going to have problems with chocolate, but keep moving forward.

I think her advice about chocolate applies to nearly anything, and it’s frankly a relief to me to hear a successful chef acknowledge that they have made mistakes in the past. “It will happen,” did you hear the certain comfort in those words? It’s easy for me, as a new chef, to get stumbled and frustrated when I make a mistake.  So far I haven’t let any mistake tank an entire day, and most mistakes, I’ve learned, are either opportunities to turn theory into practical knowledge or salvageable in some way.

Creativity, in my limited experience, largely comes to play in the arena of problem solving.  Yet it’s nice to read that mistakes are a native part of the landscape.

Finally, Missy Robbins of A Voce in New York told me to have:

Patience. You can never go back to those times when you are learning the positions.  You can never go back to being a line cook.  Enjoy it and learn all you can because when you become a sous chef, your responsibilities change and when you’re an executive chef, they change again.  Take the time to really learn the techniques and really focus on it.  At the end of the day, people find this very glamorous, but it’s not that glamorous.  It’s challenging and hard.  There are days when I think, “Man, I wish I could just sit back and roll pasta all day.  How great would that be?”  But I have different responsibilities now.

It reminds me of the way the conventional wisdom told me to hold on to those early days, weeks, months and years with Sami after she was born, and to really learn that kid inside and out, because they don’t last forever.  Being new to the industry also doesn’t last forever, and these may be the hours, weeks and months that count the most in building my abilities and my career.

Chef Robbins recommends “the slow road,” and that was the title of the article about her. This appeals to me because I have always loved to immerse in learning and soak it up.  It also appeals because I am old for this industry, and the fast track doesn’t necessarily apply.

All of this may seem self-effacing, or maybe self-aggrandizing, but I’d hate to let any undeserved ego get in the way of something I could learn.  I’m frequently admonished by friends to stop being so critical of myself, but I should point out that I feel I’m just being realistic. I also note that I don’t have a tremendous frame of reference for self-evaluation, and even as I become familiar with the landscape the familiarity changes my perception of things. I find it more useful to measure myself in glasses yet to be filled (against the next goal to be attained) rather than glasses already full (the things I’ve already mastered.)

I don’t think that my constant introspection gets in the way of any job I’m called upon to do; rather it allows me to categorize and neatly assemble all the knowledge I am acquiring.

There are a small mountain of topics I’d like to post about, but it seems tacky to launch right into new material without having acknowledged the gap.

Let’s get you up to speed, shall we? I’ve finished culinary school and completed my requisite externship (the mandatory 160 hours x 3!), and now have all but graduated. I lived in london for 2.5 months, and am home now in San Diego. I’m heading off next week (date TBA) to work in San Francisco for a few months. Sami is enormous – almost 4, and a real kid now with no trace left of the baby that was.

Have I left anything out? Tons, probably. That will have to come out with time.

Here endeth the icebreaker post. Here’s hoping it’s the beginning of a new, more frequently updated trend!

I know Specialty Produce under the guise of my school’s produce and grocery suppliers, but I was very pleased to discover recently that they now have a consumer Farmers’ Market Bag program.

It’s along the same lines as other Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs I’ve mentioned before, but in this case Specialty Produce has created a weekly market bag sourced from various farms from whom they contract, all of which are local, organic and sustainable.  I should say, all of the products in the FMB program are sourced from the local, organic and sustainable farms.  Specialty, being a large distributor, naturally contracts with other produce suppliers as well.

The advantage to this program is that a) their price point is better and b) you don’t have to estimate weekly usage and subscribe for a whole quarter.  You can buy each week on Sunday to be picked up on Thursday, if that is your preference, though you are afforded the option of ordering up to 4 weeks at one time.

I consider this (and any CSA) program a viable alternative to weekly attendance at the Farmers’ Markets about town for a few reasons.  One, I can’t get to any of the markets without driving since Sami outgrew the bike seat on my old bike, and parking is a sketchy prospect.  Two, I’m terrible about deciding what to buy, and I kind of like the surprise element of a pre-selected array of products.  Three, it saves me time and effort.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love the Farmers’ Market in Hillcrest as much as the next person, but not if I have to circle blocks on end and burn gas to get there and find a spot.  I’m a little overcommitted and I like to cook at home or have brunch with my family on Sundays.

The best part of Specialty’s offering is that they also offer selected orders from Venissimo for California cheeses, Peerless for organic coffee, Bread on Market for baguettes and specialty bread, and other local vendors for a weekly fish, chocolate and pantry staple selections.  I think this is so cool, and I’ll put my money where my mouth is – I’ve placed an order to be picked up this Thursday and resolve to have cleared out extraneity and spoilage from my fridge by the time I bring that bag home.

Specialty Produce’s new FMB plan is an exciting option if you’re unsure of your future plans and don’t want to commit to a quarter at a time of a produce selection that may well be too big or too small for your needs.  It’s price-effective, and from a trusted San Diego vendor.  Sold!  I’ll be happy to report back on what I find on Thursday after pickup.

Where are you getting your produce?  Do you like it, and why/why not?

Especially if they’re Peking Duck from your favorite authentic Chinese restaurant.

On a totally unexpected date night with Ben last week, we took ourselves for Peking Duck at the Golden City Restaurant in Kearny Mesa. (We also got soup, which was totally unnecessary given the two course duck presentation easily serves four people alone.)

Needless to say, we came home laden with crispy duck skin, plum sauce, rice buns and of course more than half our chopped duck and jicama lettuce wraps.

With Passover coming up and a lot of food shopping and preparation to do, on Thursday I was looking to empty out my refrigerator. Everyone ate something that needed minimal cooking from the refrigerator.

