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ISO: ISO mcmissy- update on last night, please!!!!!
- Thread starter denice
- Start date
In Search Of:
music-city-missy
Well-known member
Here goes - get ready fo laugh......
First, let me say this is not a male bashing post but we did notice a pattern that does seem typical of 'most' men - I know it doesn't apply to the wonderful males that frequent this board.
So I get downtown around 3:00 pm and streets are closed off everywhere and they are now building a new luxury hotel on the cheap lot where I had planned on parking because it's only about a block away. So I drove around until I found one that wasn't reserved and was fairly close, cheap and safe (well lit). Come to find out there was also a concert at the GEC one block away as well as the normal Saturday night party crowd downtown.
I saw a classmate walking towards the center as I was looking for a parking place and asked him where we go since none of the emails had informed us where to pick up our parking passes, where to park and where to report. He said the kitchen was in the basement but there were only some execs down there but never the less, that is where to go.
I parked and as I was grabbing my gear, one of the baking/pastry teachers pulled up and asked about passes and such. She decided to do like me and just pay to park and we walked up there together.
When we arrived in the kitchen (after a brief tour of the Laura Turner Hall by one of the teacher's former co-workers who was also working the event and insisted that we get a look at it) to find two of my classmates. We had been told that everyone would be needed on Saturday so somehow, we had all expected much more considering there are probably 150 or so students in the program. The kitchen was amazingly calm and not crowded. The staff was very good and very helpful. No signs of the chaos I had expected at all - not in the least. The teacher and I talked about how surprised we were. No sign of the department head though. Chocked it up to the fact there wasn't any beer.
By luck or something, the teacher and I were put to work plattering and garnishing all the desserts. We started by arranging two types of little individual cakes on silver trays - a chocolate box with a white pearlized ribbon and bow (that were not firmly attached and kept coming off) and a caramel iced little cake with a tiny gum paste orchid topping it. Did approximately 500 of those.
Next we garnished double shot glasses with desserts in them - banana creme, blueberry panna cotta, a chocolate and coffee (?) mousse combo, and a pistachio mousse - probably 300-400 of each. These looked great in the tall thin double-shot glasses but not practical - they were going to serve with regular spoons which I am sure they had tried but I wondered whether or not they could really get down in there because we were having troubles getting garnishes in there because the opening was so small. We got them all garnished except the banana creme because they couldn't find the crushed vanilla wafers so we put them all back in the cooler.
Then we plattered several hundred chocolate covered strawberries that had been dipped a little too early so we had to wipe their bottoms before plattering. We then tried our hardest to garnish them with the premade chocolate clefs and notes but nothing was looking great and we were out of trays so cramming was the word so we just sort of stood them up in the rows of strawberries knowing that they would fall as soon as the strawberries were taken and that few people would probably pick them up and put them on their plates.
We also had trouble finding enough trays, sheet pans, etc. to put the trays on the speed racks so we were jugling those and would grab them as we saw them come back from the pre-show cocktail party.
Finally, vanilla wafer crumbs were found and we pulled the double shots back out to finish them up before putting them away again. Dessert wasn't to be served until 10:45.
One thing was obvious - no expense had been spared - there was more than enough of everything and every pantry and cooler was full to the brim with top notch ingredients. That also went for equipment - we were told to put our knives up that they had knives so we used all of their equipment. Even their line cooks talked about how they had stuff they didn't need and more than they needed. This kitchen is designed to serve not only a symphony crowd or event but also private events being held in the other rooms. It's designed to be able to serve 600 meals at once. When we saw how many pistachio nuts were toasted and how many vanilla wafer crumbs were crushed, the teacher made a comment that in her career, she's noticed that men tend to waste more and not be quite as efficient. I told her my theory - men have this idea of what 6" is - so go figure...... I love you guys so don't get me wrong but considering men are supposed to be so much better with mathematical things, how come women are so much better with measurements????
After finishing up all the desserts and trying some of the appetizers that had come back down - a nice little bruchetta with rare shaved beef, tomato, and basil (VERY NICE!), skewers of beef (later found out there was a sauce but I never went back and tried it with the sauce) and ones of venison with blue cheese melted on them (again, very nice!), some sort of Asian little morsel on a cute little bamboo pick with a fancy knot on one end - very spicy but good. A lot of double shot glasses of an orange puree and a pale pale green came back but were immediately taken to the dish wash area and emptied - take it they didn't go over all that well and from the looks of the ones that were eaten, it was pretty thick and didn't leave the glasses well.
Next we split these tiny little lobsters into two halves and neatly place them, halves together in rows, in hotel pans. When we put our pans up, we looked and saw where someone else had started this task and had just been throwing them in a pile in a pan. As teacher observed, had to be a man.
During the course of this we were over in the same area as the other two students and we heard for the first time that we might be in the wrong place. There was a temporary 'kitchen' set up outside near the big tent where supper was to be served. So we thought we had settled the mystery of why we hadn't seen the head of the program, any other students or teachers or any of the three top chefs that were supposed to be there. So teacher and I decided to venture over when we finished our lobster task since we might have been toiling away in the wrong area for almost 4 hours and we might have left the other crew in the weeds and everything was well under control in the kitchen we were in with prep for Sunday and Monday events well underway.
