Road Sick

Listening: On the road again, goin' places that I've never been, seein' things that I may never see again and I can't wait to get on the road again.

What's my problem? I miss the smells of...

On my way down here to Atlanta, I got bumped yet again. I think that this may be the fifth year in a row that I've been bumped at some point during the holidays. Last year, I got four hundred dollars, which became five hundred when they done fucked up our vouchers. This year, I walked with four hundred Delta dollars, three seven dollar vouchers for food and a night at the airport Hilton for taking the bump. This year's ticket's retail value (as it was bought with miles) was a hundred and thirty dollars. That's a two hundred and ninety one dollar profit even if you don't take into account the room at the Hilton.

Think about it. It all starts with one bump and a little bit of flexibility. For those of you in the white collar world with weeks of vacation to burn, I think that this could be a really great option. If you already have the time that you have to use every year, you could get bumped one year and have your flight taken care of for your next year's vacation.

I have to say, I'm itching. I'm itching to travel. I feel like (I would assume) a heroin addict in rehab feels looking for a fix, but knowing that it's not coming anytime soon. I have these Delta dollars, and I know that I can't use them anytime soon. I'll be too busy working. I have to see this new venture through, at least for a year.

Last night, I watched The Namesake. There were a few wedding scenes in the movie with these amazing flowers. They made me think of the flowers that I saw in southeast Asia and about how the smell of jasmine flowers permeated the air with the lightly sweet fragrance. I missed it. I missed it a lot. I can't wait to get back to it. I think about the completely different way of life and I want to see it. I want to be there.

I've been reading the beginnings of Pies' travel blog, and I feel like I'll be living a little bit vicariously through him. I'm really quite excited for him. This is his first foray into the world of solo travel.

I remember when I started my solo travel career five years ago. I took a month and traveled around Europe. At first, I was extremely tentative. At my first stop, Amsterdam, I stayed at a hotel where I didn't really meet any travelers or connect with any people. In Prague, I stayed at a hostel. I met some people there and at different sights, but I still wasn't able to make any good connections happen. I made one American friend in Vienna, spent my entire time in Strasbourg alone, and then fell into a good groove in Paris. Paris is where I met Jade, a girl I still keep in contact with. I even got together with her this summer. In Cinque Terre, I met Lianne, a girl who I have visited in London. She has visited me in Boston. I think that we continue to be good friends.

The point is that it took me a while to get into the groove with meeting people during my first trip. On my second trip, I met my first person at the airport. Cara and I got along right off the bat. Shared a taxi to Sukhumvit Road. Hung out at the weekend market together. It was a good time.

I hope that Pies can get into it faster than I did. I'm sure he can. He just needs to get some liquid courage in him, but not enough to bring out the belligerent Pies that we all know and love. That could cause more problems than I think he could imagine.

Anyhow, I don't know what I'm going to do with my Delta dollars. I don't see myself taking any real vacations this year. I may take a few "weekend" trips somewhere, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. I have to find a way out of this country sometime in the next few years though. I got the itch. I need the scratch.

Coming Soon....

Listening: Chicken chow mein with a little white rice. That's good. I need a couple of egg rolls in my neighborhood. That's good.

What's my problem? I'll be rolling right into work on the 5th

Okay, for those of you who have been keeping up with me, I took the job helping to open up the new Chinese inspired joint in Inman Square. Right now, we're slated to open up on January 5th, the day I get back from Vegas. For those of you who are interested in the menu, here's what's on offer.

