What would Buddha do?

August 12, 2008

On the 22 bus again to Fort Mason from my apartment near Delores Park which is quite the ride. It's goes from one end to the city to the other, jammed with people, going up and down many steep up and down streets and numerous abrupt stops so it's always bumpy and people are flying back and forth trying to grab handle bars and what ever they can hang on to along the way like they are surfing. Today I saw a small kid with his mom start flying down the aisle and an older woman picked him up so he could sit on her lap and be close to his mom who already had a tiny baby and two little ones.

It's day 8 working long days and nights and by body is starting to rebel and say, "Where is that nice massage therapist you usually go to?" The good and bad part about getting older is that it gets harder and harder to push your body to do things you want it to do. It seems to be smarter than you, wiser and knows better, and it's like a bus that says, "Get out now and take care of yourself. I can't take you any further and if you force me to then I can't guarantee what the ride will be like so hang on." Perhaps it's too many nights in cramped, hot and very busy kitchens that is making me hallucinate?

So, I'm hanging on for the ride for a bit longer while trying to treat my body and soul in other ways respectfully and keep it pacified. With good food, like this morning I had a delicious sandwich with local full grain artisanal bread, local raw cheese, avocados, heirloom cherry tomatoes (orange ones seem like the best and sweetest) and sprouts. Yum!

After my daily morning meditation and writing session, I try to always take time for a morning jog or jaunt in the neighbourhood down different streets. It's always a fun adventure and I go very slowly but faster than my walking so I can cover more territory, but so slow that when I passed an older woman going up one of the hills very slowly with a cane, she yelled out, "Hey lady, do you think you can lose weight running that slow?" I wanted to let her know that it wasn't weight but piece of mind but then stopped as I thought why waste my time convincing or defending my position. I enjoy it and that's all that matters.

I helped prep some dishes yesterday for dinner service and the one thing I can't get over is the quantity and volume of things that you have to prepare. We're talking about for 100s, and this is just for dinner service, not lunch or the take out counter, so you have to use special large equipment like half the size of your body to mix or shred things and things are added usually in large pitchers and cups. Seasoning a recipe to perfection is also quite the challenge with that volume. And, cooking vegan and with whole foods for clients for awhile, I also can't believe the amount of dairy and other products that go into a vegetarian vs. vegan recipe... creme fraiche, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, etc. etc. This alone makes one feel like becoming vegan.

Because of the heavy volume of customers and work to prepare food for the ongoing customers, they have a total work crew of 100 or more, and have a special prep crew, mostly Hispanic and very hard working and kind, that comes in for the whole day to prepare the ingredients and most of the mise en place for the main recipes. Usually cooks in restaurants have to prepare things for their dinner stations from scratch and therefore have to come in early to do this and stay for service and clean up, which makes for a very long day of usually 12-14 hours or more on a busy night. The head chef says they are unique in that the dinner cooks come in around 3 pm and they each take on a main recipe to prepare before service starts at 5:30, however most things they will need are prepped so it makes it easier and faster. Also, another unique factor is that they only have people work around 8 hours per shift and take breaks, even during service from 5:30-10:30, which I've never heard of before.

I was assisting with the cold pantry area that takes care of all the cold appetizers and desserts for the restaurant, everything from salads, artisanal cheese plates and salad rolls to a wide range of desserts. The head chef said they used to change the menu regularly but decided to do it now monthly to save on costs and time as each change on the menu with this much volume has implications in terms of buying, inventory, prepping, learning, etc.

The steady volume of orders over a few hours is incredible with the night chef calling out orders constantly and the chit machine nearby throwing out dessert chits non-stop. In the end, they had about 200 reservations and around 300 people in all come through, and they call that a medium busy night! Apparently they can go up to over 400-500 on a very busy night or brunch, which is very popular, though I'm not sure I want to see one of those as I was flying enough with a 300 count and being alone at the station most of the evening.

Through all this busyness, people in the kitchen continue to be quite nice and calm, with the night chef coming to help out stations when he can that are swamped and being patient with the line in repeating orders if necessary. It's nice to have someone like that at the helm to be so positive and calm as you try your very best to put out the orders but if you make a mistake, which is bound to happen at that high volume and with it so noisy, then you are not criticized and don't feel bad, which doesn't help anyone at the end of the day, but unfortunately is the norm.

At one point, I heard a woman (there seems to be a good balance of women and men and Hispanic to English in the total work crew) on the line tell her fellow male colleague that she didn't appreciate him swearing so he stopped. Pleasantville?! Perhaps it's the influence of the vibe of the place made by Zen monks and Buddha watching. In the kitchen, there is a small ledge with a traditional Buddha arrangement with offerings and fresh flowers as a constant reminder. Perhaps people ask, "What would Buddha do?"

At the end of the night, the night chef took orders for beer and wine for the line (yeah - there is nothing like a cold beer after an exhausting hot night in the kitchen!) and we leave out for staff what ever is made and left over, which is always a lot as they have a relatively small walk-in fridge, which is well organized but full of fresh produce, dairy products and prepped food and there is not much room for anything else. Cheers!