So we walked over to the park across the street where the grand tent was set up. We tried not to walk through it but soon found about the only way to reach the food prep area was THROUGH it. Just as we started through it a whole brigade of servers started coming out with trays of the appetizers - all I could tell is that there were three very distinct things on the plates. We made it through but never saw any actual cooking going on and were told there were no other areas. There was a lot of plating going on but no cooking and still - no familiar faces. So we headed back to the main kitchen.
Once there, we helped them prep for the other events going on Sunday and Monday for a little longer and then left around 9pm as the dinner was being served and the rain started to fall.
It was fun. I would definitely like to work here for my internship hours - I like the 'budget' and the staff was genuinely very nice and good. One cook had worked at Le Bec Fin in Philly that I dined at back in July so I am impressed with the quality of the staff. Culinaire out of Texas is running the kitchen and the two restaurants in the facility. The 'sandwich' show will be open M-F for lunch as well as special events and the buffet (very upscale) for $25 will be served during symphony events in the other restaurant.
My knees were hurting and I was getting a little hot and hungry but I managed to keep up with all the kids!
First, let me say this is not a male bashing post but we did notice a pattern that does seem typical of 'most' men - I know it doesn't apply to the wonderful males that frequent this board.
So I get downtown around 3:00 pm and streets are closed off everywhere and they are now building a new luxury hotel on the cheap lot where I had planned on parking because it's only about a block away. So I drove around until I found one that wasn't reserved and was fairly close, cheap and safe (well lit). Come to find out there was also a concert at the GEC one block away as well as the normal Saturday night party crowd downtown.
I saw a classmate walking towards the center as I was looking for a parking place and asked him where we go since none of the emails had informed us where to pick up our parking passes, where to park and where to report. He said the kitchen was in the basement but there were only some execs down there but never the less, that is where to go.
I parked and as I was grabbing my gear, one of the baking/pastry teachers pulled up and asked about passes and such. She decided to do like me and just pay to park and we walked up there together.
When we arrived in the kitchen (after a brief tour of the Laura Turner Hall by one of the teacher's former co-workers who was also working the event and insisted that we get a look at it) to find two of my classmates. We had been told that everyone would be needed on Saturday so somehow, we had all expected much more considering there are probably 150 or so students in the program. The kitchen was amazingly calm and not crowded. The staff was very good and very helpful. No signs of the chaos I had expected at all - not in the least. The teacher and I talked about how surprised we were. No sign of the department head though. Chocked it up to the fact there wasn't any beer.
By luck or something, the teacher and I were put to work plattering and garnishing all the desserts. We started by arranging two types of little individual cakes on silver trays - a chocolate box with a white pearlized ribbon and bow (that were not firmly attached and kept coming off) and a caramel iced little cake with a tiny gum paste orchid topping it. Did approximately 500 of those.
Next we garnished double shot glasses with desserts in them - banana creme, blueberry panna cotta, a chocolate and coffee (?) mousse combo, and a pistachio mousse - probably 300-400 of each. These looked great in the tall thin double-shot glasses but not practical - they were going to serve with regular spoons which I am sure they had tried but I wondered whether or not they could really get down in there because we were having troubles getting garnishes in there because the opening was so small. We got them all garnished except the banana creme because they couldn't find the crushed vanilla wafers so we put them all back in the cooler.
Then we plattered several hundred chocolate covered strawberries that had been dipped a little too early so we had to wipe their bottoms before plattering. We then tried our hardest to garnish them with the premade chocolate clefs and notes but nothing was looking great and we were out of trays so cramming was the word so we just sort of stood them up in the rows of strawberries knowing that they would fall as soon as the strawberries were taken and that few people would probably pick them up and put them on their plates.
We also had trouble finding enough trays, sheet pans, etc. to put the trays on the speed racks so we were jugling those and would grab them as we saw them come back from the pre-show cocktail party.
Finally, vanilla wafer crumbs were found and we pulled the double shots back out to finish them up before putting them away again. Dessert wasn't to be served until 10:45.
One thing was obvious - no expense had been spared - there was more than enough of everything and every pantry and cooler was full to the brim with top notch ingredients. That also went for equipment - we were told to put our knives up that they had knives so we used all of their equipment. Even their line cooks talked about how they had stuff they didn't need and more than they needed. This kitchen is designed to serve not only a symphony crowd or event but also private events being held in the other rooms. It's designed to be able to serve 600 meals at once. When we saw how many pistachio nuts were toasted and how many vanilla wafer crumbs were crushed, the teacher made a comment that in her career, she's noticed that men tend to waste more and not be quite as efficient. I told her my theory - men have this idea of what 6" is - so go figure...... I love you guys so don't get me wrong but considering men are supposed to be so much better with mathematical things, how come women are so much better with measurements????