cold
celery root, chicken, bean curd, sesame mustard sauce

kohlrabi and carrot salad, sesame ginger vinaigrette

napa cabbage, sweet and sour

pickled vegetables: daikon, beet, carrot, anise scented

hot
scallion pancake, roasted garlic chili sauce, seasonal pickles

braised pork , shiitakes, toasted shallot sticky rice

sweet potato fritter, chili mayonnaise, sour plum powder

pork tenderloin, molasses, five spice, braised daikon

roasted brussel sprouts, lemon, Sichuan peppercorn

braised beef wonton, garlic chili oil, local greens

snacks
curry dusted carrot chips

candied peppercorn pecans, sesame

five spice boiled peanuts

noodles
hand-rolled rice gnocchi

with chicken, turnips, shiitakes, xo sauce

with shiitakes, kale, carrot, sweet bean paste

home made wheat noodles

with beef shank, celery root, spicy beef broth

with winter vegetables, poached egg, vegetable broth

dumplings
pan fried or boiled (5 pieces)

pork , winter squash, five spice

shrimp, carrots, ginger, cilantro

carrot, chive, egg, bean curd

I have not included prices, as the final prices have not yet been determined. At the last time I checked, we had nothing over ten dollars on the menu. We may take the pork tenderloin off the menu and put it on as a special.

We are currently expecting people to buy three or four items per person, and the portion size will reflect that.

Anyhow, I hope you all come out and support this new venture. If you don't, I may be looking for a new job sooner rather than later. There are twenty five seats in the entire joint, so stagger when you come. Don't all come at once. But come in and eat. I'll be happy to feed you.

Small, Small World

Listening: "You look like you could do with a friend," she said. "You look like you could use a hand." "Someone to make you smile," she said. "Someone who can understand, share your trouble."

What's my problem? Self-righteous, racist vets.

I've said before that it's a small, small world. I heard that as a kid while I went through the ride in Walt Disney World. I experienced it when I met people in southeast Asia who had met me and then met each other down the trail.

I applied for jobs at Hungry Mother and East by Northeast. The chef of East by Northeast both worked for the chef of Hungry Mother, as well as with him at Lumiere. My pal Katherine worked with the chef of Hungry Mother at Lumiere as well, and I met her down on Nantucket.

The point I'm trying to make is that the world is a small place and no matter what you do or where you are, the degree of separation is a lot smaller than the seven degrees that people claim that there are.

It once again became evident a few days ago when I was at the Chez Henri holiday party. I rolled in after the big snowstorm expecting nobody to be there. Of course, I was wrong. All of my friends who still work there were there. A few alumni were there, including my pal John who works at the House of Blues.

When I looked down the bar, I saw a bartender that I wasn't familiar with and a very attractive blond girl. I was eyeing her for a good few minutes, because I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew her.

After a while, she came over and talked to a few of my friends, so I introduced myself.

"Hi. I don't know you. I'm ZEN!!!"

"ZEN!!!?"

"Well, it's a nickname. My real name is Jason."

"Ahh. I do know you," she said.

"You do? Err... What was your name again?" I asked sheepishly.

"Erin."

"Oh. My. God."

Erin was a girl I dated during the summer before I went to Colby. She was essentially my boss at Au Bon Pain in the same place where I met one of my best friends, Jess. This girl got me into the Cure, and to an extent Jewel (back when I really liked Jewel).

We talked for a good half hour or so. She remembered the mix tape that I made her, including some of the tracks that I had put on it. I remembered her getting me into the Cure and that she lived in Chelsea at the time. We caught up and it was nice.

It turns out that she worked with Chez's general manager, Beth, at Joe's American Bar and Grill down by the waterfront and that Beth asked her boyfriend to work the bar for the holiday party. See, it's a small world. What made it funny for me is that one summer, during college, I was having lunch at that very Joe's American Bar and Grill with Jess and I think that I remember pointing Erin out to her.

I have to say that it was kind of an ego boost seeing Erin again. So many people see exes and automatically think that it's going to be a bad thing. For me, it reminded me of what kinds of girls I have dated in the past, who they are and what they have become. When I met Erin, she was a cute seventeen year old girl, working at Au Bon Pain so that she could afford to go to college the next year. She has grown into a beautiful (I mean REALLY beautiful) woman, social worker who paid for her way through college and has come out the other side to be a really cool person.

Seeing her makes me remember that I've dated girls like that. I dig that. I have really dated some outrageously gorgeous, cool, intelligent people who are doing good things for the world.

