Last shift at Pure
Happy Martin Luther King's Birthday, a holiday here, including from school. It's about 5-10 degrees celcius here with rain on and off, which I hear is different weather than home with the snow. It has never snowed since I've been here, has been quite warm most days, and I heard somewhere that it's the longest stretch in NYC without snow since the late 70s I believe and one of the warmest winters.
Last night I completed my last shift at Pure Food and Wine and it was a nice feeling to finish my internship hours there with good experience and nice learnings. It took me most of the evening to work on the stuffing for a new refreshing dolmas dish, with grape leaves rolled with a stuffing made from sunchokes or jerusalem artichokes (didn't know what sunchokes were and the head chef Neal in his usual kind manner showed me where they were stored and explained how they are used; he does this often with new vegetables or fruits that come in that we may not know about or he is so impressed and excited about, like last night he brought in a special lemon and let us smell it as he said it's rarely used and we should know about it.. it smelt like lemongrass and I can't remember the name), cucumber brunoise (1/8 cubes) , and a number of other vegetables and herbs in fine dice, quite the labourious process. After we finished rolling some dolmas and packaging the remaining filling, I cleaned up to go home. I had the chance to speak to the head chef to express my gratitude and thanks for taking me on as an intern, to tell him that I was impressed by how well the kitchen is run, and to get him to fill out my evaluation form. I always feel a bit nervous speaking to head chefs who seem like gods at this point when you are trying to just do cuts quicker and quicker with more consistently without cutting yourself and you just barely can scrape by with the basics. However, as he was a student in my same school, although he said a rebellious one, he understands how it feels like to be a student and takes this in mind when dealing with new interns. Also, it's always a bit akward when you are talking to your boss, who hasn't even turned 25, has numerous tatoos (as do most other chefs in the kitchen), is playing loud head banging music in the background, is recovering from a night out, and is wearing a baseball cap backwards. However, he's always been extremely professional and mature, creative and enthusiastic with his food, and calm and warm with his staff. It's certainly a nice change from previous bosses I've had and more bosses could certainly learn from him. The fact that he prepares a special dinner for staff seems rare in the industry vs. just leftovers or things that they need to get rid of. The fact that he treats staff very well and does not have an angry temper or does not get stressed out is rare in the industry. One of the chefs last night said he left Pure and just came back as he missed it a lot and he said there's nothing like it that's he seen in the industry to date (though he's very young like most of the staff at Pure). The fact that he brings in interns and treats them with respect and care is also rare in the industry. He wished me well at Millennium and gave me some tips as he went there to intern as well. Small world. I'm a bit sad to be leaving Pure, but I know that's a good thing to be sad about leaving a place and to have good memories, and I'm looking forward to going on to the next step to Millennium and then home.
So, I will post the photos of my life at Pure shortly so hang on. In the meantime, I've posted the Friday Night Dinner and the James Beard House photos to date, so enjoy. Well, one more big final written exam on Wednesday so I have to head back to the books to study....
Last night I completed my last shift at Pure Food and Wine and it was a nice feeling to finish my internship hours there with good experience and nice learnings. It took me most of the evening to work on the stuffing for a new refreshing dolmas dish, with grape leaves rolled with a stuffing made from sunchokes or jerusalem artichokes (didn't know what sunchokes were and the head chef Neal in his usual kind manner showed me where they were stored and explained how they are used; he does this often with new vegetables or fruits that come in that we may not know about or he is so impressed and excited about, like last night he brought in a special lemon and let us smell it as he said it's rarely used and we should know about it.. it smelt like lemongrass and I can't remember the name), cucumber brunoise (1/8 cubes) , and a number of other vegetables and herbs in fine dice, quite the labourious process. After we finished rolling some dolmas and packaging the remaining filling, I cleaned up to go home. I had the chance to speak to the head chef to express my gratitude and thanks for taking me on as an intern, to tell him that I was impressed by how well the kitchen is run, and to get him to fill out my evaluation form. I always feel a bit nervous speaking to head chefs who seem like gods at this point when you are trying to just do cuts quicker and quicker with more consistently without cutting yourself and you just barely can scrape by with the basics. However, as he was a student in my same school, although he said a rebellious one, he understands how it feels like to be a student and takes this in mind when dealing with new interns. Also, it's always a bit akward when you are talking to your boss, who hasn't even turned 25, has numerous tatoos (as do most other chefs in the kitchen), is playing loud head banging music in the background, is recovering from a night out, and is wearing a baseball cap backwards. However, he's always been extremely professional and mature, creative and enthusiastic with his food, and calm and warm with his staff. It's certainly a nice change from previous bosses I've had and more bosses could certainly learn from him. The fact that he prepares a special dinner for staff seems rare in the industry vs. just leftovers or things that they need to get rid of. The fact that he treats staff very well and does not have an angry temper or does not get stressed out is rare in the industry. One of the chefs last night said he left Pure and just came back as he missed it a lot and he said there's nothing like it that's he seen in the industry to date (though he's very young like most of the staff at Pure). The fact that he brings in interns and treats them with respect and care is also rare in the industry. He wished me well at Millennium and gave me some tips as he went there to intern as well. Small world. I'm a bit sad to be leaving Pure, but I know that's a good thing to be sad about leaving a place and to have good memories, and I'm looking forward to going on to the next step to Millennium and then home.
So, I will post the photos of my life at Pure shortly so hang on. In the meantime, I've posted the Friday Night Dinner and the James Beard House photos to date, so enjoy. Well, one more big final written exam on Wednesday so I have to head back to the books to study....
posted by Caroline at 3:25 PM
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