After finishing up all the desserts and trying some of the appetizers that had come back down - a nice little bruchetta with rare shaved beef, tomato, and basil (VERY NICE!), skewers of beef (later found out there was a sauce but I never went back and tried it with the sauce) and ones of venison with blue cheese melted on them (again, very nice!), some sort of Asian little morsel on a cute little bamboo pick with a fancy knot on one end - very spicy but good. A lot of double shot glasses of an orange puree and a pale pale green came back but were immediately taken to the dish wash area and emptied - take it they didn't go over all that well and from the looks of the ones that were eaten, it was pretty thick and didn't leave the glasses well.
Next we split these tiny little lobsters into two halves and neatly place them, halves together in rows, in hotel pans. When we put our pans up, we looked and saw where someone else had started this task and had just been throwing them in a pile in a pan. As teacher observed, had to be a man.
During the course of this we were over in the same area as the other two students and we heard for the first time that we might be in the wrong place. There was a temporary 'kitchen' set up outside near the big tent where supper was to be served. So we thought we had settled the mystery of why we hadn't seen the head of the program, any other students or teachers or any of the three top chefs that were supposed to be there. So teacher and I decided to venture over when we finished our lobster task since we might have been toiling away in the wrong area for almost 4 hours and we might have left the other crew in the weeds and everything was well under control in the kitchen we were in with prep for Sunday and Monday events well underway.
So we walked over to the park across the street where the grand tent was set up. We tried not to walk through it but soon found about the only way to reach the food prep area was THROUGH it. Just as we started through it a whole brigade of servers started coming out with trays of the appetizers - all I could tell is that there were three very distinct things on the plates. We made it through but never saw any actual cooking going on and were told there were no other areas. There was a lot of plating going on but no cooking and still - no familiar faces. So we headed back to the main kitchen.
Once there, we helped them prep for the other events going on Sunday and Monday for a little longer and then left around 9pm as the dinner was being served and the rain started to fall.
It was fun. I would definitely like to work here for my internship hours - I like the 'budget' and the staff was genuinely very nice and good. One cook had worked at Le Bec Fin in Philly that I dined at back in July so I am impressed with the quality of the staff. Culinaire out of Texas is running the kitchen and the two restaurants in the facility. The 'sandwich' show will be open M-F for lunch as well as special events and the buffet (very upscale) for $25 will be served during symphony events in the other restaurant.
My knees were hurting and I was getting a little hot and hungry but I managed to keep up with all the kids!
misplaced-in-az
Well-known member
Sounds like it went pretty well after all. If you ever find out what happened (m)
to the rest of the class and the head of the program let us know. LOL It's amazing what we can do, if we keep a positive attitude. Congratulations!!!!
to the rest of the class and the head of the program let us know. LOL It's amazing what we can do, if we keep a positive attitude. Congratulations!!!!
music-city-missy
Well-known member
Link to pix & information on the gala....
go to the section on the kitchen - they tell the sizes of the rooms and show some pix....
If anyone is a real music buff and looking for a weekend getaway, the first weekend in October - believe it's around the 8th, they are going to have a full weekend of free events but you have to get tickets in advance.
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=ENTERTAINMENT0501
go to the section on the kitchen - they tell the sizes of the rooms and show some pix....
If anyone is a real music buff and looking for a weekend getaway, the first weekend in October - believe it's around the 8th, they are going to have a full weekend of free events but you have to get tickets in advance.
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=ENTERTAINMENT0501
What am I missing here Missy? If men have an over-confident idea of what six inches means...
why would there be too much of everything?
Sounds like the usual over-compensation to me.
But what a great experience. Congratulations!
Joe (waving my forearm at Missy and Marilyn.)
why would there be too much of everything?
Sounds like the usual over-compensation to me.
But what a great experience. Congratulations!
Joe (waving my forearm at Missy and Marilyn.)
music-city-missy
Well-known member
It's not that most mean overcompensate, it's just a general rule they have no sense of measurement..
why do you think they came up with the carpenters rule of measure twice, cut once? Most men just can't get measurements right! LOL Hey - she came up with the theory that male chefs waste so there had to be a reason or theory behind it so I put one there.
Maybe I do have it a little wrong but look at it this way - if they think 3" is 6" and they look at that tray of 300 double shots - they probably thought it was 600. So THAT is why they did so many cookie crumbs. Now we have a smooth flowing theory for the day.......
Off to work - last week. Starting to get nervous. Lots to do and I am SOOOOOOO ready to be out of there.
why do you think they came up with the carpenters rule of measure twice, cut once? Most men just can't get measurements right! LOL Hey - she came up with the theory that male chefs waste so there had to be a reason or theory behind it so I put one there.
Maybe I do have it a little wrong but look at it this way - if they think 3" is 6" and they look at that tray of 300 double shots - they probably thought it was 600. So THAT is why they did so many cookie crumbs. Now we have a smooth flowing theory for the day.......
Off to work - last week. Starting to get nervous. Lots to do and I am SOOOOOOO ready to be out of there.