It's good to remember that as I come off of a self-inflicted dry spell. Being on the road and being on the island has done nothing good for my dating life unless you count the married girls and the cougars. In other words, nothing serious. Being back in Cambridge on my home turf, I fully intend on flexing my social skills. It's time for me to get back out there and meet some hotties. I just hope that the new job gives me the appropriate time.

In another side of the small world thing, I had a bad experience on the way to my stage at Hungry Mother. I was on the subway going from Porter to Kendall when I ended up sitting across from a loud talking military vet. He was talking at a family about Obama and how he sucks and all of that. Initially, I was fine with ignoring him, until the family started ignoring him. That was when he went after me. He made comments that he would kick my ass and that I should go home. He made comments about how he would bomb our asses back to the stone age again if he could, but that he would be satisfied with just kicking my ass.

In my head, I had half a mind to open my knife case to fillet him like a striped bass. I knew that he was a drunk, shell-shocked sunuva bitch. I know that it's no excuse, but I bit my tongue and let him say everything he was gonna say, including spitting at me until the doors opened at Kendall, when I let loose.

"Hey, I'm an American. I was born here. My parents were born here. My grandfathers fought for the Americans in World War II, so why don't you go fuck yourself."

To that, he said, "I don't care! I'll still kick your ass."

I was on my way out with the doors closing behind me saying, "Maybe if you weren't drinking yourself to death, you'd know what an American is, you racist douche."

I know I shouldn't have gotten into it with him. There were kids around and I tend to throw around words like "fuckin'" and "douche." I couldn't help myself though.

This world is getting smaller every day. The more people who think like this drunk ass veteran, the further away we become from being a truly peaceful global society. As soon as we recognize that people are people wherever they are, the closer we'll be to having a peaceful world. It's, first, about respect for each others' culture, and then about recognizing that, although we aren't all the same, we all might have some valid ways of life or of being.

Anyhow, I'm off my soapbox for now. Stay tuned for more info on the new gig. I'll post up some useful information.

Game On.

Listening: This time it's not personal. The universe will help you now, to find a place you can breathe and do what you've got to do.

What's my problem? I actually have to live through the winter.

Well, there it is. It's done. My professional time on Nantucket is done for the foreseeable future. It's bittersweet, as I have come to love the people I worked with this summer from the dishwashers to the chef to the front of the house. This year's staff was by far the most intelligent staff that I've worked with to date which made the conversation at the end of the year never dull.

This year, Pies and I not only really got along, but I think we solidified a bond as friends. I don't know if it was because I came back more humble or if it's because he reflected on his management style in the off season. The bottom line is that we're totally cool now, and I would work with him again anytime.

I think this year Chef understood what I was working on in my cooking and he gave me the space to work on it. I think that at the end of the day he appreciated what I literally and figuratively brought to the table. He told me that if I ever needed anything, a reference, a job, advice, etc., all I had to do was call.

As far as the front of the house is concerned, I think that I made some really good friends. At the top of the list are Ieva and Gabi. Ieva is, hands down, the best server that I have ever worked with, even if she did screw up her last order of the season. I have never met another server with as much knowledge about wine as she has. She bakes for the kitchen. She's totally chilled and laid back. To top it all off, she plays cribbage. She took me surfing once this summer, and even though I sucked royally at it, I had a great time. I hope that over time we stay friends and in touch even though I am part of the Facebook resistance.

Gabi, I've known for two seasons now. My crush on her was completely thwarted when she got married this winter, but I still value her as a friend. Whenever I've hung out with her, I've had a great time. She has a killer sense of humor, even if she doesn't realize she's being funny. I'll miss chatting with her while we're waiting for the first table to be seated or the first ticket to come in. I know that being a server isn't what she wants to do with her life, and I hope she figures it what she does want to do soon.

So, I'm off the island now. I've been off the island for five days or so. Initially, I intended on being very busy on the ten days before I headed down to the ATL to visit the fam, but it didn't really pan out. I was supposed to work at Salts for five days, but they hired someone and no longer needed my help. The House of Blues has been dragging their feet getting back to me about filling out some paper work. And my new chef hasn't called on me to do anything yet. I will be going in on Monday to work though.