Shockingly, the duck skin was not gone by Saturday morning, which made it completely fair game for breakfast! I thought, and Sami and Grandma agreed, that crispy Peking Duck omelettes sounded like just the thing.

I placed the duck skin crispy side down in a hot pan and rendered out the fat, returning all the crisp that the refrigerator stole. Then I reserved the skins, allowing them to dry on a paper towel while I quickly poured the beaten, salted and peppered eggs into the pan and allowed them to cook. When the top of the eggs were still soft but starting to firm, I replaced the skins and folded the eggs into omelette shape. Another minute, and then I slid the eggy, ducky deliciousness onto a plate and shared it with my family.

Super delicious with the leftover plum sauce and toasted rice buns. And not a crumb to waste!

In the first five minutes of wakeness, I don’t have much to offer in the way of basic human coordination. Let’s just say I can’t handle large, round items without dropping them. A child’s easy to grab toy would wind up on the floor without doubt.

About five minutes on, I have come around enough to perform the four-minute manual labor of brewing a pot of coffee, for which I am thankful.

Before I even get the coffee, I’ll be running at nearly full steam, though my fingertips will still be a little bit dull and fumbling.

Which is why I hope that I will get the coffee *before* I’m quite awake enough to notice that I ran out of beans a scoop or two too early.

Nothing worse than a weak brew to get you off on the wrong foot.

with the list of things I haven’t been writing about lately.

Folks, I’m running on empty at the moment, enjoying a lot of my time and cursing the low moments of parenthood when I might otherwise be sleeping for the rest of the time. (Night time is the worst, longest part of potty training by far, I think.) Needless to say, I could stand to sleep a lot more than I have been lately, but the exhaustion is largely rewarding so I am merely stating the case, and not complaining.

I’ve made a lot of amazing things at school, and I’m surprised by how many skills I never thought much about but that once learned are immediately accessible to me at all times now. I haven’t cracked a cookbook at home in a while (save for homework), which is what allows me to continue enjoying cooking at home – I can be both unstructured and successful, and therefore also relax.

I have some upheaval that I am not inclined to write about at the moment, entirely separate from any practical career consideration. I suppose that emotional occupation is as much a factor on my full plate as any of my daily routines, obligations and responsibilities. This will likely have met resolution before I ever write about it here, though in the interest of being truly honest about why I don’t post often, I felt it needed to be mentioned.

In sum, I’m a student, a mom and human. I’m carrying a lot right now and it’s only going to get harder, although the balance will change. I haven’t been faithfully writing anything of interest here on the blog, but even that will change one day when I have more time on my hands. If you’re actually reading this, I thank you sincerely for that.

In case you were wondering, everything you read on the Internet is true. Like the following definitions of “Cheryl”:

c/o www.urbandictionary.com

1. cheryl

A person of true beauty. A girl with such a kind personality that anyone will simply fall in love with. A Cheryl will help anyone out without hesitation. They have trusting blue eyes and large bussoms.
“That Cheryl just saved 100 children!”

2. cheryl

buy cheryl mugs, tshirts and magnets
a perfect girl, someone you can always rely on, kind caring, a great sense of humor, and just amazing
“Cheryl is amazing!!”

3. Cheryl

A compromise..
A girl with a kind personality who will poop on your windshield if you get on her bad side
“She seemed kind, but shes just a cheryl”

…”is a Jungian term, created by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to describe the alignment of “universal forces” with the life experiences of an individual.” www.amorillum.com/page3.htm

Synchronicity is how I’d describe how I’m feeling at the moment. Yesterday was my first day in the classroom for my culinary program, and due to a number of elements I just had the oddly resonant feeling of being in the right place at the right time.

Subconsciously, I’m not prepared for this feeling of active engagement on a positive path. I’m sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop, because isn’t everything supposed to involve a little bit of suffering?

Perhaps I will sing a different tune when exams are looming.

In the meantime, I’m tethering my mind to the uplifting resonant feeling and pushing the mute button on the little voice that wants me to sabotage myself with doubt and embroil me in unproductive thoughts, like how to involve more stress in my life.

Let me not create stress where there is none, and enjoy the beginning of a new and positive path.

Dishwasher broken
Some are still left to be washed
But I’m defeated

Welcome!

Originally uploaded by cinediva

This is a shot I took into the room next door while housekeeping was in there. I couldn’t resist the perfectly framed “Welcome!” chalkboard message.

This and a series of others are taken at The Kennedy School, a converted schoolhouse that is now a hotel containing a movie theatre, restaurant and a handful of bars. Each guest room is a converted classroom – we are staying in ‘Mrs. Francis Room’, which is one half of the classroom. The other half is that neighbor’s room, the ‘Cherry Tree Room,’ named for the art inside (not pictured.)

Other pictures include light fixtures, a phone, water fountain, and art from all around. I’ll try to take a picture of the front of the building before we check out tomorrow.

In other news, this morning we had waffles at the Waffle Window, the much-acclaimed tiny waffle vendor we found on Yelp. We were not disappointed by my Farm Fusion waffle – sauteed mushrooms, spinach and a lemon-thyme marinated chevre cheese over a sweet belgian waffle – nor by Sami’s pumpkin pie waffle (imagine a slice of pie on top of a waffle and you begin to get the drift. Yum), nor Ben’s bacon, brie and basil waffle, which looked great but I did not try.

Here’s a picture!

Yelp has been a phenomenal tour guide so far on this trip, thanks in no small part to my iPhone app. We highly recommend walking on the wild side and using the “nearby” function to scope out what’s good wherever you are.

Cheers!