In the meantime, I have been trying to keep myself out of trouble and am more or less doing an okay job of it. I have no food in my house, so I have to go out to grab food. There's no use in buying groceries now if I'm going to be away for two weeks or so. It's been good, though. I have been bulking up on my ethnic food, something that was in short supply on the island.

Also, in an effort to stay out of trouble, I have been studying. I know I said that I would never go back to school, and I have held to it. I am currently studying a Chinese cookbook in an effort to prepare myself for my new job. You would think that being brought up in a Chinese family would mean that Chinese cooking techniques would be in the blood. However, as familiar as I am with the flavors, there is still I don't know or don't know how to quantify. There are still a lot of ingredients I haven't worked with.

As far as getting into trouble, I have been out and about a little. It seems everywhere I go, whether it's dinner at the Dizzle or at Chez, I'm constantly meeting new people. My first night back in town, I met a really cool biological physicist who likes explaining science through food. That was a worthwhile two hour conversation. Also, the other day, I went out for drinks with my friend Mona and her pal Ajay (at least I think that's what his name was... cool cat though). We met up with some other people that she knew, and laughed at two guys who didn't get the clue that the girls weren't interested in them.

A quick aside... We were at Barbara Lynch's bar drink for drinks. I had heard so much about this place, and I was thoroughly disappointed. The service was questionable. The atmosphere wasn't nearly as dank and speakeasy as I had heard. Furthermore, the clientele was just as pretentious as the employees. There were a lot of cougars there, so if that's you're scene, more power to ya.

I am trying to kick start my social life again, though. After two seasons on the island, I'm ready to get out there and meet some new cool people. The old cool people are still here, well, some of them are still here. Others have moved or will be moving. I just want to get out there, though. I want to get excited about getting to know someone, which is much different that getting excited to see someone that you haven't seen in a long time.

In other news, I haven't done a stitch of holiday shopping. I just can't get myself into it. I just don't care enough. I see plenty of things that I'm in need of professionally, but for other people, I could just care less. Call me selfish. Call me a grinch. Call it how it is. I'm glad that I have, for the most part avoided the shopping crowds.

Oh yeah! A couple of weeks ago, I went to the House of Blues to see Raphael Saadiq. Gabi came with me, and we had a blast. The concert was ten times better than I thought it would be. I can't wait until he goes on tour again.

Anyhow, I'm done writing for now. Time to get back to reading. I'll leave you with some footage I took at the concert.

Day 216: The Light

Listening: So I kept on walking, kept on striving, kept on singing and guess who showed up?

What's my problem? It's fucking cold.

Well, after a offer from Salts, a scheduling of a stage at Hungry Mother, a job offer from the House of Blues Boston, I've accepted the job that I wanted.

So, starting with the opening, I'll be working at East by Northeast in Inman Square, Cambridge.

The reason that I'm not saying a firm date, is because, really, you never know when a restaurant is going to open for sure. There are all sorts of pitfalls and holdups. The idea is that I'll get off the plane from Vega. I'll grab my knives and head straight into work. If this happens, it means that we'll be opening on January 5th.

So, as it looks like right now, I'll be off the island on December 14th (My good buddy, Carlos is gonna be nice enough to give me a lift with my crap). I'll be working at Salts from the 15th through the 19th. I have a stage at Hungry Mother on the 22nd. I may work some parties with my buddy John at the House of Blues on the 20th and the 21st. Then, I'll head down to the ATL on the 24th. It's going to be CRAAAAAAAZY.

But at least I'm getting a $25/wk raise. That's right. Moving up in the world $25 at a time.

Time for the second to last day of work on the island. Boo-yah, bitches.

Day 199: Wouldn't Ya Know It...

Listening: You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need.

What's my problem? Do I take it?

Wouldn't you know it.... The day after I publish my post about my stage at Salts, I get a call from Marsoir. It turns out that the guy who was working garde manager was planning on quitting that day, and if he didn't quit, the chef was planning on firing him anyways. The chef told Marsoir that he liked the way that I gelled in the kitchen and wanted to get me in there.

As I said in my last post, I have some reservations about working at Salts. I just don't know if I'm up to it yet. In a lot of ways, I feel like taking the job might be setting myself up to go down in epically gigantic flames.

When I came to my current place of employment, I thought I knew a lot. I have always known that I don't know everything, but I thought that I knew a lot. My friends and colleagues have always pumped me up, telling me that I was a great cook and so on and so forth. I believed it. I still believe it, but what happened over the past year and a half is that I also realized that I'm nowhere near where I want to be in the kitchen yet. I don't have the skills to pay the bills, so to speak. Managerially and mentally, I think I'm ready to be a first cook or a sous chef, but after the past two seasons, I have learned that my body hasn't caught up with my mind yet.

So, if I walk into Salts knowing what I know in my brain and potentially not being able to deliver physically, what does that mean?

I told Marsoir about my reservations, and he said that he would convey them to the chef. But I also told Marsoir that I would do whatever I could to help him out wherever he was. This meant that if they're a man down when I get off the island, I'll step in and work until they break for the Christmas/New Years holiday, and maybe even stay on until they find someone permanent.

Everyone that I've talked to has said that I should take the job. I know that it would be a fantastic place to have on my resume. Am I ready for it? I don't know. Half of me wants to hold out and see if East By Northeast gets back to me, because, really, those flavors are what I'm most interested in learning more about right now. French food and technique will always be there, but the finer Asian places are few and far between.

Fuck. What to do... What to do....

Day 193: In Over My Head

Listening: Let's rearrange. I wish you were a stranger I could disengage. Just say that we agree and then never change. Soften a bit until we all just get along, but that's disregard. Find another friend and you discard.

What's my problem? I know where I am in my skill level.

I'm on the "Thursday" of my five day break from the island. The time has dragged and has flown by at the same time. I have spent the time largely by myself, getting out of bed late and into bed rather early. I think that two of the past three nights I was in my sleepwear before midnight. Normally, I would watch TV in bed or plink around on the internet, but the cable is out and the wireless router is on the fritz too, so there's really nothing to do in my room besides sleep, read or listen to music. It's not a bad life, but it's hell when you want to check your e-mail and the signal from the neighbor's router is awful.

A big part of this break for me was to start the hunt for potential jobs, just to flesh out my options for the next year. Do I go back to the island for one more season? Do I try to get a steady/non-seasonal job in Boston? Where do I find said steady job?

One of the reasons that I'm looking at jobs back on the mainland is because, after two seasons on the island, I don't feel any closer to "going native." I don't feel like I speak the language of the island. I don't hold the same values of either the residents, the workers, or the vacationers there.

I love working for my chef. He's a great boss to have, as is his wife who handles the front of the house. After a hard first season of people quitting, walking out, butting heads, and nearly passing out on the line, I came back with a new mindset. I think I set aside my ego (which a lot of people who know me would think impossible), and set my mind on focusing on what was in front of me. I was focused on being the best cook that I could be in that very moment. I was determined to live up to my moniker and be ZEN!!! in the kitchen.

I think that I achieved a lot of my goals this summer. I think that I improved on doing what was right in front of me. Sometimes I walked away from extra projects just so that I could make sure that what I had was tight.

What makes me want to stay on the island for another season is the fact that the familiarity of the setting and the people might make it easier for me to progress and improve upon myself in a number of aspects. The things that I am constantly improving on are rudimentary things such as speed and precision. In this kitchen, as it is with almost any kitchen, I would undoubtedly have an opportunity to work on my speed, both in line work as well as in prep work.

Precision is another story. We do nice food or food that looks nice. However, we don't have a lot of precision cuts on our dishes. We don't have obvious fine brunoise. A lot of our knife cuts are hidden by the composition of the dishes. There's never a point where a plate hits the table and someone instantly thinks, "Holy shit! That's a whole bunch of tiny, perfect cubes of vegetable!" I've eaten at places where I've thought that. I've produced cuts close to that, but never as consistently as I would like to.

This brings us to the question of "Where would I go if I don't go back to the island?" Well, so far, I have dropped my resume at two places and have staged at another one. The three places are all in Cambridge, which should be of no surprise. The first place that I dropped my resume, is a place called Hungry Mother. It's a great place near Kendall Square that specializes in southern cuisine. The reasons that I would love to work at Hungry Mother is because I am familiar with, and I love eating southern cuisine. I love the collard greens and the smoked pork products. I love cornbread and barbecue sauces. Furthermore, the restaurant isn't just a down-home southern joint. The chef there has been in fine dining for a long time, so it's homestyle food done nice.

The place that I staged was Salts. See, my pal, Marsoir, recently got a job there. My friend Brook has been working there for the past few years. When I asked Marsoir if I could use him as a reference, he asked if I wanted to come and check Salts out. I thought it was going to be one of those, "Oh, hey! Come and check out what I'm doing!" kinds of stages. Instead, when I walked in the door, I found out that they were hiring.

Salts isn't a place that should be taken lightly. Gabriel Bremer was named as one of Food And Wine's Best New Chefs of 2007. He's doing bangin' food out of a tiny kitchen in a tiny restaurant in Cambridge. Both Marsoir and Brook are monsters. They kill it in the kitchen. Right now, I honestly believe that they are ten times the cook that I am.

So, when I walked into the kitchen in my whites and went to work, I was much more careful doing everything that I was asked to do. This slowed me down. I kept my eyes open, watching my pals as they rocked it out and as they were in the weeds. Prep at Salts is intense. It was more intense than anywhere else that I have ever worked. Chef Bremer does all of the pastry himself. They have an immersion circulator, a piece of equipment that I have never used before, to sous vide, a method of cooking that I have never done. There was no fryer, no grill, and no tongs. There were food additives (not crazy stuff, chemically, but things like xantham gum, agar agar, soy lecithin, different root derivatives), some of which I was familiar with, others that I was not. It was extremely intimidating.

I thought that I would just be watching service, but when they had to pick up an eighteen person party, I was told by Brook to plate up the veg dishes. I was plating and saucing and garnishing for Gabriel Bremer. I got it done and did a good job, but I was still kind of in shell shock. I just didn't expect to be plating that man's food. I'm not as shocked as I would have been if, say TK or Grant Achatz asked me to plate up on a one day stage.

To be honest, I think that if I were to go work at Salts, I would be a bit in over my head. I would probably be in the weeds day in and day out. And worst of all, I fear that I would end up disappointing Marsoir, a guy who has had my back and has been a great supporter of my culinary growth. I would never want to disappoint him. On the flip side of the coin, a place like that would really push me to be better if I could actually keep my head, or possibly only my nose above water. It is really nice food.

The final place that I dropped off my resume is probably the place that I want the job the most. It's the place East by Northeast, the Chinese inspired fine dining joint that's slated to open in Inman Square early next year. I met the chef when I went in to drop off the resume. He was alone in the space sanding tables. Covered by sawdust, we talked about my experience, his experience, the restaurant, what he thought it would end up looking like, and about travels.

The space is only going to be twenty or thirty seats, a size that really appeals to me. I can see a very small kitchen staff and some really nice food being rocked out. The chef doesn't know exactly how he's going to staff his kitchen. He doesn't know if he's going to hire another qualified line cook other than him and his sous, or if he's going to hire a dum dum to just fold dumplings. I hope he hires me. I really want to be working with the flavors and the ingredients that he plans on using. I think that the learning curve there would be steep. I'm excited just thinking about it.

Anyhow, that's what I'm looking at. We'll see what happens.

Right now it's late (and five days from when I started writing this post). It's time for me to crash out so I can get some work done tomorrow. I'm making lobster potstickers for the Christmast Stroll menu. I have to fold and freeze a hundred of them so they're ready to go for a week from Friday. It should be fun.